Wednesday, July 21, 2010

what's up the pike: creepin' up the backstairs

The Stairs Behind 8407
I'm writing this from a bar patio in Cambridge, Mass., where the downtown scene was hopping even on a Tuesday night when the Harvard and MIT kids are away for summer. Busy sidewalks, achingly hip shops and restaurants, all tied together by amazing squares and plazas — what an invigorating urban space. Look out for pictures after I return on Thursday, but in the meantime:

- WUSA9 reports that an SUV drove into the Super Chicken restaurant on Ennalls Avenue in Wheaton. Of course, this is in the same block that nearly burned down entirely after a fire at El Pollo Rico two years ago. Of course, Super Chicken didn't place in our Great Peruvian Taste Test, so it's unclear if this is a loss for fans of pollo a la brasa.

- From Vanity Fair: "Mazel tov, residents of Washington, D.C., and its environs: your area tops off a new regional property earnings index . . . This would explain Washington’s triumph: its suburbs include the Maryland hamlets of Bethesda, Chevy Chase, and Silver Spring, which are all overrun with professionals and creative types."

Not to mention:

- From our bureau of No Shit, Sherlock: A woman in Bethesda thinks the Purple Line is stupid. She's probably lying about the part where she takes the J4 bus instead. How would she know where College Park is unless her help lives there?

- The Post profiles a Latino comic who daylights as a banker in Wheaton.

- Also in Wheaton, cops entered a man's house to serve him with a warrant and broke his 65-year-old mother's hand, says Fox 5.

- Volksmarchers - recreational, non-competitive walkers - stormed downtown Silver Spring last month and wrote about it in the Post.

Thanks to the Fratellis for today's post title.

9 comments:

WashingtonGardener said...

LOL, on that Purpl Line - J4 ltr. I read it and rolled my eyes as I've taken the J4 and it alwas bottlenecks after leaving SS en route to CP - never on time. The one going TO Bethesda always gets to SS late, go figure.

Silver Spring: Then and Again said...

8407 needs to do a better job of keeping its trash contained and sidewalk scrubbed where they store it near that staircase. HUNDREDS of people use the staircase to access the Metro parking garage behind them.

Nothing like a morning/evening whiff of their grease barrel and trash!

Anonymous said...

The Vanity Fair article thing shows Ann and Tom Friedman's house in Bethesda (Ann Friedman of the now-defunct General Growth Properties empire). I was in her home last week.

D said...

How would she know where College Park is unless her help lives there?

Possibly because she works there
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/grace-palladino/6/960/403

Robert said...

I'm not commenting for or against the Purple Line, but your comment about the woman in Bethesda is far below your usual standards for accuracy and fairness. She works at the University of Maryland. You owe her a public correction and apology.

Dan Reed said...

I didn't know Ms. Palladino worked in College Park. And, frankly, it's even more disappointing that someone who commutes to College Park would still think the Purple Line is unnecessary. There are 35,000 students at U-Md. and tens of thousands more staff and faculty (including Ms. Palladino) who would benefit from this project. She should be ashamed of herself for opposing something that would, at the end of the day, help the employer who puts food on her table.

D said...

I agree with everything you wrote in your comment, but that's not what you wrote in the original post. Replacing what you wrote in the post with the comment wouldn't be unreasonable.

I'll also note that the J4 is great if you live near one of the stops and you can arrange your life according to it's schedule and, as a professor, potentially miss the worst rush hour times. Her letter also displays an ignorance that population is increasing and traffic will get worse. An ok J4 commute now will be terrible in 10 years without the Purple line.

Robert said...

Dan,

Saying "I didn't know Ms. Palladino worked in College Park" doesn't excuse you. The problem is that you called her a liar before checking any facts. You assumed that because she lived in Bethesda she couldn't know about traffic to College Park or be taking the bus herself. Such stereotyping is beneath you.

I'm not saying her opinion is correct, I'm just saying you shouldn't be calling people liars based on where they live or before you check the facts.

Dan Reed said...

Robert,

Unfortunately, I made a joke that was misconstrued. I'm allowed to make jokes sometimes, and my standards over the past four years haven't prevented me from making fun. I think we disagree on what was or wasn't good conduct, and that's it.