Those of you who ride Metro from Foggy Bottom Station, does this scene look familiar?

Remember how in 2008 Metro closed off an escalator and only had one escalator going down at rush hour, so that people escaped the overwhelming crush by running up the down escalator in a video (shot by yours truly) that made the local news? Suddenly WMATA cleaned up its act with regard to passenger traffic management, and for the next few weeks they turned off the escalators, assigned someone to guide counterflow, and put out advisories.

No such courtesies were extended this morning, almost as though WMATA only reacts when the news puts them on the spot — or a disaster kills people. Good thing there wasn’t a fire in the station this morning.

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.