The real epidemic here is fuzzy thinking

1. I was going to blog about this yesterday, because of this story in the Post, "Study Calls HIV in D.C. A 'Modern Epidemic': More Than 80 Percent Of Recent Cases Were Among Black Residents," but I didn't. Then today's story, "City Plans Multifaceted Attack," with this paragraph:

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's administration pledged yesterday to triple the number of free condoms being distributed by the D.C. government within a year and to work with city hospitals to increase HIV testing in emergency rooms. The plans were announced as the administration released a report that called HIV-AIDS a "modern epidemic" in the District and showed that the condition, once considered a gay disease, has spread to the general population.

and this editorial "A Modern Epidemic': A study reveals the tight grip of HIV and AIDS on the District," forces me to.

What ties people together who have AIDs is certain risk factors or health behaviors. I'm not trying to be callous, that's just the facts.

2. Harry Jaffe's column in the Examiner about why DC Chief Financial Officer Gandhi should be retained is also another example of fuzzy thinking and a focus on people rather than professionalism or accountability and building robust systems and processes for good government that transcend personalization. See "Ten reasons to keep Gandhi."

He says that Congress and Wall Street like Gandhi, plus Gandhi says no to tax incentive deals (uh, really?), and that City Council will give up the financial store if Mr. Gandhi isn't around. Well, why not hire the best Chief Financial Officer around, rather than one who didn't institute some of the most basic checks and financial controls for the units in his division?

And the best CFO maybe isn't a star, just someone who does his job superlatively.

3. More fuzzy thinking is communicated by (but not from) the Examiner in their anti-subway editorial about Dulles Rail, "Tysons Corner exodus is an early warning sign." From the article:

McLean Citizens Association Board member Mark Zetts says Tysons Corner will never become a successful transit-oriented development center like Arlington’s Rosslyn-Ballston corridor because Tysons is sealed off by already overcrowded interstates, while the R-B area has 40 access lanes — one every quarter of a mile — that facilitate the smooth flow of traffic.

This is almost irrelevant to the success of the Wilson Blvd. corridor. Is the fact that I-66 is nearby matter that much as mixed use development and linking land use and transportation planning?

Transportation is about two things: getting to and leaving a destination; and well as travel within a destination. The subway proposal to Tysons is about both, however, the above-ground method likely reduces the utility of intra-district mobility.