Why Visitors Heart DC

iv had visitors fall in love with those things too!
xoxo

They’re great. Even better is when they have countdown timers next to the light so that drivers know how long until the red turns to green. But I’ve only seen that in Phnom Penh of all places.

In about 95% of the intersections, the light turns red after the crosswalk timer runs out, so its pretty easy for drivers to watch that. I know I do if I see the flashing red hand.

Of course we also get many visitors who are unfamiliar with sidewalks and their function . . .

http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2008/06/07/welcome-tourists/

Tourist from LOTS of places are surprised by the count down lights. Enough folks from London and New York City are impressed.

Then ask them if on an ordinary day if they walk to work … school … house of faith … grocery store … bank … post office. Suddenly you will see why the count down lights are so important to us in DC!

That’s funny… they have the countdown lights in my small midwest hometown, so I assumed they were everywhere by now.

er…but sometimes they dont work. ive been in the middle of the road countless times with 19 seconds to go and then suddenly i’ve got 0 & the light is changing.

I’m with Si on that one… Good thing my little legs can move fast when that happens but I feel like that could be dangerous for elderly or handicapped people that can’t run the rest of the way.

I’ve called 311 on several occasions to report this who knows if there’s a fix?

This is more PQ than DC in general, but its sort of funny that most of our visitors LOVE things that we don’t love so much or take for granted.

– they love having 3 (or more) starbucks within a short walk.

– they love looking at the lines that forms outside the clubs on F Street (our visitors are generally suburbanites).

– they think the metro is cool and taking the bus is like taking a spaceship, aliens included.

– The Verizon center is pretty high on the list (particularly walking to the the NCAA games)

#7 and 8, that’s happened to me before too. I think it’s when the light cycle changes…typically when I’m walking to work and getting there a little late (i.e. just after 9 am). Whenever it’s happened I’ve looked at my watch and it’s always on the hour so I’m thinking that has something to do with it…

The people in those lines ARE suburbanites. DC peeps don’t go to Ultrabar.

I also find it hard to adjust when I go to another city and they don’t have them.

My first reaction is how do people manage, but I had to remind myself that we didn’t always have these things.

yeah, i really dislike it when i’m at a corner that doesn’t have the countdown timers now. i thought that the city was going to have them at every corner by now, as part of their pedestrian plan. still have a lot of work to do to achieve that.

Pay no attention to #11. Obviously, too elite to be seen at a pheasants club.. I walk to Ultrabar, Rocketbar, Indebleu, and Green Turtle. These are great places to listen to good music, people watch, and just chill. All within close WALKING distance. I just miss the street concerts that really enticed me to buy here.