Moving on... please join me on the Riverdale Park Wiki

I've enjoyed writing about some of the issues that interest me -- and, in some case, others as well -- about our lovely town, and posting them to this blog. And I've certainly enjoyed hearing from many of you that you've read some of it, and thought it was worthwhile -- the positive feedback has been great. But increasingly I've felt that a "blog" was much too personal to accomplish what I was actually interested in doing... I believe that what we need is a good wiki for all things Riverdale Parkian. So that is where I'm going to be putting my energy now, not this blog.

I assume you've read something on Wikipedia, the free, on-line encyclopedia, at least once or twice? A wiki is a cooperative, all-hands-on-deck website that is constantly under construction. And unlike in the Outer Limits, where they are in control, in the Wiki World, we are in control. Read something and know it to be incorrect or incomplete, or out of date? Don't mutter to yourself -- change it! Edit! Rewrite! Add a paragraph, or a whole new page! Find some information on recycling that you think everyone in the town could benefit from? By all means, post it to TownTalk. But -- and this is what led me to the wiki idea -- TownTalk (or any email list) is so ephemeral. Read it today, forget it by tomorrow! So, instead -- or in addition -- put it on the wiki, and it's there for good, for you or anyone else to return to at any time.

I see the Riverdale Park Community Wiki as a combination bulletin board, Welcome Wagon, soap box, scratch pad, photo album, scrap book, file cabinet, encyclopedia, yellow pages, Rolodex, 'Whole Earth Catalog,' entertainment guide and community center. This is not, "Build it and they will come." This is "Build it -- and let's use it!"

(Have you seen the Hyattsville wiki? They've done some great things over there -- much good information that is useful to anyone, certainly anyone in our area.)

So, see you over on the RP Community Wiki? --Dwight

I love my MARC

One of the many factors that weighed in on our decision to buy our home in Riverdale Park, was the convenience that the MARC service offered in terms of my getting to work, and leaving the car at home!

These stats about the DC Metro area come from the AAA and were published in today's Washington Post (9/4/07), Metro section, p. B2:

3.3 million vehicles in the area
1.7 million people who drive to work alone every day
900,000 people headed to school every day (schools and colleges)
700,000 people riding Metro (is that actually people? or trips?)
446,000 people riding Metro's buses
70,000 people riding trains into Union Station (MARC, VRE, Amtrak)

Only 70,000?!? Wow. Obviously the MARC trains aren't convenient for everyone - but for a town like Riverdale Park, I have to think that the MARC is a very underutilized resource.

From our lovely MARC station in Town Center, it is a 10 minute ride to Union Station - for me it's then another 15 minutes by Metro to Farragut North. All told, half an hour or 35 minutes door to door, from my home on Riverdale Rd to my office in NW. I nominally pay $100 for a monthly MARC ticket and $2.70 per day (roundtrip, Union Station to Farragut North) on the Metro -- but due to Uncle Sam's penchant for providing perks to the middle class, I save a quarter of that by purchasing the tickets with pre-tax dollars through my employer. If I go to the office 20 days a month on average, that's effectively $3.60 per day for the MARC + $3.89 per day for Metro = $7.49 per day total -- and the car stays in the driveway. If I drove to work I'd pay more than that just for the parking downtown -- never mind the gas, wear and tear on the car, and increased insurance premium. And if I drove to the Metro, I'd save the $3.60 for the MARC everyday -- and use it to pay $3.50 for parking! (Plus it would cost me additional for the longer ride on Metro).

I believe that in my one year of riding MARC to work, I was unable to get a seat just one time. And I can take my coffee on board and savor it all the way to Union Station if I want to (unlike Metro). And then there's the comraderie with all the other MARC regulars... All in all, I love my MARC!