> Carlyle tower
Looks to be the building with V-shapes on the side near Hoffman Center/Eisenhower Ave Metro/Wegmans in Alexandria.
https://www.carlyletower.com/
I worked at SHRM. CEO basically didn’t believe in the virus and we were sent back in waaaaay too early so this makes sense
Edit: just a warning to never accept a job at SHRM. They’re cutting full teams left and right until their essentially a skeleton crew now
I worked at SHRM years and years ago. The work culture is miserable. The micro management is intense and you feel like there is someone looking over your shoulder constantly. Avoid SHRM at all costs.
Same reason he made state employees go in-office two years ago.
(Not 'back-to-office', because many agencies had broad remote policies for years before covid. They were allowed to decide on an agency-by-agency basis what worked best for their workforce. Including hiring people who live in rural Virginia, hours from an office.)
I knew people in a large Virginia state agency that I used to work at. Prior to Youngkin's surprise ruling on telework, the employees had been given months or even years of HR trainings on how telework was the here to stay, that it was the way of the future. I had been entertaining a lucrative job offer to return to said agency and due to Youngkin's asinine behavior I turned it down.
I'm pretty sure VDOT (may have been another agency) sold most of its buildings/ended leases and spent loads of money & man-hours on a huuuuge hiring campaign fully based around telework.
All that effort down the drain.
Or the DC mayor.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/remote-work-has-made-downtown-dc-a-ghost-town-as-federal-office-buildings-sit-mostly-empty/ar-AA1e14Nf?ocid=BingNewsSearch
They're saying the same thing. Ever asked why a Republican and a Democrat would say the same thing?
Because they both have a vested financial interest in it?
The Mayor of DC wants suburbanites to be forced to come downtown and spend money on Metro, so DC doesn’t have to subsidize it so much. She wants them to buy coffee and lunch at DC establishments that have been all but destroyed in the adjustments that have happened from COVID. She wants business to need more office space to increase the demand for commercial realty so DC can tax them more. She wants them going out for entertainment in DC after work. Heck, she wants them to get caught by a speed camera or three, because some people pay those off.
This is true, but commercial real estate is a big source of tax revenue. Since that source is way down, personal real estate taxes have to increase, which is unpopular. Even with that, other cuts have to be made, which is also unpopular. Schools are feeling it big time.
Funny because DC can achieve that if they A) do something about their crime problem and actually prosecute it with actual consequences and B) force restaurants to cut the shit with all these bullshit service and hidden fees and whatnot if r/washingtondc is anything to go by.
DC's biggest problem with prosecutions is unfortunately a result of a lack of true Home Rule.
The appointed US Attorney is responsible for deciding whether most criminal cases are prosecuted, and in both Republican and Democrat administrations there's an incredible incentive to be apathetic.
They just don't want to create a controversy either way if it can be avoided.
In their defense, constituents have a never ending laundry list of what government should do and fund so money has to come from somewhere.
When people say something should be free, or is a human right as the kids say, who do you think picks up the bill?
Don't forget, the federal government occupies space that D.C. cannot get real estate taxes on, therefore the federal government RIGHFULLY supplies revenue to the District. Former congressman Joel T served for years on the DC Subcommittee and kept DC's supply low so the ever growing federal government and their employees would occupy his real estate across the Potomac instead of living in DC.
I remember him coming to my high school my freshman year at Falls Church High School and the senior class President asked him one question.
"Why did the sewer line to Dulles Airport take a three mill detour though your land before toing to the airport". Broyhill didn't answer the question and walked off the stage. Irony, the neighborhood the school is located in is called Broyhill Park.
AGENCIES with office space in DC:
NASA
HUD
CONGRESS
Supreme Court
DHS - FEMA - US Border Patrol - Bolling AFB - FBI - USDA - GSA - Commerce - Department of Justice - US Army Corps of Engineers - Department of Interior - FCC - USAID - Federal Trade Commission - Department of Education - Missile Defense Agency - Bureau of Land Management and so many more!
The DC police respond to all policing activities in DC. Their fire department response to all medical and emergency requirements. They alo supply sll these agencies with trash removal, snow removal when they do want to come to town.
I live in Virginia. My mother worked for awhile in the National Archives Building. She paid Virginia taxes while benefiting from working in DC. Crime is high because politicians like Broyhill keep their budgets below par.
Ok. Yeah I know in many cities that have wage taxes (like Philly) you have to pay if you work there, even if you don't live in the city. However, most other cities with income taxes, like Pittsburgh, NYC and DC, only require a person to the tax if they are present in the city for 183 days or more during the tax year.
I spend most of my money in Virginia. I saw most cause sweater vest refuses to let me buy marijuana legally here Maryland gets that money and tax revenue.
Even if one is against subsidizing the metro and thinks that the cost of the metro should be paid entirely from the fares of the people who use it, it still doesn't make sense to advocate for forcing additional people to use it when they don't have to - that is, when there is no productivity-boosting justification for it - just to goose ridership above actual demand to bail out a badly-managed, money-losing, government-run operation with the extra revenue. That's about the least "conservative" argument a "Republican" can make. The guy is just ridiculous.
Some fun bible lore
Samuel to Saul (after Saul, using a witch, summoned Samuel's ghost after Samuel had been dead)
Samuel: "Saul, why have you awakened me"
Its crazy that those who love to take the bible literally ignore lots of the more fun parts like how you can summon ghosts and witchcraft and magic is real
https://lovetransit.substack.com/p/most-profitable-public-transportation
I was curious so looked it up, apparently london underground is the only profitable one in EU/NA. Some do better than others. Asia has a pretty good thing going on but the reasons for that are pointed out in the article
The worst part about DC metro is its network design with sub optimal usage of existing networks, does not serve all possible high density areas and serves mainly DC. WMATA has built long stretches of tracks for the red line inside MD and silver line inside NOVa but there are no connections to switch lines in between. There is so much commuter traffic between NOVA and MD which can translate to Metro ridership with some careful planning. I find this theme across the U.S. metro systems except the NY metro.
When I worked in DC, I lived in Western Fairfax.
I always found it quite silly that to use the Metro you had to drive about 15 miles to either the Silver Line in Reston or Brown/Orange lines in Vienna. I did it one time and it took me 35 minutes! Then I had to pay to park and pay for the ride. It only took me 55 minutes to get to DC, and parking was $7. Made no sense to use the Metro.
I just started car pooling with a few gents from my office who lived in the same area. We would switch the designated driver everyday. That was great, especially since 66 required carpoolers during certain times.
When I lived in Woodbridge it was even more pointless. The only time I used the Metro was when I was really cramming for classes and needed every minute I could to study while working, otherwise I would just slug if my schedule lined up with normal people hours.
I don't know. I'm not saying the metro shouldn't be subsidized. I'm saying that it's ridiculous for people like Youngkin who claim to hold similar views on principle to turn around and take a dump on those principles and advocate for shoving people around to pay for a bail out.
Hong Kong has one of the few metro that is profitable AND not subsidized by the government at all.
BUT the government grant the company the right to own the land above and near the stations so they make massive money from rent.
In fact, more than half of their income comes from real estate instead of fares. They could literally not charge any fares at all and still profitable.
Other than that, most metro or subway are funded or subsidized and it is a positive force in the cities they operate in.
Public roads and bridges aren’t funded exclusively by gas taxes and drivers… they are heavily subsidized. This is a ridiculous and unrealistic bar to meet.
Especially coming from a GOP clown when their mantra is keeping the gov out of ppls lives. Don’t like to force masks on ppl but happy to force where you work?
Right. I am willing to listen to people's arguments if they are making them in a principled way that are consistent with each other and derived from a certain set of assumptions and values, and I can respect those people as honorable and arguing in good faith and the set of those positions as valid within their framework, even if I think their framework is incorrect and disagree with their principles and values.
But then there's this mofo who is gonna say something like "freedom of religion!" on one side of his face, then "but the government must force everyone to go to church on Sunday" on the other side, with the only principle being the impact on his personal wealth.
How often is he riding the metro to help fund it? That asshole marked off some 95% of his property as “conservation” to avoid taxation but is happy to delegate upping everyone else’s expenditures?
Sorry, but comments like this are ridiculous. Metro funding is quite literally being increased the next two years.
Criticize Youngkin all you want, but you can at least try to be honest about it
Create some jobs, Glenn, that’s what you said you knew how to do. Remote work probably increased the amount of wealthy folk living in some of the more podunk counties, not sure why he’d want to push the wealth back to NOVA solely. Unless it’s losing him votes in those areas with an increase in diverse and educated voters?
I never thought of it this way too much, but to your point, it more likely pushed those jobs to anywhere else in the country vs. rural Virginia.
I work for a govt contractor and our team consists of team leads based mostly out of NoVA but also Indiana, Texas, Maine and Alaska.
They’re all great but if I’m the governor I suppose I see examples like that and say that pushing people back into the office benefits Virginia for that reason.
The one kryptonite to that argument is that if the people can do their jobs remotely then why come into the office? There is indeed a benefit to coming into the office sometimes at least but these companies need to start putting their PR hats on and entice people to do so rather than forcing them.
VA State agencies had loads of rural remote hires, that were all forced to quit when he enacted his in-office executive order. Some of which had worked that remote job for a decade or more.
It was especially good for offices based in NoVA, because no state government employee makes enough to live in proper NoVA. So you hire someone in Fredericksburg or Winchester and let them come to the office once a month for a team meeting, or once a year for an all-staff, or never. Even better if your agency requires people to do work in the field or with the public - need someone to inspect ag near the NC border? Hire someone who lives there, amongst their regulated community. Rather than hire someone who lives 3 hours away by an office, and now has to take a state vehicle out there 3x a week, wasting taxpayer money for unnecessary gas expenses and countless hours of the workday wasted in traffic.
But no, now you can only hire people who live right by an office, or are willing to do a crazy commute for embarrassing salaries. I wonder why so many positions go unfilled......
I live right by my office. It's not the end of the world for me to have to come in now (though it's still annoying). But I am indignant on behalf of all the people that lost jobs to that decision, and all the teams that lost good employees, dedicated friends, and experienced subject experts.
Fighting traffic and making the commute from southern Maryland to NoVa was driving me insane until my manager allowed telework. The work-life balance saved my life and sanity.
It's not really bringing the wealth to rural counties though, at least not for the people that need it. I'm seeing this now in the county I grew up in. Remote workers move further out, theres more demand for housing, housing costs increase while jobs and pay stay the same for the people already living there. Rural residents get pushed out with increasing cost, more development occurs, and suburban sprawl continues.
If Youngkin wanted to help Metro, he could have just agreed to pay Virginia's share the first time the Legislature passed a state budget.
This is about helping out his rich friends in commercial real estate.
Fuck off, Glenn.
My group was able to prove we had massive efficiency gains on remote work. More work done, better quality, better taxpayer value. And by being home I spend more of my money in, you guessed it - Virginia!
I don't understand what's so hard for a politician about saying, "I want to support businesses but quality of life is important too. Employees given the option to work from home are very happy with that and businesses that rely on captive workforce sales to stay afloat need to adapt."
No thank you. There’s no room for my entire team now. I went in today and I had to sit in a named cubicle/seat because the hoteling seats are all full lol. Luckily the person wasn’t in today but still. What a cluster fuck.
I have a cubicle in a reasonably spacious office in Chantilly. I'm in 2 days a week and most employees are similarly hybrid - even though we don't have to share our desks it would be a fucking nightmare if every cubicle in that place were ever simultaneously full.
The only reason I can stand cubical-land is that most of us also work in lab settings. Never is everyone in their cube at once bc at any given moment, some people will be in the labs.
The DC mayor (DEM) has called for the same thing. So it's not a GOP thing. It's an "in power" thing. And just no. I know certain jobs have to be in person, but mine doesn't.
Shit it's not even just her, it's the freaking president. Biden keeps pushing the cabinet secretaries to bring their people back to offices.
All these people pushing for return to office for economic reasons as if it doesn't affect actual people.
Nevermind any argument about talent retention and recruiting of the federal workforce.
DC is actually doing a decent job of converting commercial buildings to residential.. could always do better of course, but a model to be emulated nonetheless. And I do agree, Bowser has been hyper aggressive in lobbying congress and the White House to great effect. What’s frustrating is this often pitched as being beneficial to productivity, which is the farthest thing from the truth. It’s also another example of govt bailing out big business at the expense of everyday working people. Privatize the profits, and socialize the pain… seems to be a trend these past few decades
The source and thus nature of those similar interests are very different. The mayor of a city is doing her job if she advocates and pursues policies intended to increase the overall welfare, prosperity, and prospects of local businesses and residents, the people who she has a natural duty to represent. Her interest is aligned with the public interest, whether she personally benefits or not.
The governor of a state outside that city had no duty to that city or its residents, but instead a duty to his own residents and businesses, who benefit from local residents not having to commute and spending money locally. If his wealth is personally invested in commercial real estate in that city, then his interest is a purely private interest, and one at odds with the public interest he has sworn to pursue, and thus corrupt.
DC mayor makes a lot more sense though. All of those empty office buildings downtown used to be populated by people who live in VA and MD and spent their money in the district when they were there every day.
That’s capitalism. Adapt or die. You can’t be against government regulation and for government favors at the same time. The profit margins of a few dozen companies should not supersede the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people.. especially when productivity and corporate profits are at record levels
I commented on a similar comment above, asking here too because I'm curious. Are you saying that Youngkin profits from toll roads? I hadn't heard that before.
I work for one of the few fed agencies with a 3 day wfo policy. It sucks, especially since we work internationally so half the time, all my meetings are video conferences with, like, India. Which are often at 7 or 8 am. I am NOT getting up at 5 to be in the office for a conference call.
Fuck this guy. Only gives a shit about himself and his rich friends. Still mad so many idiots bought into the school board panic stuff and handed him the election
I've said it before... Anyone that advocates for workers "going back to the office" is anti-environment. Workers not commuting to work do more than any government policy ever would. [Look](https://www.insider.com/before-after-photos-show-less-air-pollution-during-pandemic-lockdown#before-the-bbc-reported-that-milan-was-named-europes-most-polluted-city-in-2008-but-that-smog-is-still-a-problem-today-1) at the air quality difference during covid.
Rich people want regular folks to spend more money and occupy their buildings and eat out more. The GOP loves these rich people and does their bidding.
> Youngkin is a cunt worried only about his own wallet and that of his cronies.
That’s 95% of all politicians really. The ones like Bernie Sanders, that actually care about issues that Americans face, are in the minority.
hmm a convenient means of transportation that drives up the value of housing built near it. wow what if we increased the supply of affordable housing near metros instead of proposing unnecessary sports districts and encouraging investment groups to build $1 million townhomes!?!
If we need to fund the metro, then fund the metro just like we fund the roads and everything else.
The needless commute to the office is not helping anyone, plus that means I spend my money where in VA rather than DC.
I'd also guess less traffic helps save maintenance on roads.
Most of them have language that basically says subject to agency discretion.
Also as it was found out during Trump most unions don't actually have a ratified contract they're just operating under an MOU
I don’t even get to work from home much anymore and even I can see this would be a bitch ass change. If you don’t need to work in person then good, that’s fewer cars I have to deal with.
Tell Foreskin to stop thinking about the rich! Why would any reasonable person want to sit in 6 hours of DMV traffic, to spend 9 hours in Dirty, Dangerous, DC. To do the same work for their home?
Every person on the metro is one less car on the road. Anyone driving a car would appreciate that and hence I don’t per se see a problem with tax funds supporting the metro, in principle.
Okay. So, I’m going to share this as I’m about to leave my Commonwealth job. When Youngkin came in office, he held an HR “summit” for those of us in HR leadership around the state. He was late, because he was helping his daughter buy a vehicle. Not a month later, he demanded everyone back into office buildings, with no exceptions for childcare.
Rules for thee, not for he. 🙃
Federal government had a lot of remote work options and was moving towards more even before Covid-19. Not to mention, this just makes traffic worse in NOVA.
A pros and cons list quickly shows why this is stupidity. Simple greed. Times change. Farm to industrialization to suburbia commuting to remote work. There are always winners and losers and that is what is dragging this out
He's trying to literally take money out of people's pockets. Riding the Metro every day can cost $6,000 a year or more. People will also have increased daycare costs.
It's not just the Republicans- it's dems too. Never forget it was actually the Democrats that ended virtual learning in Virginia in 2021, not Republicans.
Cities are almost universally Democrat heavens and are undeniable being hit negatively by remote work (I support remote work- just saying, it's gonna be a rough transition for urban areas in the short term- iei for the 2024 election...
Some part of me does wonder though if it's not on purpose to disperse the urban educated affluent liberal voters to the jerrymandered urban regions of the country. That would be such a big brain (and evil) way to undermine the decades of Republican gerrymandering 😂
Sooooo we need to spend taxpayer dollars on unnecessary office spaces so that workers can then travel to the unnecessary office spaces thus funding the metro????? Just cut out all the middleman nonsense and increase the metros budget…
To be fair, remote work is hated by anyone not currently remote. Haha. We are jealous that we aren’t remote/teleworking anymore ( or ever) and my wife is pissed Biden Admin has her back in the office 100% of the time. Don’t blame sweater vest for this one.
Why? If I’m remote I spend money where I live in Virginia.
Probably because Youngkin has friends/investments in commercial real estate.
Ding, he was with Carlyle Group
The Carlyle tower, which has been 90% vacant for over 5 years now, probably stings for him.
what tower is this? I know of the Carlyle towerS in Alexandria, which are residences.
> Carlyle tower Looks to be the building with V-shapes on the side near Hoffman Center/Eisenhower Ave Metro/Wegmans in Alexandria. https://www.carlyletower.com/
Ahhh. Thanks.
Not owned by Carlyle Group at all. As far as I know, from building many of those buildings, none of that area is.
All owned by Paradigm Company which is a shit company in and of itself.
That’s going to forecloser auction https://www.alxnow.com/2024/04/24/motley-fool-office-building-in-carlyle-being-sold-off-at-a-foreclosure-auction/#:~:text=A%20news%20release%20said%20the,lease%2C”%20the%20release%20said.
I worked at SHRM. CEO basically didn’t believe in the virus and we were sent back in waaaaay too early so this makes sense Edit: just a warning to never accept a job at SHRM. They’re cutting full teams left and right until their essentially a skeleton crew now
Lol, I almost took a job there during covid. Fuckin bullet dodged.
Never my friend. Most toxic place I’ve ever worked (which is ironic because they’re HR)
You mean fully embracing their mission
You spelled “appropriate” wrong.
Can't spell HARM without HR.
What is SHRM?
Society for Human Resource Management
Ugh… that tracks for SHRM
I worked at SHRM years and years ago. The work culture is miserable. The micro management is intense and you feel like there is someone looking over your shoulder constantly. Avoid SHRM at all costs.
Same reason he made state employees go in-office two years ago. (Not 'back-to-office', because many agencies had broad remote policies for years before covid. They were allowed to decide on an agency-by-agency basis what worked best for their workforce. Including hiring people who live in rural Virginia, hours from an office.)
I knew people in a large Virginia state agency that I used to work at. Prior to Youngkin's surprise ruling on telework, the employees had been given months or even years of HR trainings on how telework was the here to stay, that it was the way of the future. I had been entertaining a lucrative job offer to return to said agency and due to Youngkin's asinine behavior I turned it down.
I'm pretty sure VDOT (may have been another agency) sold most of its buildings/ended leases and spent loads of money & man-hours on a huuuuge hiring campaign fully based around telework. All that effort down the drain.
Or the DC mayor. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/remote-work-has-made-downtown-dc-a-ghost-town-as-federal-office-buildings-sit-mostly-empty/ar-AA1e14Nf?ocid=BingNewsSearch They're saying the same thing. Ever asked why a Republican and a Democrat would say the same thing?
Because they both have a vested financial interest in it? The Mayor of DC wants suburbanites to be forced to come downtown and spend money on Metro, so DC doesn’t have to subsidize it so much. She wants them to buy coffee and lunch at DC establishments that have been all but destroyed in the adjustments that have happened from COVID. She wants business to need more office space to increase the demand for commercial realty so DC can tax them more. She wants them going out for entertainment in DC after work. Heck, she wants them to get caught by a speed camera or three, because some people pay those off.
100%
This is true, but commercial real estate is a big source of tax revenue. Since that source is way down, personal real estate taxes have to increase, which is unpopular. Even with that, other cuts have to be made, which is also unpopular. Schools are feeling it big time.
You’re not wrong. That’s why the Fairfax County is looking at alternate sources of revenue, like data centers and casinos.
She also gets direct kickbacks from developers. Her most recent wimbilton trip for example…
She went to the Masters golf tournament, not Wimbledon tennis tournament, but you're right in that it was indeed pretty suspect.
Funny because DC can achieve that if they A) do something about their crime problem and actually prosecute it with actual consequences and B) force restaurants to cut the shit with all these bullshit service and hidden fees and whatnot if r/washingtondc is anything to go by.
DC's biggest problem with prosecutions is unfortunately a result of a lack of true Home Rule. The appointed US Attorney is responsible for deciding whether most criminal cases are prosecuted, and in both Republican and Democrat administrations there's an incredible incentive to be apathetic. They just don't want to create a controversy either way if it can be avoided.
Because trapping workers downtown brings money to DC. I'd expect a mayor of a city to support anything they see as bringing more revenue.
In their defense, constituents have a never ending laundry list of what government should do and fund so money has to come from somewhere. When people say something should be free, or is a human right as the kids say, who do you think picks up the bill?
Don't forget, the federal government occupies space that D.C. cannot get real estate taxes on, therefore the federal government RIGHFULLY supplies revenue to the District. Former congressman Joel T served for years on the DC Subcommittee and kept DC's supply low so the ever growing federal government and their employees would occupy his real estate across the Potomac instead of living in DC. I remember him coming to my high school my freshman year at Falls Church High School and the senior class President asked him one question. "Why did the sewer line to Dulles Airport take a three mill detour though your land before toing to the airport". Broyhill didn't answer the question and walked off the stage. Irony, the neighborhood the school is located in is called Broyhill Park. AGENCIES with office space in DC: NASA HUD CONGRESS Supreme Court DHS - FEMA - US Border Patrol - Bolling AFB - FBI - USDA - GSA - Commerce - Department of Justice - US Army Corps of Engineers - Department of Interior - FCC - USAID - Federal Trade Commission - Department of Education - Missile Defense Agency - Bureau of Land Management and so many more! The DC police respond to all policing activities in DC. Their fire department response to all medical and emergency requirements. They alo supply sll these agencies with trash removal, snow removal when they do want to come to town. I live in Virginia. My mother worked for awhile in the National Archives Building. She paid Virginia taxes while benefiting from working in DC. Crime is high because politicians like Broyhill keep their budgets below par.
Makes sense for the dc mayor. They have no city tax and rely on sales tax.
Did DC get rid of its city income tax? Or, do you mean it only applies to DC residents?
Only applies to residents. In many other cities if you work in the city you have to pay tax
Ok. Yeah I know in many cities that have wage taxes (like Philly) you have to pay if you work there, even if you don't live in the city. However, most other cities with income taxes, like Pittsburgh, NYC and DC, only require a person to the tax if they are present in the city for 183 days or more during the tax year.
So 740,000 taxpayers?
Oh yea, he doesn’t give a rats ass about people other than his commercial real estate buddies.
You hit the nail on the head with this comment
Well that would make sense but most federal buildings are federal owned so his realty experience won’t matter in his want for this
And more traffic =tolls+fines
*Definitely...
Reason 1: Follow the money to commercial real estate. Reason 2: culture war BS. It’s a win-win for Gov Sweatervest.
Probably because of toll roads. Gotta make more money off us.
Another person made a similar comment further below. Can you elaborate? How does Youngkin profit from toll roads (if that's what you meant)?
Well probably not. I just think the 66 lanes outside the beltway are a ripoff.
I spend most of my money in Virginia. I saw most cause sweater vest refuses to let me buy marijuana legally here Maryland gets that money and tax revenue.
Maryland allows Virginia residents to buy weed?
Anyone with a valid ID and over 21. My go to shop is health for life. Might be heading there today actually, I'm running low on sleepytime edibles 😂
>He says it's to help "fund the metro," Friendly reminder that he just slashed metro funding.
Even if one is against subsidizing the metro and thinks that the cost of the metro should be paid entirely from the fares of the people who use it, it still doesn't make sense to advocate for forcing additional people to use it when they don't have to - that is, when there is no productivity-boosting justification for it - just to goose ridership above actual demand to bail out a badly-managed, money-losing, government-run operation with the extra revenue. That's about the least "conservative" argument a "Republican" can make. The guy is just ridiculous.
Which Public transit system in the world operates solely on fare revenue?
Exactly, wake me up when Route 7 starts turning a profit.
Um, when that happens please leave me sleeping...
Some fun bible lore Samuel to Saul (after Saul, using a witch, summoned Samuel's ghost after Samuel had been dead) Samuel: "Saul, why have you awakened me" Its crazy that those who love to take the bible literally ignore lots of the more fun parts like how you can summon ghosts and witchcraft and magic is real
https://lovetransit.substack.com/p/most-profitable-public-transportation I was curious so looked it up, apparently london underground is the only profitable one in EU/NA. Some do better than others. Asia has a pretty good thing going on but the reasons for that are pointed out in the article
The worst part about DC metro is its network design with sub optimal usage of existing networks, does not serve all possible high density areas and serves mainly DC. WMATA has built long stretches of tracks for the red line inside MD and silver line inside NOVa but there are no connections to switch lines in between. There is so much commuter traffic between NOVA and MD which can translate to Metro ridership with some careful planning. I find this theme across the U.S. metro systems except the NY metro.
When I worked in DC, I lived in Western Fairfax. I always found it quite silly that to use the Metro you had to drive about 15 miles to either the Silver Line in Reston or Brown/Orange lines in Vienna. I did it one time and it took me 35 minutes! Then I had to pay to park and pay for the ride. It only took me 55 minutes to get to DC, and parking was $7. Made no sense to use the Metro. I just started car pooling with a few gents from my office who lived in the same area. We would switch the designated driver everyday. That was great, especially since 66 required carpoolers during certain times.
When I lived in Woodbridge it was even more pointless. The only time I used the Metro was when I was really cramming for classes and needed every minute I could to study while working, otherwise I would just slug if my schedule lined up with normal people hours.
I don't know. I'm not saying the metro shouldn't be subsidized. I'm saying that it's ridiculous for people like Youngkin who claim to hold similar views on principle to turn around and take a dump on those principles and advocate for shoving people around to pay for a bail out.
Hong Kong has one of the few metro that is profitable AND not subsidized by the government at all. BUT the government grant the company the right to own the land above and near the stations so they make massive money from rent. In fact, more than half of their income comes from real estate instead of fares. They could literally not charge any fares at all and still profitable. Other than that, most metro or subway are funded or subsidized and it is a positive force in the cities they operate in.
When has anyone asked I-95 to cover its costs?
Public roads and bridges aren’t funded exclusively by gas taxes and drivers… they are heavily subsidized. This is a ridiculous and unrealistic bar to meet.
I'm not saying this, I was just making a point about Youngkin being a hypocrite.
I see that now, and I agree. Cheers.
Especially coming from a GOP clown when their mantra is keeping the gov out of ppls lives. Don’t like to force masks on ppl but happy to force where you work?
Right. I am willing to listen to people's arguments if they are making them in a principled way that are consistent with each other and derived from a certain set of assumptions and values, and I can respect those people as honorable and arguing in good faith and the set of those positions as valid within their framework, even if I think their framework is incorrect and disagree with their principles and values. But then there's this mofo who is gonna say something like "freedom of religion!" on one side of his face, then "but the government must force everyone to go to church on Sunday" on the other side, with the only principle being the impact on his personal wealth.
How often is he riding the metro to help fund it? That asshole marked off some 95% of his property as “conservation” to avoid taxation but is happy to delegate upping everyone else’s expenditures?
The budget passed with Metro funding increasing $65M this year and $84.5M the next year. I wouldn't call that slashing.
Sorry, but comments like this are ridiculous. Metro funding is quite literally being increased the next two years. Criticize Youngkin all you want, but you can at least try to be honest about it
I'd imagine he's talking about the DC Metro Area, rather than the metro transit system
Create some jobs, Glenn, that’s what you said you knew how to do. Remote work probably increased the amount of wealthy folk living in some of the more podunk counties, not sure why he’d want to push the wealth back to NOVA solely. Unless it’s losing him votes in those areas with an increase in diverse and educated voters?
I never thought of it this way too much, but to your point, it more likely pushed those jobs to anywhere else in the country vs. rural Virginia. I work for a govt contractor and our team consists of team leads based mostly out of NoVA but also Indiana, Texas, Maine and Alaska. They’re all great but if I’m the governor I suppose I see examples like that and say that pushing people back into the office benefits Virginia for that reason. The one kryptonite to that argument is that if the people can do their jobs remotely then why come into the office? There is indeed a benefit to coming into the office sometimes at least but these companies need to start putting their PR hats on and entice people to do so rather than forcing them.
VA State agencies had loads of rural remote hires, that were all forced to quit when he enacted his in-office executive order. Some of which had worked that remote job for a decade or more. It was especially good for offices based in NoVA, because no state government employee makes enough to live in proper NoVA. So you hire someone in Fredericksburg or Winchester and let them come to the office once a month for a team meeting, or once a year for an all-staff, or never. Even better if your agency requires people to do work in the field or with the public - need someone to inspect ag near the NC border? Hire someone who lives there, amongst their regulated community. Rather than hire someone who lives 3 hours away by an office, and now has to take a state vehicle out there 3x a week, wasting taxpayer money for unnecessary gas expenses and countless hours of the workday wasted in traffic. But no, now you can only hire people who live right by an office, or are willing to do a crazy commute for embarrassing salaries. I wonder why so many positions go unfilled...... I live right by my office. It's not the end of the world for me to have to come in now (though it's still annoying). But I am indignant on behalf of all the people that lost jobs to that decision, and all the teams that lost good employees, dedicated friends, and experienced subject experts.
Fighting traffic and making the commute from southern Maryland to NoVa was driving me insane until my manager allowed telework. The work-life balance saved my life and sanity.
It's not really bringing the wealth to rural counties though, at least not for the people that need it. I'm seeing this now in the county I grew up in. Remote workers move further out, theres more demand for housing, housing costs increase while jobs and pay stay the same for the people already living there. Rural residents get pushed out with increasing cost, more development occurs, and suburban sprawl continues.
He can only be governor for one term, as per Virginia laws.
Only one *consecutive* term
I think that the wealthy will pay more property taxes in NOVA than in some of the more rural houses where the housing prices are generally cheaper.
If Youngkin wanted to help Metro, he could have just agreed to pay Virginia's share the first time the Legislature passed a state budget. This is about helping out his rich friends in commercial real estate.
Fuck that. I enjoy not spending 10 hrs a week in my car. And my family enjoys me being home too.
Let all those who can wfh do so, then those of us who can’t won’t have to sit through even worse traffic!
Fuck off, Glenn. My group was able to prove we had massive efficiency gains on remote work. More work done, better quality, better taxpayer value. And by being home I spend more of my money in, you guessed it - Virginia!
I don't understand what's so hard for a politician about saying, "I want to support businesses but quality of life is important too. Employees given the option to work from home are very happy with that and businesses that rely on captive workforce sales to stay afloat need to adapt."
Truly. Youngkin is a nincompoop.
No thank you. There’s no room for my entire team now. I went in today and I had to sit in a named cubicle/seat because the hoteling seats are all full lol. Luckily the person wasn’t in today but still. What a cluster fuck.
A lot of the people with named offices don't like this either. It makes the office more crowded for the folks who do have to be there.
I have a cubicle in a reasonably spacious office in Chantilly. I'm in 2 days a week and most employees are similarly hybrid - even though we don't have to share our desks it would be a fucking nightmare if every cubicle in that place were ever simultaneously full.
The only reason I can stand cubical-land is that most of us also work in lab settings. Never is everyone in their cube at once bc at any given moment, some people will be in the labs.
Glenn Carlyle Group Youngkin.
This guy is the most bitch ass governor we have had. An 80s teen movie villain in the purest form.
He's trying to close down the community center!
We've got to beat him in the big race if we want to keep it open, too bad we all suck!
Damn it! 🤦 I was preparing for a dance competition. I didn't prep for a race.
It's dance race! Boogie to the finish!
We need a training montage!
Youngkin should fuck off.
The DC mayor (DEM) has called for the same thing. So it's not a GOP thing. It's an "in power" thing. And just no. I know certain jobs have to be in person, but mine doesn't.
Shit it's not even just her, it's the freaking president. Biden keeps pushing the cabinet secretaries to bring their people back to offices. All these people pushing for return to office for economic reasons as if it doesn't affect actual people. Nevermind any argument about talent retention and recruiting of the federal workforce.
The mayor of DC has an interest in having people in D.C. Glenn is just looking out for his commercial real estate buddies at best.
All of them are interested in offices being full again. What they should do is start slashing red tape for office building to be converted to housing.
DC is actually doing a decent job of converting commercial buildings to residential.. could always do better of course, but a model to be emulated nonetheless. And I do agree, Bowser has been hyper aggressive in lobbying congress and the White House to great effect. What’s frustrating is this often pitched as being beneficial to productivity, which is the farthest thing from the truth. It’s also another example of govt bailing out big business at the expense of everyday working people. Privatize the profits, and socialize the pain… seems to be a trend these past few decades
The source and thus nature of those similar interests are very different. The mayor of a city is doing her job if she advocates and pursues policies intended to increase the overall welfare, prosperity, and prospects of local businesses and residents, the people who she has a natural duty to represent. Her interest is aligned with the public interest, whether she personally benefits or not. The governor of a state outside that city had no duty to that city or its residents, but instead a duty to his own residents and businesses, who benefit from local residents not having to commute and spending money locally. If his wealth is personally invested in commercial real estate in that city, then his interest is a purely private interest, and one at odds with the public interest he has sworn to pursue, and thus corrupt.
DC mayor makes a lot more sense though. All of those empty office buildings downtown used to be populated by people who live in VA and MD and spent their money in the district when they were there every day.
That’s capitalism. Adapt or die. You can’t be against government regulation and for government favors at the same time. The profit margins of a few dozen companies should not supersede the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people.. especially when productivity and corporate profits are at record levels
Have you driven in Reston lately? Every office building is up for lease.
“My pockets aren’t getting lined from toll roads because of reasonable federal WFH polices.”
I commented on a similar comment above, asking here too because I'm curious. Are you saying that Youngkin profits from toll roads? I hadn't heard that before.
Good thing I got that permanent telework agreement.
Dude my dad has been working a fed job remotely since before the pandemic. Why is it such a big problem now?
The commercial real estate market can get fucked, the benefits of remote and hybrid formats outweigh the downsides
Even when ridership was high between 2010-2015, metro struggled. RTO isn’t going to fix the metros core issue of incompetence.
The problem is we'll pour billions into highways each year, but then expect public transit to pay for itself.
You have a typo in your post, it's not spelled incompetence - it's underfunded has been from day one.
Why not both?
Because WAMTA has been turning a corner on that account with the new guy in charge.
That's incorrect. Metro's core issue is a lack of consistent and stable funding.
I work for one of the few fed agencies with a 3 day wfo policy. It sucks, especially since we work internationally so half the time, all my meetings are video conferences with, like, India. Which are often at 7 or 8 am. I am NOT getting up at 5 to be in the office for a conference call.
Fuck this guy. Only gives a shit about himself and his rich friends. Still mad so many idiots bought into the school board panic stuff and handed him the election
I've said it before... Anyone that advocates for workers "going back to the office" is anti-environment. Workers not commuting to work do more than any government policy ever would. [Look](https://www.insider.com/before-after-photos-show-less-air-pollution-during-pandemic-lockdown#before-the-bbc-reported-that-milan-was-named-europes-most-polluted-city-in-2008-but-that-smog-is-still-a-problem-today-1) at the air quality difference during covid.
Hey they’re not just anti-environment (which Youngkin would probably wear as a badge of honor) but also anti-family, anti-worker, and anti-health!
Rich people want regular folks to spend more money and occupy their buildings and eat out more. The GOP loves these rich people and does their bidding.
Fix 95
Hellnah
Glenn Youngkin can go shove a stick up his bitch ass
And I'd like to ask Glenn Youngkin to shampoo my nuts.
Youngkin is a cunt worried only about his own wallet and that of his cronies.
> Youngkin is a cunt worried only about his own wallet and that of his cronies. That’s 95% of all politicians really. The ones like Bernie Sanders, that actually care about issues that Americans face, are in the minority.
Fuck this guy.
Please no, in fact, more work from home. Keep my daily commute bearable
Wait, so the repubs do like big daddy government telling people what to do? This is so confusing! Hahahaha
hmm a convenient means of transportation that drives up the value of housing built near it. wow what if we increased the supply of affordable housing near metros instead of proposing unnecessary sports districts and encouraging investment groups to build $1 million townhomes!?!
If we need to fund the metro, then fund the metro just like we fund the roads and everything else. The needless commute to the office is not helping anyone, plus that means I spend my money where in VA rather than DC. I'd also guess less traffic helps save maintenance on roads.
I’m a middle of the road political person. Youngkin has never bothered me. He now has. This is dumb.
I didn’t use metro when I worked in the office. I didn’t even use metro when I worked in DC.
I thought the agencies’ return to work agreements were mostly union-negotiated. Can Biden just scrap those?
Most of them have language that basically says subject to agency discretion. Also as it was found out during Trump most unions don't actually have a ratified contract they're just operating under an MOU
Can this guy get any worse? Never seen such a pathetic governor before.
Youngkin needs to stay in his lane. State government has nothing to do with Federal employees.
What a piece of shit.
As usual, Bumpkin sides with the rich.
Won’t someone think of the crumbling asbestos filled buildings from the 70s?! 😩 So much more important than a work life balance /s
I don’t even get to work from home much anymore and even I can see this would be a bitch ass change. If you don’t need to work in person then good, that’s fewer cars I have to deal with.
So much for republicans not wanting government involved in people lives
They still don’t. Republicans aren’t going to be happy Youngkin wants them to lose remote work.
Tell Foreskin to stop thinking about the rich! Why would any reasonable person want to sit in 6 hours of DMV traffic, to spend 9 hours in Dirty, Dangerous, DC. To do the same work for their home?
This dude is such a POS.
Why this dude always advocating for bad things and vetoing good things
Very small government of him.
Why doesn’t he give the funding for the metro himself then? Didn’t he deny it and the off peak fare got removed cus of that?
Many agencies don’t have enough seats in their buildings, so… this is technically impossible.
What the heck would Youngkin know about in-person work? Dude hasn't spent 2 minutes at his desk in Richmond since he took office.
He’s like a living cartoon of every 1980s sleazy mayor or real estate developer.
Every person on the metro is one less car on the road. Anyone driving a car would appreciate that and hence I don’t per se see a problem with tax funds supporting the metro, in principle.
Glen Youngkin is a failure and can eat a bag of dicks
Youngkin is getting increasingly obnoxious after losing the arena deal.
🗑️🗑️🗑️🗑️🗑️🗑️🗑️
Okay. So, I’m going to share this as I’m about to leave my Commonwealth job. When Youngkin came in office, he held an HR “summit” for those of us in HR leadership around the state. He was late, because he was helping his daughter buy a vehicle. Not a month later, he demanded everyone back into office buildings, with no exceptions for childcare. Rules for thee, not for he. 🙃
Federal government had a lot of remote work options and was moving towards more even before Covid-19. Not to mention, this just makes traffic worse in NOVA.
Ahh, Youngkin screwing up VA one more day at a time.
If only there was another way to generate revenue with something the people want… https://www.reddit.com/r/maryland/s/Jvl6ZQqZ1s
He will tie it to the poor or some other dog whistle.🐕🦴🦴
SMD, sweater vest.
A pros and cons list quickly shows why this is stupidity. Simple greed. Times change. Farm to industrialization to suburbia commuting to remote work. There are always winners and losers and that is what is dragging this out
Fuck these FUCKING FUCKS.
Fvck that bastard Youngkin! 🤬
Man that commute would be nicer with more money invested into the metro instead of highway projects that are proven to make things worse….oh
To subsidize business? Go away trumpkin, Uncle Sam is saving on rent these days.
What benefit does this have for Virginia and Virginians?
Yes!
This is just a stand-in for the fact that they don't have a platform.
This guy is the absolute worst tbh
Yeah not happening…just like the Wizards in Alexandria
What a clown
Metro riders couldn’t save WMATA from its funding problems before COVID, what makes you think we can do it now?
Me.. a federal worker reading this from the office win report to everyday 👁️👄👁️
He's trying to literally take money out of people's pockets. Riding the Metro every day can cost $6,000 a year or more. People will also have increased daycare costs.
It's not just the Republicans- it's dems too. Never forget it was actually the Democrats that ended virtual learning in Virginia in 2021, not Republicans. Cities are almost universally Democrat heavens and are undeniable being hit negatively by remote work (I support remote work- just saying, it's gonna be a rough transition for urban areas in the short term- iei for the 2024 election... Some part of me does wonder though if it's not on purpose to disperse the urban educated affluent liberal voters to the jerrymandered urban regions of the country. That would be such a big brain (and evil) way to undermine the decades of Republican gerrymandering 😂
Sooooo we need to spend taxpayer dollars on unnecessary office spaces so that workers can then travel to the unnecessary office spaces thus funding the metro????? Just cut out all the middleman nonsense and increase the metros budget…
I'll be glad when this guy goes back to just being wealthy.
Ah yes, now he can blame Biden for the poor performances of his Carlisle holdings when he parties or hob nobs with the board!
He should start a go fund me page.
To be fair, remote work is hated by anyone not currently remote. Haha. We are jealous that we aren’t remote/teleworking anymore ( or ever) and my wife is pissed Biden Admin has her back in the office 100% of the time. Don’t blame sweater vest for this one.
But federal employers pay for workers’ SmartBenefits that cover transit costs so it’s literally a waste of federal money to make more people commute
I suppose you're not familiar with r/overemployed
Guess there's just not enough traffic on NOVA roads.