Tag Archives: The Wire

David Simon – “An argument for the city.”

From AlterNet, an interview with David Simon, creator of The Wire and Treme.

This show, if we do it right, is an argument for the city. For the idea of American urbanity, for the melting pot, for the idea that our future can’t be separated from the fact that we are all going to be increasingly compacted into urban areas, though we’re different in race and culture and religion. And what we make of that will determine the American future.

I listened during the last election cycle to the rhetoric about small town values and where the real Americans live. I thought to myself, “I’ve never heard such bullshit in my life.” Rural America’s not coming back. That idea was lost with the Industrial Revolution. And yet with more than 80 percent of Americans living in metropolitan areas, there are still demagogues who want to run down the idea of multiculturalism, of urbanity, being the only future we have. We either live or die based on how we live in cities, and our society is either going to be great or not based on how we perform as creatures of the city.

I haven’t watched Treme at all yet, due to my inability to stomach the extra cost of HBO every month.  I’ll have to add it to the list.  If the quality is half as good as The Wire, it will be well worth watching.

Links – All the pieces matter

Brands matter

  • JD Hammond looks at the importance of rail liveries in the transit brand.
  • GGW looks at Metro’s proposed redesign and unification of bus stop signage.
  • Multiple sources (GGW, BDC, DCist, PoP) noted the shipping of DC’s first streetcars from the Czech Republic to DC.

A common theme amongst the streetcar commentariat – Hey!  That thing looks like the Circulator!

No doubt.  Obviously, this spurred JD Hammond’s post.  One commenter on one of those sites (I can’t keep track) noted that the stripped down base paint job for the livery, missing the graphics and text, looks awfully similar to a Jesus fish.

Commute flows matter

Matt Johnson (at GGW and Track Twenty-Nine) has a fascinating graphic looking at Metro’s commute flows, also determing which segments of the system are the busiest during the AM rush hour.

Very interesting to look at.  Well done.  Also, an excellent case for more investment in the core.  Discussions in GGW’s comments thread hints at the impacts of the Silver Line on current Orange Line crowds – and the inescapable conclusion is that more core capacity will be needed – sooner rather than later.

All in the game, yo.

Apropos of nothing in particular, this video of The Wire‘s 100 greatest quotes is fantastic.  Those with virgin eyes/ears or those that haven’t seen all 5 seasons (there are spoilers) might not want to watch.

Lester Freamon’s last quote is the one that hits home for me when thinking about cities and the series – “all the pieces matter.”