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This seems neutral leaning good I think? Not super familiar with this guy other than what the article states. Anyone else have more insight?

When he was GM of WMATA, I would see Wiedefeld all the time on the MARC, commuting to DC from Penn Station. Always found it amusing that a Baltimore guy was running the DC Metro, and doing so via a commute on MARC at that. Humble guy with deep local ties apparently, so I know the city doing well actually means something to him. Conversed with him a couple times and he even got to telling me about how his grandfather, a sailor, founded St. Ann's Church at 22nd St & Greenmount Ave, after surviving a storm at sea where he pledged to work for God if God saved him.

That said, didn't see this pick coming, but agree that it leans good. With his background in airports and transit, I imagine that more multimodal investment will be prioritized at MDOT. It's a definite upgrade from Pete Rahn who was a highways guy that served as transportation secretary in Missouri and New Mexico, before Hogan brought him to Maryland.

The DC sub hates this guy and blames him for the shitty state of the metro. They seem to feel the new head is turning that around but most seem to think Wiedefeld sucked at running it. Some said the problems were bigger than him, but they are a minority.

So I’m not really sure if this is good. But to be fair the DC sub is one of the most hysterical, over reacting and screaming ‘our leaders are failing us’ on every topic, city subs I visit so…

Huge L

Man can’t stop failing upwards… have you seen metro lately (ever?)

Clearly, we need a regional authority. I guess I remain optimistic that any change has got to be better than what we got.

The DC sub is very schizophrenic. I've seen people put down posts highlighting the "high crime" but other people being hysterical about it. My theory on the sub's general schizophrenia is because DC attracts transplants from all the country (especially the high strung, high achiever types), it's also bound to attract extreme pearl-clutching types who grew up in the super safe urbane suburbs who never had to deal with the problems of living in a big city (the occasional shooting, package theft, sexual harassment, homeless encampments). When these things happen, it just shocks them to posting hyperbole all over the place at every single little wrong thing they see with the city.

God forbid they even think about moving to a place like Baltimore.

I take the DC sub with somewhat a grain of salt on Wiedefeld. Ridership had been falling for a # of years before he joined WMATA, and a big part of his tenure was focused on addressing deferred maintenance, which was painful but necessary. I did think at times that he was conservative in his management as far as not exploring services that other transit agencies offer, like a Night Owl Bus service or late night weekend rail service. Then COVID hit and all bets were off.

FWIW, I think there's a heavy (and likely frustrating) political angle to being Metro GM & having to balance relationships/sometimes wrangle with the Feds, the Mayor of DC, and the governors of VA and MD. Wiedefeld seems like more of a technical person who probably didn't enjoy the political side of the job. Obviously, there will still be politics to deal with in his new role but he's going to have a lot of latitude to shape policy and he'll be well-supported by Moore and Miller, so perhaps a less intense dynamic compared to being head of WMATA. He never struck me as incompetent though.

lmao "background in airports" https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bal-hogan-replaces-wiedefeld-as-head-of-bwi-20150710-story.html

Ha, Yea that’s the same feeling I get when browsing it. In my head it’s As you say very high stung people living in a city for the first time. It’s like a bunch of the sub grew up in the DC suburbs but upper middle class. Another bunch came from the suburbs of some small Midwest city like Tulsa or something and have never seen real city problems. And the rest are leftovers from the last presidential administration. It gets real dog-whistlely in there sometimes.

Yeah, on the bright side, the bar was on the floor with Rahn (tbf I wasn't aware we'd had two new transportation secretaries since 2020), and it remains to been who gets named to run MTA along with any actual push to make a regional authority.

And it seems like Wiedefeld's previous time at MTA overlaps with when O'Malley was choosing the Red Line route which probably beats a total outsider if there's any intent to try to get it underway quickly?

I am absolutely loving this comment. You are very accurate with the way you describe that subreddit. As someone who was actually born and raised in DC it annoys me when the transplants complain about the city as it is now.

They have no idea how the red carpet has been laid out for them while decades long issues with the native residents continue to go ignored. DC as it is is safer now than it's been in many, many years and they don't get it because they don't know anything about it's history. All they care about is the money that's available for them to make. Once they have satisfied themselves they will be leaving anyway. Unfortunately some of them will end up here.

Frankly, it's very similar here in Baltimore. People move here with no knowledge of the neighborhood they are going to except that it may be trendy and they end up woefully disappointed as a result.

What's so hard about doing a little homework first? Oh wait! That would require initiative and a measure of common sense which sadly is an endangered species these days.

I moved to Baltimore several years ago and made my home here, while I know it has it's warts,bumps, and bruises it also has a lot of charm. Sometimes what shines isn't gold and you have to remember that diamonds are ugly rocks until they are cut the right way, It's all in how you look at it.

Can you imagine how it comes across to someone that's actually from there? When chocolate is always being complained about by vanilla? It gets so old real quick and it's why I respond the way I do to it.

These are people that don't know what it's like to go to a school that absolutely sucks. They don't know what it's like to be treated like you don't belong in the very city you grew up in. Or being pushed out of a neighborhood where many of your family members once lived. I experienced that and it really, really sucks.

It's not even about race per se, at least I don't want to think that way even if it's being incredibly naive. I think it's a class issue. They treat DC natives as if they are better than us and that absolutely rubs me the wrong way.\

Here in Baltimore I have met people that are a lot more welcoming and friendly. Ironically enough, I was able to finally find peace despite the awful reputation of this city and that truly makes me smile.

From what I’ve been told, there is intent to get going right away on the red line. There are some issues to deal with as far as original ROWs are concerned (we’ve built on them) so there will need to be slight route changes. I’m also concerned that the greenway trail and the red line are both counting on using the same defunct but still owned by Norfolk Southern ROW along Haven st in the SE. I’m still trying to get clarification on this though.

Is it safe to assume that intent is to maintain light rail technology for the Red Line (vs. BRT or heavy rail)?

The proposed rail is a different track than the light rail IIRC. It’s the standard DC uses iirc.