Duffy Says 'We're Going to Keep That Big Beautiful Union Station, Literally' – HotAir
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The Grok headline summary of all the news on this particular story used the word ‘siezed.’

 Pretty aggressive, I thought, but then Grok tends to be a bit left-leaning as it aggregates all the available information for its little AI info-paragraphs.





Probably got it from this spazz attack.

The AP headline was a tad more understated – you, know. 

Just dictator Trumputin taking more of Utrainian territory.

You can almost envision Trump rubbing his hands together in ee-ville glee, whilst crying, ‘MUWAHAhahahaha! I have extended my empire to the trains!’ in that headline.

I’m not so sure that very many of the people who travel through the Beaux-Arts masterpiece that was Washington’s Union Station would think that such a bad thing. From all I’ve read up to today, the place was a vagrant, homeless, drug-addict, and criminal-infested black hole which no one wanted to be in, but had to, and exited as quickly as humanly possible every time.

Every commuter journey was a heart-pounding exercise in survival and communicable disease control.

…I could take a train in with family and feel relatively comfortable.

Then in 2019, I started working in DC and would take a train in. The Station was a little sketchy, but I would stroll in there for lunch. Shops started to leave due to crime.

COVID brought it to absolute squalor. Virtually all shops disappeared. The homeless set up camp inside, took showers in the bathrooms, drug deals happened in broad daylight. The mentally ill/people on drugs freely used the bathroom on the floor inside and out front. The stench was awful. 

Ambulances regularly drove in and out due to overdoses, assaults, etc.

To go to the Station anymore, you had to be willing to walk past literal poop on the sidewalks, groups of homeless people doing drugs, passed out, yelling things at you. There were so few shops/restaurants operating properly, it was no longer worth it to go.

My last straw was a homeless, schizophrenic man who followed me inside one day muttering insane things and how he was going to kill me. I had to hide out in a Shake Shack until he left.





In a few short weeks, it seems as if the whole place has undergone a facelift of epic proportions. AP writers must live somewhere else.

THUMBS UP TRUMP

Tents have been gone from the plaza in front of it for days now.

So it doesn’t seem as though the dictator-on-a-rampage schtick is gonna stick, hard as they might try to stir the outrage over it. For all intents and purposes, the government was already in control. National Guard troops are picking up garbage, for crying out loud.

Then, through the sheer determination of slogging through the press reports, you find out, ‘Hey, wait a minute – the federal government, through the Department of Transportation, HAS LITERALLY OWNED UNION STATION for the past forty-five years.‘

Well. Knock me over with a feather.

It only looked as crappy as it did up to a couple weeks ago because, as they so often in their infinite wisdom do, the feds handed the management off to?

A non-profit.

DING! DING! DING! WE HAVE A LOSER!

…The Department of Transportation has owned Union Station since the 1980s, but gradually ceded control through agreements with the Union Station Redevelopment Corp., a nonprofit tasked with preserving the landmark and overseeing improvements to its public spaces. The Trump administration’s plan will seek to leverage the commercial aspects of Union Station, channeling proceeds back into the facility for upgrades to lighting, elevators, security and roof repairs, according to the statement.





Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says those days are over, and Union Station is coming back into the federal fold.

Cue: progressive heads exloding

What I’ve seen of the interiors of the place – never having been there myself – it looks as if it had been spectacular at one time. I don’t think this is a bad move at all.

Why can’t this country have a capital city we can be proud of when the good bones are already there – they just need sprucing up?

Duffy’s going to keep big, beautiful Union Station, literally, and keep it big and beautiful at the same time.

Democrats and progressives irritate the crap out of me.

They’d rather have this.

And they’ll fight tooth and dirty nails to keep them.


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