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Fear and Loathing: Life as a Silver Spring Pedestrian

How, exactly, am I supposed to get across the street?

I commute to Silver Spring from DC every day and I hate it. As the train pulls into the station, I see the looming specter of the failed Silver Spring Transit Center and I’m filled with low-grade dread. Why do I hate it so?

Bisected by six-lane highways, downtown Silver Spring is a spectacularly pedestrian-unfriendly environment. Trudging the streets as cars whiz by at 50 mph, you immediately feel like an outsider. I have to cross a river of cars just to get a cup of coffee. Every morning, I press the “beg button” and wait for the light to change to ford the river of cars on East-West Highway.

If I’m lucky, the light turns red and everyone stops. More typically, the light turns yellow and drivers rush into intersection blocking the crosswalk. Pedestrians have to weave around cars, trucks and even 60-foot long articulated Metro buses. I get my coffee at Peet’s and repeat the process, keeping an eye out for impatient drivers coming up behind me as they blow through the shopping center stop sign.

The Silver Spring Transit center. Five years late and a $100 million over budget. Built with flawed concrete and now the subject of litigation.

Working in Silver Spring, there are some intersections you learn to avoid, like East-West Highway and Colesville Road. Accidents happen there regularly and sometimes include pedestrians. You also know where drivers make rolling rights on red and which crosswalks they ignore (all of them).

I bike everywhere in DC. I do not bike in Silver Spring. Why? There are no bike lanes of any kind. Traffic is fast and crowded. There’s BikeShare in Silver Spring but I’ve never seen anyone use it. People know that biking in the street is an experts-only activity.

Some friendly signage.

While Silver Spring is pedestrian-unfriendly, it is filled with pedestrians. Huge employers are located downtown like Discovery and NOAA (where I work). They fill the streets at lunch hour and after work.

The neighborhood where everybody jaywalks – that’s what Greater Greater Washington calls it. They do a great job at illustrating the consequences of poor design. Silver Spring has organized the city for cars, not people.

A flat white at Bump N’ Grind.

There are places that I love in Silver Spring – like the cool Bump N’ Grind and the awesome Big Greek Cafe ($5 gyros on Wednesdays!). The city has also tried to sex up their image to sell apartments.

But poor design makes it impossible for new residents and local employees to spend their cash. You’re not going to go to that cool coffee place if crossing the street is a death-defying act. Until Silver Spring becomes truly walkable, it will continue to be regarded as a second-class city.

January 29, 2015
Innovate or Be Mildly Embarrassed

Tesla on display at the Collaborate conference in Washington, DC.

Culture eats strategy for breakfast.
– Peter Drucker

Dr. David Bray, Chief Information Officer, Federal Communications Commission, mentioned this quote in “Innovate or Die,” a panel discussion on governmental innovation at Collaborate. His point was the leaders must do more than just develop a grand vision for their organization – they must build an innovative culture if it is to survive. That means encouraging mistakes, providing support for risk-takers and fostering a belief that innovation is everyone’s job.

Collaborate was billed as “Where Innovators in Entrepreneurship, Government, and Technology Converge.” It was two days filled with keynote speakers, panel discussions and workshops at the Ronald Reagan Center in Washington, DC. These events always remind me of SXSW – there’s weird furniture, space-trip lounge music and freebies galore. But what’s great about this free exchange of ideas is the sense of optimism that, yes, we can change everything, even the federal government.

However, the debacles of the past few years, from the Iraq war to Obamacare, has revealed that government is broken. It just doesn’t do things very well anymore. Why?

It comes down to culture. The panelists at “Innovate or Die” all had great ideas, some of which they’d been able to implement in their agencies. But it’s been a long slog.

The reason for the resistance is that there’s no “or die” part of the equation. There’s no “or anything” for governmental innovation. “Innovate or Be Mildly Embarrassed” would be a more accurate panel description. That the FCC has streamlined paperwork is wonderful – but other government agencies haven’t, without punishment. No one dies. No one is punished. In fact, Obamacare website developer CGI Federal, “the poster child for government failure” was just awarded a new contract by the IRS.

Who’s on the other end of the “or die” end of the equation? You and me, as the recent Metro fire demonstrates. Their organizational culture expresses nothing but contempt for passengers. Our safety comes second to the jobs program that is the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

I’m a cog in the vast federal bureaucracy, a contractor tasked with helping the feds out with communication. I recently had to obtain approval for an all-hands message. This meant printing out the message, putting it in a red folder (no other color, please), printing a routing slip and then walking the folder around from office to office to get senior execs to read the memo and initial it. Nothing about this 19th Century process struck anyone as unusual or exceptional. That’s the power of culture.

How do you change culture? “Forced retirement” is the answer you hear from a lot of younger feds. They’d love to see a lot of their older coworkers out the door. And I think they’re right.

But it’s also changing the incentive structure. If you want government to be innovative and responsive to citizen needs, then you need to reward and encourage innovators. That means money, promotions and accolades. It also means that we, the people, need to demand governmental reform. You get the culture you encourage. If you want innovation, reward it.

January 24, 2015
Friday Photo: Giant Hand Edition

The Hand of Noah in front of NOAA Building Three.

The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a large federal bureaucracy in Silver Spring, MD. I’ve worked there as a contractor in two separate stints – three years in the National Ocean Service (NOS) and a little more than two years (so far) in the National Weather Service (NWS).

If you work at NOAA, you refer to where you work by building number. In NOS, I worked in Building 4. In NWS, I work in Building 2. The sculpture above is in front of Building 3. I don’t blame you if you’re confused.

According to the NOAA Library:

The sculpture in front of NOAA’s SSMC3 building (at 1315 East-West Highway) on its Silver Spring, Maryland campus is called “The Hand of Noah”. It was given this title by its sculptor, Raymond Kaskey, in 1991, and symbolizes NOAA’s stewardship of the environment.

In NOAA-land, the giant hand makes a convenient landmark. “Meet me at the giant hand,” is a phrase you hear a lot.

I took this photo during a beautiful, short-lived snowstorm in Silver Spring. I’ve wanted to get this pic for years and, finally, the weather and my schedule cooperated. Like the birds in the sculpture, I feel free!

January 22, 2015
Metro and the Culture of Organizational Indifference
The empty Silver Spring Transit Center. Total cost: $125 million. And rising.

Every morning, I walk by the empty shell of the Silver Spring Transit Center. It was supposed to be a glorified bus shelter, where people could transfer from one bus to another. Construction began in 2008. Six years and $125 million later and it’s still not open.

Why? Because it’s unsafe. The concrete in the structure has started to crack and crumble. Who is responsible? Montgomery County blames the contractors; the contractors blame the subcontractors; the subcontractors say they just followed the Montgomery County specs; and so on. It’s a perfect circle of blamelessness, where no one is at fault.

On Monday, there was a fire in Metro, the subway system for Washington, DC. Smoke is not uncommon in the aging system.

I ride the Metro every day and can’t imagine a more nightmarish scenario than being trapped in a train car as it filled with smoke. People waited as the train operator assured them that help was on the way. They waited patiently for 45-60 minutes, in a tunnel, as smoke overwhelmed them. One person died; 83 others were sent to the hospital.

At the time, I tweeted:

I’d say this changes everything but sadly I don’t think it will #wmata

— Joe Flood (@joeflood) January 12, 2015

Why won’t anything change? The people who manage, operate and oversee Metro have no incentive to change. General Manager Richard Sarles is retiring with a generous pension. Senior Metro executives will receive bonuses. The rich provisions of union contracts will continue to be honored. The Board of Directors will meet and chat. No one will be fired and everyone will find someone else to blame for this tragedy.

The attitude of this elite class of public sector professionals reminds me of Tom and Daisy from The Great Gatsby, after they ran someone over in another transit-related tragedy:

They were careless people, Tom and Daisy – they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together and let other people clean up the mess they had made.

Except no one will clean up this mess. Fires, derailments and other safety hazards in Metro will continue and get worse.

Nothing will change at Metro until we make individuals accountable. That means firing everyone associated with Monday’s fire, including:
- The Train Operator.
- The Station Manager.
- The Manager in Charge of Track Maintenance.
- The Manager of Operations Control Center.
This should be done – at a minimum. It would be a small step to demonstrate that Metro takes this seriously.

Metro does not need to wait for the NTSB investigation to do this. Someone died in the system that they manage. There needs to be an immediate consequence for this tragedy.

Metro will say, “But we can’t fire anyone – they’re in a union.” Then the union should be abolished. Passenger safety is more important than organized labor. You cannot institute individual accountability with a labor union controlling hiring, firing and work rules.

A train arrives in Silver Spring

Over the next few months, the familiar cycle of blame will set in. Metro will say that the accident is because the Board didn’t give them enough money; the Board will say that they did all they could; union will blame management; management will blame union; Metro will blame passengers; and on and on as everyone remains in their jobs. It will be business as usual – unless we demand better.

Washington is supposedly the land of the “best and the brightest.” And we have no want for resources – we literally print money in this city. If Metro is The Great Society Subway, then the failure to make it safe for riders is an indictment of the entire idea of big government. Walter Olson at the Cato Institute nails it:

If the cream of the nation’s political class, living within a 50 mile radius in Virginia, Maryland, and D.C., cannot arrange to obtain competence from their elected local officials in delivering a public service that’s vital to their daily work lives, what does that tell us about their pretensions to improve through federal action the delivery of local government services – fire and police, water supply and schooling, road maintenance and, yes, transit itself – in the rest of the country?

Big government and other large organizations need to be made accountable. That means punishing people. To break the cycle of organizational indifference, then we have to ensure that there are real penalties for screwing up.

Metro must be reformed. Our lives depend on it.
January 14, 2015
Photo Roundup: Snow Can’t Stop #BikeDC

Normally, I’m too busy biking to take many pictures of #BikeDC in action. But once the snow started following on Tuesday, I put the bike away. No way was I going to risk the slippery streets on my little-wheeled foldy bike or get salt and grime on my “nice” Specialized Sirrus.

Instead, I concentrated on getting photos of the cyclists of Washington, DC, braving the streets of the city, weather be damned.

Snow Cyclists

The snow “overperformed” according to weather forecasters. January 6 was supposed to just bring us a dusting of snow – instead, nearly four inches fell. The morning commute turned into chaos, with drivers stuck in the snowy stuff, schools cancelled and a general sense of panic.

Gridlock was the norm on the streets of DC. Except for people on bikes, who kept on going.

She’s prepared. Looks like she’s riding a cyclocross bike with knobby tires. Also note the light, helmet, high-vis jacket, gloves and snow pants.

This woman is looking left at the unplowed cycletrack and thinking, “WTF?” But it’s not stopping her.

I worried about this lady, wobbling down Massachusetts Av on a red Capital Bikeshare bike.

The snow came at the height of the morning rush hour. It was gorgeous, especially around Scott Circle.

What’s missing, you ask? Cars. Traffic was jammed on the roads outside the city, unable to get in. Also, note that 17th St hasn’t been plowed.

Later in the week, Metro fell completely apart. But on the day of the storm, things were moving pretty smoothly.

Snow-covered commuters trudge toward NOAA in Silver Spring.

Cars couldn’t get up snow-covered East-West Highway in Silver Spring.

Thank god Peet’s was open! I stop here every morning on my way to work.

Cold Cyclists

After the snow came the brutal cold. Wednesday and Thursday saw high temperatures in the teens – and with the wind, it felt even colder. The streets were icy and only partially cleared – keeping my ice-fearing self off the bike. But the rest of #BikeDC kept riding, weather be damned.

Sunrise at Logan Circle, as a man on a cargo bike goes by. Air temperature: 10 degrees.

The couple that bikes together, stays cold together.

Looks warm enough until you get to the feet. A bikeshare rider on Q Street.

Why I’m not riding: ice on L Street.

Capital Bikeshare gets used at all hours of the day, in every kind of weather. Temp was in the teens as this guy sped up 15th St by the Washington Post.

This guy is proof of the recent study that biking will keep you young. Or, at least, warm.

You don’t need an expensive bike to get around the city, as this woman on T Street demonstrates.

People gonna bike. Maybe they do it because it’s cheap, faster than the Metro or because they enjoy it. Snow is not going to stop them. Cold is not going to stop them. Nothing (short of the end of the world) is going to stop them.

And if you want to ride on ice, snow and everything else, check out Pete Beers’ tips on riding with studded tires.

January 9, 2015
2014: The Year of Everyday Biking

Most of my biking is in the 15th St Cycletrack, a protected bike lane.

2014 was the year that I discovered everyday biking.

Biking is by far the best way to get around a city like Washington. It’s faster than the Metro and you don’t have to worry about getting a parking ticket.

Despite this, I primarily biked on the weekends. It was a leisure activity. I enjoyed taking the Capital Crescent Trail to Bethesda or biking around the National Mall on Sunday afternoons.

Monday through Friday, I’d walk to the Metro and see people biking, even during the worst weather.

Thought this was crazy. Soon I would join him.

(more…)

December 31, 2014
Murder in Ocean Hall – Free on Kindle! Black Friday Special!

Black Friday Special!

Why wait in line to buy some giant piece of electronics that you don’t need? Instead, stay at home and download my novel Murder in Ocean Hall for free on the Kindle.

Starting at the Smithsonian, the book is a tour of DC that one reviewer called, “A profile of the nation’s capital city from the inside out.” Another reviewer said Murder in Ocean Hall was, “A thoughtful and discerning first novel by an author with something to say.” Another said, “Joe Flood is a find.” (That was my favorite.)

And look for a sequel to this book coming next year!

November 28, 2014
Coffeeneuring: Lessons Learned

Bike #1: The Real Bike. A Specialized Sirrus, this has really held up well, despite me crashing it on the H Street trolley tracks a couple years ago.

I like biking. I love coffee. I also enjoy writing and photography. I’ve been doing coffeeneuring for years without even realizing it. The Coffeeneuring Challenge (where you bike to seven different coffee shops over seven weeks) adds structure and purpose to my cyclo-wanderings around Washington in search of java.

I had big plans this year. I was going to go on long bike trips to places I’d never been. But, in the end, I just stayed in DC.

Ever since the Errandonnee Challenge (12 errands by bike over 12 days), biking has become more of a routine activity for me than a special adventure. Errandonnee taught me that it was easier, quicker and more fun to get around DC by bike than any other method.

I bike every day. Monday-Friday it’s back and forth to the Metro, the grocery store, and other errands and activities. On the weekends, it’s to social activities, go get lunch or drink coffee (always be coffeeneuring). On Sunday afternoons, I enjoy taking a spin around the monuments.

Bike #2: The Foldy. It’s a Breezer Zig 7, which I got off Craigslist. It’s basically an older Dahon Speed 7.

When it comes to biking, I don’t want to wear funny clothes. I don’t want to prepare. I don’t want a bike that costs thousands of dollars. I want the simple and everyday – which is why I like my foldy bike so much. I got it used off Craigslist for $300 several years ago. Easy to get on and off, and with a tight turning radius (thanks small wheels), it’s perfect for getting around the city.

I also have a real bike – a Specialized Sirrus. A hybrid (road bike frame, upright position), it’s good for longer distances.

Bike people are like cat people – they seldom have only one. Two bikes puts me on the low end of cycling obsession. I want more. I think it’s time for a new foldy and a mountain bike capable of dealing with DC’s potholed streets.

When it comes to city biking, I like the Dutch approach, where cycling is an ordinary activity that everyone can do. Advancements in infrastructure like the 15th Street Cycletrack have brought this idea within reach of Washingtonians. Building protected bike lanes means people will bike – it’s that simple.

Errandonee convinced me that cycling could be done everyday; Coffeeneuring helped hone my biking philosophy.

But you don’t care about that. Here’s where I ate and drank:

Coffeeneuring 1: Peet’s (17th and L)
Date: October 4, 2014
Distance: Five miles

Coffeeneuring 2: Compass Coffee
Date: October 12, 2014
Distance: Ten miles

Coffeeneuring 3: Uprising Muffin Company
Date: October 12, 2014
Distance: Ten miles

Coffeeneuring 4: Slipstream
Date: November 1, 2014
Distance: Two miles

Coffeeneuring 5: Starbucks
Date: November 2, 2014
Distance: Ten miles

Coffeeneuring 6: Pleasant Pops
Date: November 9, 2014
Distance: 15 miles

Coffeeneuring 7: Illy
Date: November 16, 2014
Distance: 6 miles

My favorite? Compass Coffee. With a couple of great bars nearby, you could spend a whole day on that block. My second favorite? Peet’s at 17th and L. It’s sunny and you can watch people bike by on L Street.

But, in the end, I don’t think it matters which coffee shop you visit. The most important thing is just to go.

November 23, 2014
Coffeeneuring 7: Sex and the City and Cappuccino

Illy at the Renaissance Dupont Hotel in Washington, DC.

Coffeeneuring 7: Illy
Date: November 16, 2014
Distance: 6 miles

It was chilly on the last day of coffeeneuring (where you bike to seven different coffee shops over seven weeks).

Coffeeneuring is always a learning experience for me. You learn things about yourself – like how I don’t have the patience for hipster coffee. And about biking in the city, like how much design matters when it comes to safe cycletracks.

For my final coffeeneuring experience, I went to Illy in Washington, DC. I was on my “real bike” too – my Specialized Sirrus. It was a gray-skied day and I planned on going on a long ride.

Me bike, Meiwah.

But a cold wind blew right through my fleece. I was chilled so cut my trip short. Coffeeneuring lesson learned: when it’s cold, you always need one more layer.

I’m a fan of Illy because it’s about as non-hipster as it comes. Located in the lobby of a downtown hotel, Illy is a chain out of Italy. They make a beautiful cappuccino with a minimum of fuss for just $3.15. It’s the best deal in the city. And it’s made quickly, by sweet West African women without a weird beard or nose piercing in sight.

A perfect cappuccino.

There was a line of people who had come in to get out of the chilly day. But, within just a couple of minutes, I had my cappuccino and was ensconced in the early-2000s era lobby of the Renaissance Hotel.

With its mod furniture and piped-in lounge music, the Renaissance is an attempt at cool from another era. There are no distressed menu boards. Nothing is made out of hemp. You don’t have a table salvaged from a demolished building. Instead, the slick surfaces and high-tech feel of the lobby make it look like a set from Sex and the City. Lean back and you can imagine Samantha drinking Cosmos and talking dot-coms.

No fixie-riding hipster with a Civil War-era beard would be caught dead in such an establishment; it would be like going for drinks with your mom’s friends.

It’s the antithesis of hipster; I love it.

But don’t tell anyone, OK?

November 21, 2014
Coffeeneuring #6: Popsicles and Political Power

Pleasant Pops in Adams Morgan.

Coffeeneuring 6: Pleasant Pops
Date: November 9, 2014
Distance: 15 miles

Until the recent return of the polar vortex, Indian Summer was in full effect in Washington, DC. The delightful mild autumn days were ideal for coffeeneuring (where you bike to seven different coffee shops over seven weeks). It was the kind of weather where you never wanted to go inside, especially with winter looming.

But one can only bike so much. After a while, you have to stop for coffee. For my sixth coffeeneuring adventure, I went to Pleasant Pops in Adams Morgan.

A few years ago, someone told me that gourmet popsicles would be the next food trend to overtake the city. Hah! Only in New York, I thought. Washingtonians aren’t foolish enough to pay $5 for a popsicle. I was wrong. Make it quirky, organic and expensive and people in this city will wait in line to buy it. The upper limit for what DC residents will pay for luxury goods has yet to be discovered.

I did not get a Pineapple Basil or Mexican Chocolate popsicle. Instead, I got a cup of coffee and a chocolate chip cookie (which was delicious and home-made).

I sat outside at a picnic table and tried to finish Lone Star, a history of Texas. Next to me, a couple of women engaged in a humble-brag conversation about their careers. On a Sunday afternoon.

I could understand a chat about finding a job – that’s an important concern. Everyone needs to work. But rapid-fire exposition on the fabulosity of one’s white collar work? I’m sure everyone is very impressed that you met the Deputy Undersecretary but I’m sitting here trying to read my Kindle.

Which is why (controversy alert) I welcomed the shellacking the Democrats received. This city and its $5 popsicles has grown too important in the life of the nation. The American dream should not be to come to Washington and work to influence transportation policy. The American dream should be about writing a novel, starting a company or inventing something new. It should be about creating value, not just skimming off some of the taxpayer dollars that slosh into this city.

Washington should be boring. Government work, while important, cannot be the focus of the nation if we are to survive. Government is possible only due to the economic dynamism of the rest of the country. The ambitious should not aspire to come here.

Washington should be where bureaucrats (like me) quietly read books in outdoor cafes. So, go west, young man. Or light out to Texas. But don’t come here.

November 14, 2014