Bowser urges Biden to end telework policies for federal workers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Starting with the 8 year Clinton administration (and fully supported during 8 years of bush), the WH ordered agencies to support telework where possible, and especially in the DMV.

Only mid-level fed managers actively resisted these presidential orders.

Until Covid: then these managers were actively forced to allow telework for portable / telework-ready jobs.

Bowser is now opposing more than 2 decades of presidential orders to support telework in DC.

The Sierra Club and all federal unions should stage a sit-in in Bowsers office until she reversed her climate-damaging and anti-worker position.

No need to protest Bowser. She has no power over anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Metro is a mess. The roads are more congested than ever (and they just announced plans for 100s more speed cameras in case going down major arteries like 16th wasn't painful enough). And crime is worse than ever. Maybe Bowser should focus on ways to make it easier for people to get downtown, rather than forcing them to do it against their will.

Exactly! make it more attractive for people to want to come in. She has been bashing commuters, taking parking spaces away, creating more and more bike lanes, cameras, etc for years. Where the hell does she think feds can afford to live? It's not an easy bike ride to work.

The glib war on commuters they have been waging looks pretty counter productive and a lot like self-inflicted harm now that they are begging the Federal government to force them back.

There's no "war on commuters", just like there's no "war on cars".

Are you really going to claim that commuting into DC hasn't gotten exponentially harder over the past 20-30 years as a direct result of policies enacted by the mayor/s?

Oh, you mean DRIVING into DC.

Is your opinion that Metro service has IMPROVED over the past 20 years? A transit system that has been losing riders every year since 2008? A transit system that has spawned this website: https://ismetroonfire.com/

LOL.

They have certainly made it a lot easier to bicycle (less than 4% of commuters), but it has gotten a lot harder for everyone else - and more expensive.

You're blaming Metro on the mayor? Huh. But anyway, no, Metro service is not worse than 20 years ago.

You won’t find any reference to the mayor, so nice deflection. You also stand alone with you opinion on the quality and safety of Metro service, which is also in opposition to the findings of the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission. But this is all irrelevant and a red herring. The reality is that this plea by Bowser is a direct reflection of how the District views commuters. They are not people but a nuisance that they tolerate only to extract money from. The commuters are not dumb and have gotten the hint. They don’t want to come back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Metro is a mess. The roads are more congested than ever (and they just announced plans for 100s more speed cameras in case going down major arteries like 16th wasn't painful enough). And crime is worse than ever. Maybe Bowser should focus on ways to make it easier for people to get downtown, rather than forcing them to do it against their will.

Exactly! make it more attractive for people to want to come in. She has been bashing commuters, taking parking spaces away, creating more and more bike lanes, cameras, etc for years. Where the hell does she think feds can afford to live? It's not an easy bike ride to work.

The glib war on commuters they have been waging looks pretty counter productive and a lot like self-inflicted harm now that they are begging the Federal government to force them back.

There's no "war on commuters", just like there's no "war on cars".

Are you really going to claim that commuting into DC hasn't gotten exponentially harder over the past 20-30 years as a direct result of policies enacted by the mayor/s?

Oh, you mean DRIVING into DC.

Is your opinion that Metro service has IMPROVED over the past 20 years? A transit system that has been losing riders every year since 2008? A transit system that has spawned this website: https://ismetroonfire.com/

LOL.

They have certainly made it a lot easier to bicycle (less than 4% of commuters), but it has gotten a lot harder for everyone else - and more expensive.

You're blaming Metro on the mayor? Huh. But anyway, no, Metro service is not worse than 20 years ago.

This is objectively false. Metro service is 50% worse than 2008.



So transit is worse and they have intentionally instituted policies to make it more inconvenient to drive.

And now they want more people to come downtown? How? Maybe they should have thought about this first? Particularly with more and more jobs moving to the suburbs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why doesn't bowser reach out to the heads of all major DC law firms? Those folks still telework also (often even more than feds) and have tons more discretionary income.

This right here. At this point, most feds can't afford to buy lunch or dinner in DC on a regular basis.

Bowser needs to get those law firms and lobbyists back in their offices.

They're likely following OPM's lead, is why she's starting with the feds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She does have a point about underutilized office space that could be converted to housing, but I’m guessing that the government won’t shed office space until it’s time to renegotiate leases, while private sector business will shed office space when it makes economic sense. So it’s probably just a matter of time.

She either wants to government to hand over office space currently under lease for free or for the government to hand over office buildings they own to developers for free. Why should Federal taxpayers foot the bill to support DCs prolifigate budget? If this is so important, why doesn’t DC cut spending so that they can provide these freebies? They could sublease the federal office space from GSA and then give it away. Or they could give away DC property to developers.

There is no problem that DC is currently facing that is any different than many other cities across the country. She just wants to set up an excuse to blame the Federal government for her own failures.

Maybe because the federal government doesn't pay property tax on any of the prime office space it occupies downtown?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Metro is a mess. The roads are more congested than ever (and they just announced plans for 100s more speed cameras in case going down major arteries like 16th wasn't painful enough). And crime is worse than ever. Maybe Bowser should focus on ways to make it easier for people to get downtown, rather than forcing them to do it against their will.

Maybe Metro would be in better shape if huge portions of its pre-pandemic ridership (and thus, fare base) wasn't still working remotely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why doesn't bowser reach out to the heads of all major DC law firms? Those folks still telework also (often even more than feds) and have tons more discretionary income.

This right here. At this point, most feds can't afford to buy lunch or dinner in DC on a regular basis.

Bowser needs to get those law firms and lobbyists back in their offices.

They're likely following OPM's lead, is why she's starting with the feds.

I can confirm to you that not a single DC Law Firm is “following OPMs lead”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Metro is a mess. The roads are more congested than ever (and they just announced plans for 100s more speed cameras in case going down major arteries like 16th wasn't painful enough). And crime is worse than ever. Maybe Bowser should focus on ways to make it easier for people to get downtown, rather than forcing them to do it against their will.

Maybe Metro would be in better shape if huge portions of its pre-pandemic ridership (and thus, fare base) wasn't still working remotely.

And how would that improve the number of trains, or reduce the number of drunk operators, fires or delays?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She does have a point about underutilized office space that could be converted to housing, but I’m guessing that the government won’t shed office space until it’s time to renegotiate leases, while private sector business will shed office space when it makes economic sense. So it’s probably just a matter of time.

She either wants to government to hand over office space currently under lease for free or for the government to hand over office buildings they own to developers for free. Why should Federal taxpayers foot the bill to support DCs prolifigate budget? If this is so important, why doesn’t DC cut spending so that they can provide these freebies? They could sublease the federal office space from GSA and then give it away. Or they could give away DC property to developers.

There is no problem that DC is currently facing that is any different than many other cities across the country. She just wants to set up an excuse to blame the Federal government for her own failures.

Maybe because the federal government doesn't pay property tax on any of the prime office space it occupies downtown?

Every GSA leased building pays property tax.

Bowser is just angling for a Federal hand out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She needs to stay in her lane

Yep. I never hated her before but I do now. Leave us in peace!

[Anonymous]

Bowser was all about Covid restrictions. What did she think was going to happen? You reap what you sow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Metro is a mess. The roads are more congested than ever (and they just announced plans for 100s more speed cameras in case going down major arteries like 16th wasn't painful enough). And crime is worse than ever. Maybe Bowser should focus on ways to make it easier for people to get downtown, rather than forcing them to do it against their will.

Exactly! make it more attractive for people to want to come in. She has been bashing commuters, taking parking spaces away, creating more and more bike lanes, cameras, etc for years. Where the hell does she think feds can afford to live? It's not an easy bike ride to work.

The glib war on commuters they have been waging looks pretty counter productive and a lot like self-inflicted harm now that they are begging the Federal government to force them back.

There's no "war on commuters", just like there's no "war on cars".

Are you really going to claim that commuting into DC hasn't gotten exponentially harder over the past 20-30 years as a direct result of policies enacted by the mayor/s?

Oh, you mean DRIVING into DC.

Is your opinion that Metro service has IMPROVED over the past 20 years? A transit system that has been losing riders every year since 2008? A transit system that has spawned this website: https://ismetroonfire.com/

LOL.

They have certainly made it a lot easier to bicycle (less than 4% of commuters), but it has gotten a lot harder for everyone else - and more expensive.

You're blaming Metro on the mayor? Huh. But anyway, no, Metro service is not worse than 20 years ago.

This is objectively false. Metro service is 50% worse than 2008.



So transit is worse and they have intentionally instituted policies to make it more inconvenient to drive.

And now they want more people to come downtown? How? Maybe they should have thought about this first? Particularly with more and more jobs moving to the suburbs.

It's 2023. 20 years ago was 2003. The Green Line wasn't even complete until 2001. There was no Silver Line. There were Red Line turnbacks.

You're not doing anybody a favor when you drive into DC and park, so if you expect gratitude, you won't get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She needs to stay in her lane

Yep. I never hated her before but I do now. Leave us in peace!

Don’t get between a fed and their telework days!!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Metro is a mess. The roads are more congested than ever (and they just announced plans for 100s more speed cameras in case going down major arteries like 16th wasn't painful enough). And crime is worse than ever. Maybe Bowser should focus on ways to make it easier for people to get downtown, rather than forcing them to do it against their will.

Exactly! make it more attractive for people to want to come in. She has been bashing commuters, taking parking spaces away, creating more and more bike lanes, cameras, etc for years. Where the hell does she think feds can afford to live? It's not an easy bike ride to work.

The glib war on commuters they have been waging looks pretty counter productive and a lot like self-inflicted harm now that they are begging the Federal government to force them back.

There's no "war on commuters", just like there's no "war on cars".

Are you really going to claim that commuting into DC hasn't gotten exponentially harder over the past 20-30 years as a direct result of policies enacted by the mayor/s?

Oh, you mean DRIVING into DC.

Is your opinion that Metro service has IMPROVED over the past 20 years? A transit system that has been losing riders every year since 2008? A transit system that has spawned this website: https://ismetroonfire.com/

LOL.

They have certainly made it a lot easier to bicycle (less than 4% of commuters), but it has gotten a lot harder for everyone else - and more expensive.

You're blaming Metro on the mayor? Huh. But anyway, no, Metro service is not worse than 20 years ago.

This is objectively false. Metro service is 50% worse than 2008.



So transit is worse and they have intentionally instituted policies to make it more inconvenient to drive.

And now they want more people to come downtown? How? Maybe they should have thought about this first? Particularly with more and more jobs moving to the suburbs.

It's 2023. 20 years ago was 2003. The Green Line wasn't even complete until 2001. There was no Silver Line. There were Red Line turnbacks.

You're not doing anybody a favor when you drive into DC and park, so if you expect gratitude, you won't get it.

That’s your response? That it’s worse than 15 years ago but not 20? It’s hard to take you serious. And it doesn’t matter.

Metro is in bad shape impart because DC politicians used it as a cash machine for corruption and commuting by car is awful in part thanks to intentional choices. Now the city has to live with these choices.

Doesn’t seem like city officials are enjoying the vibrancy all that much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why doesn't bowser reach out to the heads of all major DC law firms? Those folks still telework also (often even more than feds) and have tons more discretionary income.

This right here. At this point, most feds can't afford to buy lunch or dinner in DC on a regular basis.

Bowser needs to get those law firms and lobbyists back in their offices.

They're likely following OPM's lead, is why she's starting with the feds.

No, they’re largely making decisions based on their own needs. Most industries will never go back to in-person five days a week, especially white collar industries like we have downtown. Some might do three days. Some might do four. Either way, you’re not going to need as much office space and there will be fewer people in downtowns.