The Washington Post is resolute: another editorial about DC issues from a suburban perspective (baseball)

You have to admire the Washington Post and its perseverance. Today, the Washington Post editorializes for the third time in favor of surface parking at the Washington Nationals baseball stadium.

See:
-- "The Unfinished Stadium Deal" (Sunday, July 16, 2006, Page B06)
--"Parking at the Ballpark: A dose of realism on the stadium project" (Saturday, July 8, 2006; Page A14)
-- "Lots of Disagreement" (Thursday, June 15, 2006; Page A26)

Note that the Washington Post sold its once next door parking structure and surface parking lot for $50 million, and it is now being replaced by a new office building. So they do understand the value of underground parking and building above.
________
Growth machine factions fight it out in a genteel fashion, in editorials in the local newspaper. This is a "fight" between an urban segment of the growth machine (Herb Miller, his firm Western Development and the politicos he helps to fund) and one of the suburban segments (Lerner Enterprises, known for developments such as White Flint, Black Flint--uhh, I mean Landover Mall, and Tysons Corner). Both groups likely have representatives to the Greater Washington Board of Trade and the Federal City Council. Even so, their bread gets buttered in different ways.

Speaking of songs, here are the lyrics to one by Ben Folds, "Rockin' the suburbs"

Let me tell y'all what it's like
Watching idol on a friday night
In a house built safe and sound
On indian burial ground
Sham On

We drive our cars everyday
To and from work both ways
So we make just enough to pay
To drive our cars to work each day

We're rocking the suburbs
Around the block just one more time
We're rocking the suburbs
Cause I can't tell which house is mine
We're rocking the suburbs
We part the shades and face facts
They got better looking Fescue
Right across the cul de sac

Hotwheels take rising stars
Get rich quick seminars
Soap opera magazines
40,000 watt nativity scenes
Don't freak about the smoke alarm
Mom left the TV dinner on

Yet we're rocking the suburbs
From family feud to Chevy Chase
We're rocking the suburbs
We numb the muscles in our face
We're rocking the suburbs
Feed the dog and mow the lawn
Watching mommy balance the checks*
While daddy juggles credit cards*

We're rocking the suburbs
Everything we need is here
We're rocking the suburbs
But it wasn't here last year
We're rocking the suburbs
You'll never know when we are gone
Because the timer lights come on
And turn the cricket noises on each night
Yeah, yeah, we're rocking the suburbs
Yeah, yeah, we're rocking the suburbs

* We do that in the city too. (And yes, I lived in the suburbs for a time, from 7th to 12th grades, and in the summers after my first three years of college.)

These days, Washington, DC proper is only the #4 market segment for the Washington Post. Fairfax, Montgomery, and Prince George's Counties are #1, #2, and #3 respectively.

Index Keywords: urban-design-placemaking