Bowser urges Biden to end telework policies for federal workers

[Anonymous]

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.

Seriously. I'm pro-biking, and did it when I it made sense for me to live closer in (then I had my second kid and needed more space than I could afford in biking distance). But the entire regional infrastructure is hostile to bike commuters who don't live IN DC already, and to Metro commuters, because of the hub and spokes design of the metro AND bus routes. If you don't live directly on the same one your job is on, you're looking at a really brutal commute. I'm 100% in favor of decreasing car dependence, but you need to...replace it. We don't have functional alternatives for people who are pushed further out by COL.

[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.

Maybe they are going to have to figure out a different business model than serving as a jobs program through collecting federal and state subsidies? Maybe if WMATA would have used the billions in COVID it received to shore up its finances instead of squandering the money the situation right now would be different?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

DP. I would add that with lots of businesses giving up downtown office space, if they need more space in the future I doubt they would look back downtown and would think it would be more likely they would add space closer to where most of their employees live, eg the suburbs.

[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.

OPM have announced that they are making decisions based on Federal staffing needs and not the needs of the mayor to serve the real estate industry. So no need to panic.

https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2023/01/04/dc-federal-workers-back-to-office
“The "agencies are strategically using these types of flexible work arrangements to better advance their missions" and allow them to better compete with other employers in the labor market, a statement from the White House Office of Management and Budget said.”

[Anonymous]

You’re telling me the hordes of bikers downtown are spending enough scratch? C’mon man!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You’re telling me the hordes of bikers downtown are spending enough scratch? C’mon man!

I’ve heard it frequently said that bike lanes increase business. I guess that’s wrong.

[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.

NP but I would argue that Bowser does in fact want commuters to return to DC. I don’t think she cares if it’s by car or whatever. You seem out of touch with the current state of downtown DC. My guess is you mostly work from home.

[Anonymous]

Once again, it is not the job of federal workers to subsidize downtown lunch shops.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Once again, it is not the job of federal workers to subsidize downtown lunch shops.

It’s bigger than that

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once again, it is not the job of federal workers to subsidize downtown lunch shops.

It’s bigger than that

And still not the job of Federal workers to subsidize the DC budget.

[Anonymous]

Why not try to bring back the smaller businesses that were pushed out in prior real estate booms. All the start-ups, boutiques and mom-and-pop stores. That would also make downtown DC a lot more interesting than just having one faceless agency after another fill up all the office space.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She needs to shove it. There are homeless people all over the sidewalks near my office. You can't even walk on the sidewalk if you want to go out to lunch. She should worry about that.

+1000

Bowser should first worry about cleaning up all the vagrancy, crime and homelessness in downtown DC. Office workers will be more likely to come back when it looks less like a war zone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why not try to bring back the smaller businesses that were pushed out in prior real estate booms. All the start-ups, boutiques and mom-and-pop stores. That would also make downtown DC a lot more interesting than just having one faceless agency after another fill up all the office space.

Prevailing market rents are too high right now. The situation is probably going to need to get a lot worse before small business can thrive downtown. I expect that the first option could be a resurgence of nightclubs in those empty spaces.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’re telling me the hordes of bikers downtown are spending enough scratch? C’mon man!

I’ve heard it frequently said that bike lanes increase business. I guess that’s wrong.

Right. One anonymous post on DCUM carries much more weight than dozens of academic studies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’re telling me the hordes of bikers downtown are spending enough scratch? C’mon man!

I’ve heard it frequently said that bike lanes increase business. I guess that’s wrong.

Right. One anonymous post on DCUM carries much more weight than dozens of academic studies.

Are any of those academic studies about downtown DC? Here in DC they built a lot of bike lanes during COVID and now that we’re out of COVID businesses keep failing. So whatever economic boost they theoretically are supposed to provide it’s clearly not working in downtown DC.