Disqus - Friends of BruceMajors

Re: Cab Drivers Deliver Letter To Gray, Ask For Halt To Impounds

HillmanDC — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 18:13:01 -0000

So since they are asking for reimbursement for the upgrade costs I assume they are also asking that the increased cab fare rate that they got to pay for those costs be done away with too, right?

Re: Cab Drivers Deliver Letter To Gray, Ask For Halt To Impounds

HillmanDC — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 18:23:57 -0000

Did their letter smell like clown vomit, refuse to pick up black people, refuse to take people to anywhere other than choice parts of NW, and was it at least 20 years old and a deathtrap?

I mean, if they want to represent.....

Re: Taxi Association Sues City, Cab Commission To Stop Fines, Towing

HillmanDC — Wed, 06 Nov 2013 17:10:11 -0000

So until their lawsuit is settled they'll be refusing the rate hike they got to pay for these improvements?

Re: Taxi Association Sues City, Cab Commission To Stop Fines, Towing

HillmanDC — Thu, 07 Nov 2013 07:00:26 -0000

Your industry had 30 years to not suck.

Your industry chose to suck.

Hard for us to gin up sympathy for you now.

Re: Taxi Association Sues City, Cab Commission To Stop Fines, Towing

HillmanDC — Thu, 07 Nov 2013 12:44:11 -0000

Simmer down, sweetness.

I clearly said your industry sucked. I didn't say you personally did.

And it does.

Of course there are a few exceptions. And when there are I give credit where credit is due.

But by and large your industry has chosen to suck.

Re: Photos: Celebs Dress Up For Halloween, Iggy Azalea Remains The Greatest

HillmanDC — Sun, 02 Nov 2014 09:19:41 -0000

For the NPH family that would have been weeks of sewing. After of course becoming an expert tailor.

And the end result would be sloppy and look like crap.

I seriously doubt the kids care one way or another who made the clothes as long as they had fun.

Re: City Plan Would Close D.C. General as Early as Next Fall

HillmanDC — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 12:36:04 -0000

So that half million plus we spent on the playground there was for what? Public relations?

But hey. DC knows they have an endless supply of taxpayers they can just tax more....

Re: City Plan Would Close D.C. General as Early as Next Fall

HillmanDC — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 12:37:11 -0000

Sucks for the residents of 7 and 8 but for the most part they bring it on themselves.

They continuously vote for Marion Barry and other proponents of keeping our failed public welfare system in place no matter how obviously failed it is.

You vote for this, you get it.

Yes, I know not everyone there votes that way. But clearly the majority do.

Re: D.C. Transported More Than 2,200 People During Its First Two Hypothermia Days

HillmanDC — Wed, 05 Nov 2014 15:23:19 -0000

As sad as it is, I would really like to hear more detail about your experiences with DC foster care. I've heard horror stories about the inefficiency, the refusal to work outside of race of the family, etc.

Re: D.C. Transported More Than 2,200 People During Its First Two Hypothermia Days

HillmanDC — Wed, 05 Nov 2014 15:23:44 -0000

Also tractor seats. You catch it there too.

Re: D.C. Transported More Than 2,200 People During Its First Two Hypothermia Days

HillmanDC — Wed, 05 Nov 2014 15:25:48 -0000

Sell the damn Mitch Snyder Center already. Land alone would bring in $300 million minimum. The dedicate every dollar in tax money from the massive boring 11 story office building that goes up there to homeless services. In a continuing forever revenue stream.

That would go a HUGE way toward solving a lot of the homeless problem in DC.

But no. Far more important that we 'keep the homeless visible' in absurdly expensive areas than it is to actually use our resources wisely to provide services.

Re: D.C. Transported More Than 2,200 People During Its First Two Hypothermia Days

HillmanDC — Wed, 05 Nov 2014 15:26:42 -0000

Seriously. How many of DC's homeless actually have more ties in MD than they do in DC?

It's got to be a pretty high number.

Re: Report: D.C. Overpays by More Than $25 Million in Stadium Deal

HillmanDC — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 07:15:44 -0000

We've been throwing piles of money and resources at DC schools and public housing for decades now.

Where exactly is our return on investment?

Re: Report: D.C. Overpays by More Than $25 Million in Stadium Deal

HillmanDC — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 07:42:31 -0000

Without education?

We pay more per pupil than 99.9 percent of the school systems out there.

Throwing more money at DCPS isn't an answer.

And DC's parks and rec centers got a massive infusion of cash under Fenty and Williams.

The biggest problem with their use is crime issues in many of them.

Re: Report: D.C. Overpays by More Than $25 Million in Stadium Deal

HillmanDC — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 12:04:14 -0000

Worth noting that DC and most other cities pay for infrastructure around large projects no matter what they type of project it is.

Re: Report: D.C. Overpays by More Than $25 Million in Stadium Deal

HillmanDC — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 12:07:11 -0000

Agreed. We've squandered the massive resources we allocate to affordable housing in DC. It was supposed to be a temporary helping hand, not a way of life for three or four generations.

And don't even get me started on the idiocy of maintaining homeless shelters and public housing on some of the most expensive parcels in the city. The value there is in the land, and by simply redeveloping the land we could fund five times as much affordable housing elsewhere.

But no. Instead we must 'keep the poor visible' and 'ensure economic diversity' in even our most expensive areas.

We've made our choice. We value idiocy like that over actually helping people.

And of course then we must constantly come back and demand yet more taxes to fund yet more public housing.

Re: Report: D.C. Overpays by More Than $25 Million in Stadium Deal

HillmanDC — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 12:08:57 -0000

Cute answer.

But the fact is many kids in DC public housing will end up living there their entire lives, and having their own kids live there as well.

That's not how public housing is supposed to work.

Re: The Human Right of Marriage

HillmanDC — Fri, 07 Nov 2014 07:26:48 -0000

Beautiful couple. I wish them success.

Re: All The Elections That Fit

HillmanDC — Fri, 07 Nov 2014 08:05:02 -0000

I do wonder how changing technology will affect things like this planned rail line.

What happens when we have driverless cars?

I'd much rather be picked up at my house and share a driverless van ride with a dozen neighbors to some central spot than to have to hoof it blocks to a dedicated rail stop, then have to walk blocks further to my final destination.

Here in DC we are spending a billion dollars on a trolley line that will end up most likely only going 13 blocks. And it goes SLOWER than existing traffic.

I'm all for mass transit.

But sometimes it makes sense and sometimes it doesn't.

What can this expensive rail line do that a dedicated rapid transit bus system can't do for about 1/10th the cost, and with a ton more flexibility to change routes as needed?

Re: The Case of Austin's Declining African-American Population

HillmanDC — Fri, 07 Nov 2014 08:26:53 -0000

Professor Tang is smoking hot. I'd tap that.

But going beyond that, his analysis seems a little superficial.

There are cultural issues at work here.

One being that quite often African Americans don't value home ownership.

Here in DC the city and various advocacy groups tried very hard to get blacks to buy their houses or condos, etc., back when they were very affordable.

They weren't very successful.

First thing I did when I moved to DC was buy a house. I sold my crappy old Jeep for $2000 and used that as a down payment.

After that there was no way I could be displaced, as long as I paid my mortgage payments.

Quite a few black acquaintances have told me that they lament the fact that so many blacks they know don't have an interest in purchasing their homes, and then wonder why they are displaced ten years later.

One unfortunate factor in Austin is property taxes. Your property tax rate is far higher than ours, and I can easily see your property tax displacing longtime homeowners, unless you have some sort of a program like we have here, which freezes any tax hikes until the homeowner either dies or sells. I'm not aware of a program like that in place in Austin.

It's also an issue of crime. East Austin has more crime than many suburbs.

And of course you simply get a lot more house in the burbs.

That isn't some grand racist plot. It's simple supply and demand.

Re: No Preservations: Money Perverts the Historic Landmarking Process

HillmanDC — Sat, 08 Nov 2014 07:47:28 -0000

Thugs is exactly what they are.

This a shakedown, pure and simple.

Re: Questions About Hundreds Of Overflow Units Needed For Homeless Families This Winter Remain

HillmanDC — Tue, 11 Nov 2014 08:29:10 -0000

That $11 million doesn't really count all the costs. That's just specifically for this program. Doesn't include the absurdly huge number of city workers that are employed (and I use that term very loosely) in the various departments that justify their existence and bloated budgets because of the continuous lurching from one homeless 'crisis' to another.

Re: Own Goal: The D.C. United Stadium Faces a Skeptical D.C. Council

HillmanDC — Fri, 14 Nov 2014 00:25:44 -0000

The Yards and the neighborhood around it wouldn't exist if it hadn't been for MASSIVE infrastructure improvements that DC taxpayers paid for.

They literally created a new city street grid for that area, poured in tens of millions in roads, sewer, etc.

And of course Nats Stadium.

Re: Own Goal: The D.C. United Stadium Faces a Skeptical D.C. Council

HillmanDC — Fri, 14 Nov 2014 00:27:33 -0000

Ah yes. The threat of lawsuit.

This is why DC can't have nice things.

Re: Uber and Spotify Partner So That You Can Stream That Playlist In The Car

HillmanDC — Mon, 17 Nov 2014 17:49:11 -0000

There's a wee bit of bullshit in that article.

The biggest being the "IRS estimate" of gas and insurance costs of 56 cents a mile as the cost that Uber drivers incur.

That's absurd. It's a massive tax break that those that drive for a living get.

Using it as a basis for real costs to say that Uber drivers aren't making any money is flat out stupid.