BaancBlog

It's going to be one of those weekends. You know, with all of those vans from PG County parked in the neighborhood. The ones that need a bath (you can easily write "Wash Me!" in the dust). How does the editor know this? Because it's the annual Washington Auto Show.

The attendees are encouraged to take public transportation, of course. To see an auto show. Sort of like asking the public to drive to a subway (sorry, Metro) car show.

The dates and hours are, from Theresa DuBois' email:

Wednesday, February 4 & Thursday, February 5: 10:00 am - 9:00 pm
Friday, February 6 & Saturday, February 7: 10:00 am – 10:00 pm
Sunday, February 8: 10:00 am – 7:00 pm

The trouble with the local shows is that the people driving in to them often know the neighborhoods well enough to park in them, legally or not. The half-life of an empty parking place during such events is approximately that of a mu-meson. Short.

The more conventional shows conventions, say 20,000 of some subspeciality of microbiologists, isn't hard on the neighborhoods at all. They all arrive, check in to their hotel rooms, go the their convention by foot or taxi, spread money around in our hotels and restaurants, and fly home in a few days. OK, they stop and gawk at the houses sometimes, but that's sort of cute. They are one of the reasons for Corduroy being here. You will note the tasteful lack of comparison with the [censored];

So plan your next weekend around not seeing your normal parking places until Monday morning. Think of it as a snow storm. And pray for serious traffic enforcement. DC can really make money on these weekends, if they want to.