D.C.'s Public Transit Feud, New Food Halls, and the XFL Final

Today on CityCast DC, budget negotiations are getting spicy over public transit. It's coming down to DC Council's free Metro Bus plan versus the redesign of K Street downtown, which has been Mayor Mural Bowser's darling. So it's a public transit feud and we have got all the details. Plus audio producer Julia Caron and newsletter editor Kayla Cody Stemmerman are here to talk about some new exciting restaurant openings. DC News now's sports journalist Brandi Flores is joining to chat about the one surprising DC team that seems to be excelling right now. Today is Friday May 5th. I'm lead producer Pranagatilve and for Michael Shafer and here is what DC is talking about. So this public transit feud situation. Please tell me more. Oh my God. What isn't it? What isn't it a public transit feud? That's true. That's fair. This is a big one though. Yeah, it just feels like, okay, so we're going to back it up to December, which is when DC Council voted and announced that they're going to make Metro Bus, which is the city's main bus transit service free within the district. I remember when I heard this, I was super psyched. I think we talked about it on the show. All of us were super psyched. We were like, ah yes, free transit. You'll love to see it. But the question always comes down to like, who is actually footing the bill because nothing's ever actually free. Exactly. And like you do have to talk about where that money is coming from. And so right now we're in the middle of budget negotiations. Mayor Bowser about a month ago, I would say announced her proposal and DC Council has been going back and forth with their suggestions for how to adapt to that proposal. The biggest transportation related thing in there, and we had a whole episode with Jordan Pass goal from DCist about this was what was conspicuously missing from Bowser's proposed budget, which was the free bus. She would just like, I'm not a fan of this. We have bigger Fisher fry. Her big thing is like what she calls her comeback plan to make downtown DC more alive again. And she says that setting money aside for the free Metro buses is not going to get towards that goal and there are other projects instead that should. So she kind of just like snubbed the Metro bus plan. And now city council DC Council is like, no, no, we really like that. So we're going to come up with things that we want to nix from your budget to make money for our Metro bus plan. And the main thing that they want to kill, or at least pause, is the K street transit way. Have you all seen the renderings of that plan or like what that plan is all about? So I've seen this and I have a couple of questions for people who haven't seen that basically the two middle lanes of K street downtown, like where all the lobbyists are, would be bidirectional bus lanes. It's one going one way, one going the other way. It's shut down to everything else. It's only for bus lanes. Basically the goal is to get it set up so that the bus route is expedited. It's faster. It's more consistent. The plan was made before like COVID even started. So I think it was it's really made with commuters in mind, right? Like people who are going to downtown every day on the buses, you know, speed them along to their nine to five. Right. We're talking about the mile long section on K street between 12th and 21st. So this is like the heart of downtown DC. And like Kayla said, they announced this project in 2019 and they've been working on the design ever since then. But it was really like they started formulating this plan before the pandemic was even a thought. Right. So the question I had about this was if you know what downtown K street looks like, they have these service lanes where people are basically parked on the side of the street. And my thought was, well, why don't they just make those service lanes? The free the expressway areas. Obviously at Fairgate park, it gets kind of cut off. You have to come back in. But like, why not just have that be expedited bus lanes? Well, I think those, you know, those service roads are really confusing, especially for anyone that is not super familiar with driving downtown because it's not like it's just a cut off service road. Like it swerves in and out of the main thoroughfare. It's a turning issue too. Like you can't turn. Yeah. Unless you're in the bus. Yeah, unless you're in that lane. Right. So it's confusing. And it's also the fact that if they were to just make like the most outside lane of the road into a bus lane, I mean, we have that on those streets in DC and like no one actually like follows that rule. And then you have cars in the bus lane, which is why they're mounting cameras onto buses now to try and catch people who are doing that. So I actually do like the idea of the middle bus lane thing. But I also see the point that this was designed before the pandemic might not be the most important thing for revitalizing downtown right now. Something that council members and also the council chairman Phil Mendelsohn are saying is that this whole strategy is designed to like bring downtown back five, ten years down the line because it's going to take forever to create this new transit way. Right. To tear up all of downtown for years. Where the bus thing like you can literally implement it tomorrow. And that's it. Like that would be done. But I don't hear anyone proposing any plans that do revitalize downtown tomorrow. Like I don't know that seems like such a lofty criticism to make. Well I think part of the problem is also like people like teleworking. And once you give them a benefit, it's really, really hard to take it away. And now that people are like, wow, I can do most of my work at home in a suburb or something like that. It's really hard to convince people and incentivize them to come back downtown. So unless mayor Bowser incentivizes people and is like, I'm going to raise everyone's pay by a hundred K to get them to come downtown. I'm serious here. I'm serious. Unless there's a real incentive to be like, you know what, bringing people downtown is the way to go. This is the benefit and the perk of it. I don't see it being a quick fix. I think we're trying to slap a band-aid on a thing that needs surgery. I fully agree. Well, now that we're like truly you're pitting these two plans against each other like it is one or the other. Like it's hard to say that the K Street is going to be more impactful because the bus like everybody takes like the buses are going to affect everybody. The K Street lanes are going to affect very small percentage of commuters that go downtown several years from now. So I see why there's the pole on that side. I really do. Yeah. Well, and also council is arguing that the free Metro Bus plan is specifically designed to help lower income workers in the city because we've seen that when it comes to subway, like subway plans, the Metro versus bus plans, people who ride the bus tend to be of lower socioeconomic status. And so that's who they're trying to help or at least that's what they say. But I do feel like it also benefits a lot of people that don't actually need a free Metro bus pass and would and could pay for it. And so the way they're framing this as a zero sum game is part of the problem. And I mean, that's politics. I wonder if they'll be able to come up with a solution that allows them to somehow do a little bit of both of these though to your point, Julia, like you said, once you give someone a benefit, you can't take it away. So once they make Metro bus free, it'd be really hard to turn back the clock on that one. And so I see why they're thinking about it as like, we need to figure out a way to fund this for at least four years. You can't be doing it year by year because once you roll it out, there's no going back. Right. So in terms of no going back, obviously downtown needs to get fixed. We had a whole episode on what downtown should be if it's ever going to be livable. Do you guys have an ideal downtown look and feel or do you think it's just going to still be corporate suits and lobbyists forever and ever, amen? For me, more like pedestrian zones. For sure. Yeah. So I want parks like I want, I want restaurants down there, like I want to be able to like bike downtown safely. Like, I want all a lot like I, but it has a lot of potential, right? Like all of those, there's, there are parks, there are spaces. They just need to be tweaked like a little bit. So it's a little bit more livable, a little bit more walkable. Yeah. Like on K Street, actually, they just unveiled in the last two years the new version of Franklin Park. I love Franklin Park. It is so cute the way they redesigned it. Spaces like that are what make an ideal downtown to me. They also just announced that they're opening up that new food hall slash water garden in Crystal City. Crystal City likewise has like a really downtown feel. It's all like tall, ish buildings and concrete jungle type vibe and adding this pedestrian space to me makes me more excited about going to Crystal City. I've never in my life wanted to go to Crystal City for anything other than rock climbing. Now I'm like, oh, like maybe I would go hang out there. So I think that's the way they need to be thinking about downtown. Speaking of things that are opening up, Kayla, I know a bunch of new restaurants and food halls and things like that are opening. Tell us about them. Yeah, absolutely. So you mentioned the new food hall going in in Crystal City. That's not going to be for a while, but we do have a very fancy new food hall downtown called Love Macoto. It's on Mass Ave. It's sort of close to like Union Station and they just opened their like three initial restaurants, which are all pretty upscale. There's Heya is a Kaya beloved BBQ and Deer Sushi. They all look incredible. I will say like $75 minimum or something, right? Yeah, like fresh. I was shocked. Like for a food hall, I was like, that's not a food hall. Those are upscale restaurants. But later they are coming out with like this summer, the smaller like more casual spots there's going to be curry and soba and dumplings and coffee and all of the things that I thought was going to be in here. So I'm really excited for that this summer. That being said, do go check it out. They look gorgeous. The food looks amazing. I can't wait to spend it literally by entire paycheck at this place. Yeah, I mean, it looks really good. There's also there's a new pop up by the Dikeya group. It's in Huycon. It's called Signor Fukushima. It's like a Mexican Japanese pop up. So it's sort of a- Same or I'm intrigued. Yeah, it's sort of a fusion type restaurant. I haven't been. I cannot speak to the food. Maybe we should all go. So I love Huycon. If you haven't had their crispy piggy or salad, you will be convinced. Oh, I haven't. It's very good. It's okay. If they can do that with like a Mexican vinaigrette, I'm intrigued. Yeah, I think it's like tacos with like Japanese, like Asian influence, you know, like barbecue style, like Asian barbecue style meats, stuff like that. I think that the dish that I've heard people talking about most from them is their Bideya ramen, which just sounds like the best. I'm definitely incredible. It sounds so good. First thing in the morning, all I want is some Bideya ramen, a little rich for breakfast. That's all you need all day, seriously. And then also there's a new spot called Crave that's coming out. Priyanka, you pointed this one out. It's a like 90s themed restaurant that has like icons of like Missy Elliot and Michael Jordan all over the walls and like serious throwback energy for us 90s babies. Oh, yeah. They've got arcade games. Like I think they're going to have Pac-Man. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's going to be an experience. I don't know if the food is like going to be, you know, anything new or exciting, but I think the vibe and the experience is going to be definitely worth checking it out for. Yeah. I'm pretty excited. Also, as we're talking about this and how excited we are, I feel like we're playing right into the episode that we had come out a few weeks ago about how DC is just a playground for adults. Like, yeah, this is directly catering to that demographic. Totally. Like a 90, like a players club, but like specifically made for me, you know what I mean? Like my references. Yeah, exactly. I will say, amid all the openings, we got to pour one out for Fainting Goat. They're closing. I cannot believe they're closing. That was like my first brunch spot in DC, you know. I have never been to Fainting Goat. What do I get there? Oh my God. It was such a, it's just such a standby, you know. It's still held up too after somebody years. For real, on U Street, when is Fainting Goat closing? Closing on May 14th. Ugh, bummer. So, so I got a week to get over there and get stuff. You got it. Yeah. Another thing we all need to go to is an XFL DC defenders game. So I'm so excited to learn more about this because I hear it's the one team in DC that is actually doing well right now. We don't have a lot of things to pin our hopes on. So Brandy, tell us about everything. Like what's going on here? Who are the DC defenders? Yeah, so the DC defenders are our local XFL team. There's a few, there's a, I believe there's like eight all around the country and they are right now the best professionals force team in the entire DMV. There's still hope out for the Baltimore Orioles. They've started out with having a good season. But for right now, right this very moment, I especially in DC, they are the best team and it's great for so many reasons. They are on their way to the XFL championship game, which is the Super Bowl of the XFL. Oh my God. So it's, yeah, it's really, really exciting. They play over at Audi Field. They had their last game at Audi Field of the season last week in the North Championship game and they won obviously. But it's just such a, it's so fun, especially if you're a sports fan and Audi Field, if you've ever been that you know, there's never a bad seat and the atmosphere there is just awesome. And for me, this is my, I moved out here in August. So seeing DC sports fans happy about their team is makes me smile. So yeah, I was going to say, what's the, what's the fandom like for one of these teams? I've heard there's a thing called a beer snake. Can you elaborate, please? So the beer snake is actually what everybody knows the defenders by, honestly, like you know, across the sports world, the first week. So apparently the beer snake was started when the XFL, they've had a few, they've had a few different tries at creating this league. The last time was right before 2020 and that, that version of that league didn't come back. But there was a team here in DC and that's where they started the beer snake. Essentially in the end, the corner in like the end zones. And one of the end zones, I forget which sex, the number of the section it is, but basically Pete, that's kind of like the standing section if you ever been to DC United game or spirit game. Yeah, it's like the fan supporter section. Yeah. Yes. It's like the biggest one where everybody goes and it's like people drink there like all that type of good stuff. So what they do is there's a certain type of beer that you buy. I forget. I don't know which one it is, but they have plastic cups and everybody in that section kind of just started like drinking, chugging beers. I don't know if they chug. They've, the XFL promotes not chugging, but they're probably chugging at the right time. They're like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be like, I don't know if they're going to be that way. They're games usually last around three ish hours, normally football game could be up to like four hours. So it's a really cool experience. It's definitely different from going to FedEx field and watching the commanders play. Sorry, as like a non sports person, what is the difference? Like what is it, what makes XFL different than like normal football? So it's the rules first of all. So it is a professional sports league. So all the guy, the people consist on the team, they basically consist of players who either didn't get signed to a team in the NFL because the NFL season is in the fall time and it's around February. So this is a different version of that NFL players don't like if you're signed to NFL team, you can't play for the XFL. But the whole point of the XFL when it started was to give guys a chance. So there's so many great athletes and a lot of it. Sometimes you fall, you fall in the cracks if you're in the wrong team, you're in the wrong situation. And so this is kind of just like another way to promote these guys and give them another chance on playing football. This team's are made up of really young guys who didn't make a team last year, maybe got drafted, didn't make a roster. They're also consist of NFL veterans who were in the NFL and then have come back and then they still want to play, but they got cut from a team. And so it's a really mix of all these guys. But the one thing that they have in common is that they love playing football. And it's really cool to see them get another opportunity and we'll actually see as the XFL season ends, some players get invited to an NFL training camp. So it's, you can't hate on the XFL and also, but it is, so it basically is played like a traditional football game. Some of the rules are different and they're meant to like promote play. If you know football in an NFL game, they have all the way forth down is right throughout the game, it stays the same. You have to get X amount of yards to get the first down, right? And the XFL in the fourth quarter, specifically, instead of doing, and so instead of accepting like a kickoff, so like when the other team scores or they kick off, they could do like a fourth and 15. So they have 15 yards to like get the score. And so it promotes a lot more scoring. There's a bunch of other different rules like that, but we won't get into all that. But yeah, so it's definitely a lot of difference, very, very exciting as a longtime football fan like watching this first season, really watching the XFL. It's like, whoa, like everything's so different. And it's cool because you're watching football, which is a great sport, but it's just like a little bit different. It's a little bit tweaked. So it's a lot of fun. And the team in DC is good. So it's always great to cheer for winning too. Yeah, for real. So like for fair weather fans like me, and I suspect Kayla considering that neither of us knew what the XFL was until this very moment. Are there any other like songs or traditions or things that we should know so that we could like fake being diehard fans if we were to go to this final on May 13th? So the final isn't act is actually in Texas at the Alamo dome. All right. So do you guys go? Please let me know. I'm not sure if I'm gonna make it out there. Yeah. City Cast City takes the Alo dough. I'm in. Yes. Yes. I mean, the beer snake is the biggest thing about the defenders for sure. Also head coach Reggie Barlow, who's a head coach of the defenders. He just won coach of the year. Oh, wow. Wow. Yeah. So awesome for him. And it's a great accomplishment because he got his team together last summer and of last summer. And so they had a short amount of time to produce a winning product, which is really hard. If you've noticed, there's a few ever paid attention. Other teens when they have a new coach or they have a new system. It's really hard to be extreme to do extremely well that first year. Everybody in the XFL kind of had to do that. All the other head coach just had to do that. But the defenders only lost one game all season long. Wow. Ever. And they've never been there undefeated at Audi Field. So if you go to a defenders game, they haven't lost this season. And so we'll see. We'll see if they keep their streak alive. Bring home a trophy to DC. Do you know of any like watch parties or like, yeah, are there any bars that like specifically play XFL? All the sports bars will probably play the game. I don't know yet. If you go to the defenders, like they're really good about posting on social media, like fan meetups and things like that. I think every week that they have not been at Audi Field, they've had like a watch party somewhere. And so they kind of go to different places around the D of D. And so we'll see where they kind of decide. Definitely keep an eye out for that. Well, that's awesome. Thank you for teaching us about the XFL of Randy. I really appreciate that. Yeah. And then we always end our episodes with a DC life hack. I know that you said that you just moved here. But is there anything that you've kind of picked up on or something that's a tip that someone gave you that has really helped you out? I grew up in Southern California and never left. And I moved here last August. So I'm a little like what eight, nine months, can't do quick math right now. And so there's been a lot of different culture shocks. But the biggest thing that I think is really cool is transportation. In California, everybody drives. Like everybody drives everybody has a car. Traffic is worse than what people say it is out there. The traffic you guys have here is nothing. But really, but one thing that's really cool here is transportation. I love taking the metro. I think it's such a cool system, which if you're a native DC person, you're probably like, well, that's what that's what's healthy. That's awesome. Well, then I met your tip for you. That someone told us recently was that they're these little compass roses outside a lot of the metro stations. And they point in the direction that you are facing when you come out of the station. So like if you come out of the station facing West, the compass rose will indicate that you know where to walk to get to your destination. That actually is a great tip because I have so many times I've walked out of Metro being like, okay, what street am I on? I have to be like, yeah, that's awesome. Great. Cool. Well, that is all for today here on CityCast DC. Brandy, thank you so much for being here. Of course. I'm lead producer Priyanka Telvay. Our producer is Julia Karen. Thanks, Julia. Thanks for your honor. Our newsletter writer is Kayla Cody Stemberman. Always a pleasure. Absolutely. Our production assistant is Susanna Brown and our host are Brigitte Todd and Michael Schafer from Politico. Music is by Alex Roldan. If you enjoyed the show, tell someone who drives walks or takes the bus in DC. So basically anyone who lives or works here and get them to subscribe to our morning newsletter, Hey DC as well. We'll be back Monday morning with more news from around the city. Bye. You hear the word free and like, I don't know, like, I feel like I never quite outgrew that college instinct to just be excited about the word free.