DC

Last week I made a quick trip to Washington D. C. as part of the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District contingent to the  National Alliance of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA)  water week policy fly-in.  This post will be a musing about a few odds and ends encountered on the two day trip.  A future post will be about the issues on which we presented to the Congressman Mark Pocan, and aids of Senator Johnson and Senator Baldwin.  Those issues, in my mind tell us a great deal about our culture and civilization. But, for now, a more fun post.

US Capitol

I arrived at the Dane County Regional Airport at 4:30 am to catch a 6:00 am flight to LaGuardia and then to Reagan in DC. Thanks to my spouse for also getting up early to drive me to the airport.  While waiting to board, a gate announcement for a flight south was interrupted  by a TSA agent who announced that they had an I-pad that someone did not claim and where they could retrieve it.  The daily routine was on-going when a second gate announcement, not allowing peanuts on another flight, was again interrupted by TSA announcing that someone left a headband behind. Really, a headband?  I wonder if they would have done the same for a pair of wayward underwear that mistakenly popped out if a bag ?   A person I was flying with turned to me and said, you can tell you are in a small airport when they make that type of an announcement. The Delta person even chuckled as they began their peanut announcement once again.

US Capitol

Flight times leave a great deal of extra time in the flight to cover for late departures.  I noticed this when our flight to LaGuardia was delayed near the gate and on the taxi way.  The pilot announced, after we waited about 20 minutes that he was not given a time, but the plane ahead of us was told it would be about a 20 minute delay from that point.  Planes were lined ahead and behind and they took off one after the other.  Looking at my watch we lifted off 40 minutes after expected departure.  They allotted 1 hr and 33 minutes for the flight, but another passenger on board, who seemed upset when we landed four minutes late, that it is a 38 minute flight.  (By comparison, Madison to LaGuardia is a 1 hr and 35 minute flight, but they allocated 2 hrs and 21 minutes for the flight.)  I did not think four minutes was bad, but she said "this flight goes down as late."  The four minute late arrival did not affect us as it still left time for us to use the Metro line and our feet to get to the hotel, have lunch and attend the first session at 2 pm.

Planes in line on LaGuardia Taxiway

When we arrived at the hotel one thing I noticed was four large televisions ganged together with one playing CNN, one Fox News, one sports, and the other events at the hotel.  The televisions were readily visible from the hotel restaurant which was divided from the lobby by bar height barrier.  The restaurant placement looked like and afterthought, but it worked.  What struck me was that the price of the food for a big city hotel actually seemed reasonable. 

Security line to enter Hart Senate Office Building

What is unreasonable is the layout of the Detroit airport. We flew from Reagan to Detroit and then to Madison.  First, off it took us about twenty minutes to taxi from landing to the gate, where we had to wait for the ground crew to get their act together, which I suppose at the late hour there are few ground crew members around.    The terminal is linear, and we arrived at gate 11, and we departed from gate 74.  There is a total of 78 gates in this terminal.  Another member of our team jinxed us by saying every time he has flown into Detroit the connecting flight was at the other end from where the flight landed.  Well, we had to hustle since our plane was late and they were supposed to have started boarding.  But, here again the extra time built in saved us.  It was a long hike, which I estimated at about 4,800 feet (using Google maps).  They normally have a tram that can be used, but that was out of order.  The plane began boarding late for the fifty minute flight to Madison. We arrived in Madison just before 11 pm.  As the plane was unloading all of a sudden all of the power went out.  I guess it was better on the ground than in the air.  There was just enough light to unload.  Perhaps the crew, who were from Atlanta and would spend the night in Madison, turned the lights off to get people to move faster. 

Tulips alongside Hart Office Building

Why they load planes from the front makes no sense.  There was a person, on the flight from Detroit to Madison, who tried two overhead bins in  teh vicinity of his seat in which to fit his large carry-on bag, and finally went to the far back of the plane to load it in to an empty bin above the still empty seats, therefore taking space from a person who, like us, would board in the back of the plane.  I had a small bag I put under the seat ahead of me.  Then there was a woman who had a large carry-on and a large backpack taking up space in two different overhead bins.  Another issue is the amount of time it took for the people to load and unload their bags.  If you loaded from the back first you would not have to wait for people ahead of you.   Even the stewardess noted the issue of lack of space in the overhead bins and said the airline really needed to talk to Airbus.  She also told the man how best to load the luggage, with wheels to the aisle, but he kept ignoring her advice. (Teh advice made sense since the wheel portion would not fit up against the curve of the plane as the front end of a more soft sided luggage would do.)  I thought, why not try a Boeing jet, albeit not a 737 Max at this point in time. 

US Supreme Court

Washington DC is a nice urban and walkable city, at least in the area around the National Mall.  It is even more pleasant this time of year as the cherry trees are in bloom.  After our last congressional office visit on Thursday we headed to the hotel to pick up luggage and then made our way to the tidal basin, hitching a ride with a member of our contingent who had rented a car and was going to visit relatives in Maryland for the weekend.  We then walked from the south end of the tidal basin, by the Jefferson Memorial, up to the Smithsonian to catch our Metro line to Reagan.  It was a crowded walk, with many out doors on a beautiful day to sight see and see the cherry trees.  Early April is a peak time to visit Washington DC.  What surprised me were the number of foreign visitors, particularly Asians.  While we did not see a selfie accident, one woman almost fell in the tidal basin when getting a selfie with the Washington Monument behind her.  A man walking by grabbed her to prevent the fall.  I guess that is the benefit of a crowd.  One of my colleagues prevented a woman from falling after she tripped. 

Washington Monument

When we arrived at the hotel the news coverage was about the House of Representatives voting for full release the Mueller report.  What we often see and hear on the news is that nothing gets done in Washington DC.  However, last December President Trump signed the bipartisan American Water Infrastructure Act.  The Deputy EPA Administrator, David Ross (who lives in Middleton) touched on the act and what the department is doing in regards to implementation.  Persons who are involved with the National Alliance of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) appreciate the efforts of Mr. Ross who leads the water section.  Ross is a Trump appointee.  I was introduced to him during lunch Wednesday afternoon.  Mr. Ross also talked about reuse of water.  I have long said that water is the next oil, and it is good to hear that water reuse is also important to the EPA.  Water is plentiful in the Midwest, but that does not mean it should be wasted.

View across Tidal Basin from Jefferson Memorial

As things grind along in Washington some things are getting accomplished, but more needs to be done.  Clean water is important to our health, our lives and it drives our economy.  Economic success should not come at the expense of a clean and healthy environment.   A future post will focus on policy and the issues of our complex society. 

Close up of Cherry Blossoms

 

View of Tidal Basin and Washington Monument

Images by author April 3 and 4, 2019