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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]Alexandria Chamber “outraged” at Potomac Yard Metro changes[/quote]

[url]https://alextimes.com/2018/05/potomacyardmetro/[/url][/quote]

Good.  They should be outraged.  The City seems to have known about this in advance and kept quiet due to some confidentiality agreement relating to the construction that isn’t happening.  Well, if there’s an agreement to breach, that’s the one.  This is a signal moment for Alexandria.  [b]Wilson and Silberberg look kinda the same today.[/b]  [/quote]

+1[/quote]

OP here.
+2[/quote]

+3. The way the city went about this completely behind closed doors FOR A YEAR is so messed up. [/quote]

+4 and 5.  It is the same old way of operating.  I would not be surprised if there is cash changing hands.  All of them need to be out:  the Mayor, City Council and the whole City staff.  We need to clean house.  As if the sewage thing wasn't outrageous enough (and heading into summer we're about to be reminded about it on a daily basis with the stench) but now with the Potomac Yard Metro thing … no one could be that grossly incompetent.  Could they?  I think the Council members are so happy to have their Council jobs and their side businesses that feed off of their Council work that they have forgotten what they are supposed to do as Council members.[/quote]

I could actually believe Wilson and Silberberg didn't know about too much in advance but I see the City dept that is dealing with it knowing.  And I really have zero sympathy for those who might be upset.  They have spent the last few months droning on and on on the affordable housing like they do every year.  That's why it needs to go. Too much time and resources wasted on it.  And it's annoying to hear people claim it's housing for "teachers, police officers, " - those people are all priced out of the affordable housing initiatives

The metro station isn't going to be that big of a deal as they anticipate anyway. It will be a pass through station - more people will pass through it on the train to their destination without ever getting off.  [b]the City's mistake here and at King St. is the failure to provide parking[/b]. [b] Now if they built a huge parking structure, that would be a game changer.[/b]  There are simply not enough residents who are ever going to live in walking distance to that station and there are not going to be enough bus riders or bike riders.  Taking the bus and then the metro from Alexandria is silly because it can triple the time for your commute vs just driving in. [/quote]

Precisely this.  I live in the city and I don't ever take metro because I live to far away to easily and conveniently walk, and there is no place to park.  If I want to take the metro, I drive to Huntington or Crystal City and park there.  It is crazy!  It makes me wonder under what rock some of these dunderheads live that they don't understand that some of us have obligations outside of the 20-block stretch of King Street.[/quote]

There are metro stations elsewhere (Eisenhower and Van Dorn) an extensive network of Metrobus express buses to the Pentagon, and DASH buses to the Alexandria metro stations, and Metro Way buses between Braddock Rd and Crystal City.

If you MUST drive to King Street metro you can park in one of the private garages a few blocks away.

The notion of putting in a parking garage next to a metro station in an urban place like that makes no sense - better to put in office or residential buildings. [/quote]

Except to get to those metro stations, I would have to travel 30 minutes in the morning in the opposite direction of where I am going and use neighborhood road cut through just to make it to the station in 30 minutes from my location in Alexandria City.  But the King St and Braddock Rd stations are only a 10 minute drive.  With the bus, why should I spend 40 minutes on the bus just to spend another 30 on the metro?

Now if they put in parking at Potomac Yards, I would see more incentive to use metro. But then again, the cost of metro is high enough at this point for round trip during rush hour that I could just pay to drive downtown and park and the difference between costs is pretty small.

We aren't an urban area. We are a suburb.  That's how the City was set up with the exception of Old Town.

The only hope for the West End at this point is to just let a developer come in and redevelop and let go of the low income housing push.  What could be a nice addition would be "workforce housing" which would actually allow teachers, policemen/women, firefighters to rent or buy in the City.  Right now, all those professions are priced out of "affordable housing" because they always make just a smidge too much to meet the guidelines.

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