So Rolling Thunder is coming to an end because local parking and hotels have become too expensive?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The tradition is ending because of escalating costs and a lack of cooperation from the Pentagon and metropolitan police departments, said Artie Muller, a Vietnam veteran and founder of Rolling Thunder, Inc.

Costs for the 2018 ride totaled more than $200,000, Muller said. The nonprofit hasn’t been able to recruit a new corporate sponsor, and Rolling Thunder didn’t sell enough merchandise, such as patches, pins and flags.

Lack of cooperation was also from
“metropolitan police departments”.

That is shameful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The tradition is ending because of escalating costs and a lack of cooperation from the Pentagon and metropolitan police departments, said Artie Muller, a Vietnam veteran and founder of Rolling Thunder, Inc.

Costs for the 2018 ride totaled more than $200,000, Muller said. The nonprofit hasn’t been able to recruit a new corporate sponsor, and Rolling Thunder didn’t sell enough merchandise, such as patches, pins and flags.

Yup. I think the “lack of cooperation” from local governments is key. Hence, your DC hate culture, especially if you ain’t black. (But of course many of these veterans are black.)

The lack of cooperation is from the Pentagon reservation, which is part of the Department of Defense.

Not just the Pentagon...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The tradition is ending because of escalating costs and a lack of cooperation from the Pentagon and metropolitan police departments, said Artie Muller, a Vietnam veteran and founder of Rolling Thunder, Inc.

Costs for the 2018 ride totaled more than $200,000, Muller said. The nonprofit hasn’t been able to recruit a new corporate sponsor, and Rolling Thunder didn’t sell enough merchandise, such as patches, pins and flags.

Lack of cooperation was also from
“metropolitan police departments”.

That is shameful.

Let's be real though, it was mostly because of the bolded, which is tied to a lack of participants.

[Anonymous]

Thank god it is over. Loud and obnoxious. If we want to talk about protecting the troops, let's start by not sending 10,000 of them to the Gulf to fight another crazy republican war for people who were too cowardly to sign up when they had the chance, and bribed drs to diagnose them with bone spurs....

[Anonymous]

Cause only “republican” wars are crazy.
“Stop the hate, Libs.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a liberal and I really like it. Sad to see it end.

+1 we'll be there sunday

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love it and am sad to see it go. I either leave town on Memorial Day weekend or choose not to drive if I stay in town.

This is why people talk about "privilege." You realize lots of people don't have those options, right?

Rolling Thunder isn't any more disruptive for locals than any other event that brings in a lot of people. Cherry Blossom season, Marine Corp Marathon, Rock n Roll Marathon, and 4th of July are some events off the top of my head that I find more disruptive than Rolling Thunder. Disruptions are just part of daily life here. Accusing someone of not recognizing their privilege really doesn't make sense in this context.

NP and I agree.

[Anonymous]

Why are y'all so deadset on making this a partisan issue?
It's got nothing to do with Liberals and Democrats or Conservatives and Republicans its got to do with MONEY which apparently Rolling Thunder Inc. has none of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love it and am sad to see it go. I either leave town on Memorial Day weekend or choose not to drive if I stay in town.

This is why people talk about "privilege." You realize lots of people don't have those options, right?

Rolling Thunder isn't any more disruptive for locals than any other event that brings in a lot of people. Cherry Blossom season, Marine Corp Marathon, Rock n Roll Marathon, and 4th of July are some events off the top of my head that I find more disruptive than Rolling Thunder. Disruptions are just part of daily life here. Accusing someone of not recognizing their privilege really doesn't make sense in this context.

It’s totally different. It’s all weekend and disrupts traffic. Marathons block some streets for a few hours. Cherry blossoms and July 4 are lots of extra walkers. Yes, they all bring crowds, but not crowds that block traffic all over the place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was already news on this months ago when they stated this would be the last year. It is because they are losing money running the event and their base attendees are aging out (dying) or no longer coming because they're old. Hence the number of attendees is steadily decreasing. Unfortunately for them they haven't been able to recruit younger participants so the event has just run its course I guess.

Yup, the older generation is getting too old to ride and younger people just aren't that into motorcycles. It was definitely more of a thing for boomers. Even my dad, who is pretty straight laced, still has a bike he likes to tool around on sometimes. I don't know anyone my age who rides one. I have always liked Rolling Thunder, despite living in Crystal City for time. The riders were polite and my son loved seeing and hearing all the motorcycles. The expense is only an issue because they don't have the riders to support it.

You mean Harleys?

Motorcycles are bigger than ever before with younger people.

That's great that you can infer that from a picture, but those aren't the type of bikes or people who do rolling thunder on Memorial Day weekend. The dedicated rolling thunder participant has aged out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love it and am sad to see it go. I either leave town on Memorial Day weekend or choose not to drive if I stay in town.

This is why people talk about "privilege." You realize lots of people don't have those options, right?

Rolling Thunder isn't any more disruptive for locals than any other event that brings in a lot of people. Cherry Blossom season, Marine Corp Marathon, Rock n Roll Marathon, and 4th of July are some events off the top of my head that I find more disruptive than Rolling Thunder. Disruptions are just part of daily life here. Accusing someone of not recognizing their privilege really doesn't make sense in this context.

It’s totally different. It’s all weekend and disrupts traffic. Marathons block some streets for a few hours. Cherry blossoms and July 4 are lots of extra walkers. Yes, they all bring crowds, but not crowds that block traffic all over the place.

its all weekend? i thought the motorcycle ride was only on sunday afternoon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love it and am sad to see it go. I either leave town on Memorial Day weekend or choose not to drive if I stay in town.

This is why people talk about "privilege." You realize lots of people don't have those options, right?

Rolling Thunder isn't any more disruptive for locals than any other event that brings in a lot of people. Cherry Blossom season, Marine Corp Marathon, Rock n Roll Marathon, and 4th of July are some events off the top of my head that I find more disruptive than Rolling Thunder. Disruptions are just part of daily life here. Accusing someone of not recognizing their privilege really doesn't make sense in this context.

It’s totally different. It’s all weekend and disrupts traffic. Marathons block some streets for a few hours. Cherry blossoms and July 4 are lots of extra walkers. Yes, they all bring crowds, but not crowds that block traffic all over the place.

its all weekend? i thought the motorcycle ride was only on sunday afternoon.

The thousands of motorcycles cause traffic disruptions all weekend long. Yes the official event is only on Sunday. It'd be like if 100 marathoners decided to test out the run the day before and ran in the streets, even though traffic is still trying to get through.

[Anonymous]

When it was first announced in December that this would be their last ride, Rolling Thunder blamed DOD and US Park Police, NOT DC metro police.

https://www.npr.org/2018/12/14/676718151/after-decades-rolling-thunder-to-make-its-last-big-ride-through-washington-d-c

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love it and am sad to see it go. I either leave town on Memorial Day weekend or choose not to drive if I stay in town.

This is why people talk about "privilege." You realize lots of people don't have those options, right?

Rolling Thunder isn't any more disruptive for locals than any other event that brings in a lot of people. Cherry Blossom season, Marine Corp Marathon, Rock n Roll Marathon, and 4th of July are some events off the top of my head that I find more disruptive than Rolling Thunder. Disruptions are just part of daily life here. Accusing someone of not recognizing their privilege really doesn't make sense in this context.

It’s totally different. It’s all weekend and disrupts traffic. Marathons block some streets for a few hours. Cherry blossoms and July 4 are lots of extra walkers. Yes, they all bring crowds, but not crowds that block traffic all over the place.

its all weekend? i thought the motorcycle ride was only on sunday afternoon.

The thousands of motorcycles cause traffic disruptions all weekend long. Yes the official event is only on Sunday. It'd be like if 100 marathoners decided to test out the run the day before and ran in the streets, even though traffic is still trying to get through.

So you're complaining about . . . congestion? On a holiday weekend?

Just stop, Princess. I know it's louder that Aiden and Camille are used to, but break out those matching sound protectors you got them and you'll be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh that's a shame. I am an immigrant and it was interesting to see all the motorcycles and the vets. I did not mind the occasional gridlock. It was still a nice sight and sentiment. It seems a lot of the little and big things what made America great is eroding...very much like the global warming, climate change and mass extinction of species is killing Earth.

Well that escalated quickly.

Yeah, well, I have been depressed since Trump. Being caught in a severe storm and looking fearfully for the tornado while driving down 1-95 yesterday made me realize that severe extreme weather events is very much the new normal. While the end of Rolling Thunder seems to be a minor bad news, it is bad news nonetheless.