Image by Mike Licht.

Want potholes fixed? Pay taxes! After the Post published a letter from an Arlington car commuter complaining about potholes, commenters quickly suggested he also complain that Virginia keeps all his tax money even though he earns it in, and uses roads in, the District. Mike Licht collected the best ones. Tip: Bianchi.

No more free weekend parking? One possible source of revenue for Metro: charging for parking on weekends, which is currently free. On the other hand, since parking garages and Metro trains are pretty empty, and people have ample alternatives for driving and parking downtown on the less-crowded weekends, it may only drive people away from Metro and reduce, in the long run, the justification for keeping frequent weekend service.

What about the Smart Growth progressives? Adam Pagnucco published a series on different types of “progressives” in Montgomery County. There are the “neighborhood progressives” who got organized fighting freeways and now fight “looming” three-story buildings and the “new progressives who favor diversity and opportunity. In today’s part, Pagnucco explores the political rifts between the two, but sets up a false dichotomy between “developer-driven candidates” and their “co-opted” supporters on the one hand, and the neighborhood leaders who know that the county is “well past its capacity to house people and jobs”. In fact, there are “progressives”, perhaps part of the second group or perhaps yet a third, who simply believe the county is not at all beyond its capacity if we expanded transit, and that development is not “infinite avarice” at all.

FEMS, not neighbors, were indifferent: The media initially blamed passerby for ignoring a dying man in Columbia Heights, calling it “DC’s Kitty Genovese”. But according to witnesses who have since come forward, many people called 911. Instead, DC’s poor fire and EMS service took 25 minutes to respond and then “didn’t do much to help him” even though he was still alive.