By the Metro escalators at the Union Station 1st St NE entrance, for several months now, a large enclosure of wood panels has blocked the gap between the escalators and the entrance to Amtrak HQ. This week I noticed that the walls are finally gone, and once again foot traffic is free to pass through the gap to get to the down-bound Metro escalator without squeezing in with the opposing traffic on the other side of the entrance.

What I’m wondering is, why was that area closed off for so long? Call me unobservant, but I really don’t see much visible change in the floor or walls which were walled up, other than a shinier floor and some duct tape over the grout. Surely all that work wasn’t just to lay down some wiring and polish the granite? Union Station Metro-goers, what do you think?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Paulo Ordoveza

Roving Asian mendicant, can occasionally be seen wandering the streets of downtown Washington, muttering unintelligible gibberish to passers-by while pushing a “bag lady” shopping cart full of old blankets, American flags, soda cans, and healthy secondhand snacks from organic food shop dumpsters. Used to live in a cardboard box at 16th and K but the rent was too expensive.