Opposing Metro Cuts
At Thursday’s monthly meeting of ANC1B, the commissioners voted unanimously to oppose various cuts to Metro service. In fact the level of opposition was so high that the commissioners tripped over each other adding amendments to oppose specific cuts to service. Specifically, the commission voted to
- Oppose all cuts to the Yellow Line all the way through Fort Totten (in Ward 5)
- Oppose ending service at midnight.
- Oppose closing the Tenth Street entrance to the U Street Metro station.
Noting the urgency of the cuts, the commission promised to formalize its opposition in a letter to WMATA the next day.
It’s reassuring to see that at least some local leaders recognize the important of Metro to life in the District.
It is reassuring, but it’s also worth noting that ANC commissioners don’t really have much skin in the game. They’re not the ones making the hard choices about budgets.
For example, it’s nice that they oppose closing the 10th Street entrance to the U St Metro, but I can just about guarantee that everyone would much rather close that entrance if it meant keeping actual services operating.
It’s also a lot easier to just oppose things without proposing revenue increases or new sources. Just saying “don’t make these cuts” isn’t good enough and belittles the very real problems of Metro’s budget, both for this coming fiscal year and in the long term.