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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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You mean Harleys?
Motorcycles are bigger than ever before with younger people.
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.

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