MD Gov. Wes Moore and his transportation secretary Paul Wiedefeld are going on a safety walk along Georgia Ave. in Wheaton today with Councilmember @NataliFGonzalez to get a sense of pedestrian safety issues and economic development in the corridor. Wiedefeld will also be the keynote speaker this year for WABA’s annual Vision Zero conference in June.

'70s: Dave Grohl moves to NoVa
'80s: he goes to shows at old 9:30 Club in DC
'97: Foo Fighters' "The Colour and the Shape" released, becomes seminal album of my childhood
'23: Grohl opens replica of the venue he went to as a teen, I get to see him for news:dcist.com/story/23/05/30… FWIW: I was too young for Nirvana when they were big, but these 14 tracks were so huge when I was like 10 years old. Iconic shit.

The Atlantis, I.M.P..’s new small, 400-person music venue, opens tonight with the Foo Fighters. Mayor Bowser is giving remarks at the opening as is Dave Grohl and the owners of the venue. Dave Grohl is here and just like casually milling about

Gimme your best D.C. transit/transportation-themed Valentine's Day poems. Roses are Red
I really like guava
My love for you is eternal
Just like getting lost in L'Enfant Plaza

It's Metro Board day. Not a super-packed agenda.
MD Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld isn't here today. Michael Goldman filling in.
wmata.com/about/board/me…

Board starts with a moment of silence for Bob Cunningham.

GM Randy Clarke says WMATA is taking care of his family, but the GoFundMe has raised $185,000 that will help pay for his kids college among other things. Clarke thanks the community for their thoughts and generosity.

Second time in two weeks that I’ve been on a Green Line train where teens have broken into back cab of older trains and turned off the lights.

Operator at L’Enfant “please stop playing with the lights.” Another lights off train at L’Enfant! What is up today?!

Later this morning at 10:30, some changes and movement on the Metro for D.C. bill.

Our previous coverage: dcist.com/story/22/09/26… NEW: A change in @charlesallen's "Metro for D.C." bill. The proposal, which will be voted on Tues:
- Creates fare-free travel for all ppl boarding at D.C. bus stop starting July 1
- Starts 24-hr service on D.C.'s 12 busiest routes
- $100 Metro credit to residents would come later

NEW: Metro says it will open the Silver Line extension on Tues. Nov. 15.

The long-awaited six-station, 11.5-mile extension connects to Dulles International Airport and puts Metrorail into Loudoun County for the first time. The new terminus, Ashburn, is 30 miles from D.C. #WMATA "On opening day, customers who visit the six new stations - Reston Town Center, Herndon, Innovation Center, Washington Dulles International Airport, Loudoun Gateway, Ashburn – will be greeted by Metro teams handing out commemorative pennants, a tradition that started in 1976."

DDOT seems to be “re-launching?” (my words) Vision Zero.

“We know our efforts must ever-evolve by applying lessons-learned and data-driven solutions, especially to our most vulnerable street users and populations,” said DDOT Director Everett Lott.

visionzero.dc.gov/pages/2022-upd… As we’ve reported on, Vision Zero in D.C. has not been a success, statistically at least.

dcist.com/story/22/01/07…

It's Metro board day. And it should be a busy one.

We'll start with some POTENTIAL long-term fare and service proposals including
- Eliminating fares + increasing local tax subsidy
- Flat fares
- Zone-based fares
- Change distance-based fares/eliminate peak fares
Board wanted a wide look at options to meet future budget gaps.

WMSC approves Metro’s latest plan to bring back all of the 7000-series trains.

What Metro asked for: dcist.com/story/22/10/21…

https://twitter.com/MetrorailSafety/status/1585002871313014787

This also clears the way for Silver Line phase II opening sometime in November. Will check with Metro to see if pre-thanksgiving opening still a possibility

Metro crowding getting worse during peak periods since Labor Day.
8 a.m. - 35% more crowded
5 p.m. - 13% more crowded

The amount of time customers have spent on crowded trains has doubled.
Red Line, Orange and Silver lines seeing the most crowds despite adding 1-2 extra trains This is of course because of the train shortage due to the 7000-series trains being mostly sidelined.

Metro is authorized to run up to 20, 7000-series trains a day, but I believe has only run 12 or so at one time so far.

No timeline for when all trains will return.

It's Metro board day.
We'll hear about
- The bus network redesign kick-off
- The upcoming budget issues (dcist.com/story/22/09/19…)
- Development at Greenbelt
- Silver Line timeline and next steps (no opening date today, though, I'm told) Demographics of WMATA bus customers:

Safer Intersections Act passes first vote at D.C. Council 13-0. The bill:
- Bans right turn at red lights at ALL traffic lights by 2025. D.C. would be 2nd city after NYC to do it.
- Allows cyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs if the intersection is clear of peds, vehicles lims.dccouncil.gov/Legislation/B2…

In 1957, Queen Elizabeth went to a UMD game then "infamously asked to see an American supermarket and the royal motorcade headed for the Queenstown Giant Food grocery store in West Hyattsville, where they were given a tour as awestruck shoppers looked on."
library.arlingtonva.us/2019/11/21/the… This is the most random trivia I've ever heard.
Was trying to figure out which store it was but Baltimore Sun reports it closed in 2013.
It was the Giant Food grocery store on Queens Chapel Road in Queenstown, Chillum.

baltimoresun.com/features/retro…

Metro's board meeting has been delayed until 10 a.m. because they can't get the slides to work at the new building this morning.

Metro board kicking off now:

Updates on the annual agency safety plan, Silver Line, the July 30 Red Line smoke incident, and more.

The Metro Rider Advisory Council has been knocked around in the past -- Metro board tried to get rid of it, didn't reappoint a chair who was well-liked.
wamu.org/story/18/10/25… New WMATA GM Randy Clarke attended the Rider Advisory Council meeting last night and seems interested in dedicating resources to the group -- having high-level staff attend often, offering tours, and taking input often from the group.
otter.ai/s/DOusguP7Rm-x…

Tonight, WMATA GM Randy Clarke presents to the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission. novatransit.org/uploads/meetin…
Starts at 7 p.m. and you can stream online: youtube.com/channel/UCxoEy… Some belated notes from new @wmataGM Randy Clarke's 45 min convo with NVTC.

"Metro is not working for the region to the level (it) expects... With that said, I believe we have some tailwind behind us to get Metro back to being the pride of this region."

Metro says it won’t release its full 7000-series return to service plan unless we file a PARP (Public Access to Records Policy, similar to FOIA). It’s a process that is usually slow.

Yet Metro wants the public to trust them to ride the trains. Seems like pertinent public info. Metro submitted the plan to @MetrorailSafety this afternoon.

https://twitter.com/MetrorailSafety/status/1527389119680237570

Good morning. It's Metro board day and I think this is the first time they've had some hold muzak.
Metro's executive committee is voting on a resolution to not re-appoint the inspector general who has uncovered a lot of shenanigans at WMATA. No one will comment on why he is not being reappointed.
dcist.com/story/22/03/08…

We'll also get a Silver Line update.

NEW: Metro's board is not reappointing its Inspector General Geoff Cherrington. Unclear why -- board documents don't list a reason. His 5-year appointment is up in April.

Deputy IG Rene Febles is taking over as interim.
wmata.com/about/board/me… Cherrington has uncovered many Metro issues: MTPD's lack of investigation and documentation for crimes, 7K series trains, a $400,000 broken toilet.

He's also been a favorite of Congress, who often call him to testify on Metro. He got $5M from feds to strengthen the office's work