Afternoon links and events: We’re watching

All eyes on Gray re: Klein, Tregoning

A lot of influential groups are looking closely at Vincent Gray to see if he moves the city forward in the ways he’s promised. Transit advocates are one of those groups, and Tim Craig quotes me [David] saying that many uncertain voters will be making up their minds about the new mayor based on Gray’s decision to keep or replace Gabe Klein and Harriet Tregoning. (Post)

Audit revealed escalator brake problems

Unsuck DC Metro obtained the full escalator audit WMATA commissioned. That included some immediate maintenance issues, including problems with brakes like those that caused the brief uncontrolled descent at L’Enfant Plaza on Octobr 30.

More Silver Line photos

Reader Sand Box John has shared more photos of the Silver Line construction including the VA 267 VA-123 interchange and the Tysons East (WestPark) station.  (Tip: Sand Box John)

Impending disaster requires patience

Fort Belvoir’s commander urges “patience” in the pending gridlock that will unfold when thousands of defense jobs move to his base.  Patience wouldn’t be necessary if DoD hadn’t relocated the jobs to the transit-inaccessible base in the first place. (Post, Eric Fidler)  (Tip: Eric Fidler)

Plan the next Circulator

This week, DDOT seeks your input on expanding the Circulator, beginning tonight at the downtown public library.  While TBD suggests demanding a route for your own neighborhood, DDOT should also avoid indulging every “me too” request. (Eric Fidler)  (Tip: Eric Fidler)

Learning bike infrastructure from the Dutch

Next week, the Royal Netherlands Embassy is hosting a 2-day bike workshop which will discuss Dutch bike infrastructure and best practices and ways to improve DC bike infrastructure. (Royal Netherlands Embassy, Froggie)  (Tip: Froggie)

Generation Y looking past cars

The nation’s 20-somethings care less for new cars than the previous generation did, citing the economy as well as a preference to spend money on smartphones and other gadgets that enable socialization without mobility. (msnbc, Eric Fidler)  (Tip: Eric Fidler)

Improvements coming to NEC

A $13.3 million grant will add a third track on a notorious bottleneck along the Northeast Corridor. Work will begin early next year. The region also got $10 million for environmental studies and planning for faster train speeds. (Railway Age, David C)  (Tip: David C)