[Hoodat]

I notice Metro waited until Sunday to send workers out, paying those union workers double-time for destruction that could have been done the following day at half the cost. Of course doing nothing would have cost nothing, but then who cares when you’re spending someone else’s money.

[tanknetter]

Of course doing nothing would have cost nothing, but then who cares when you’re spending someone else’s money.

Well, doing nothing would actually have cost something down the road. If you look at the picture above of the guy on the escalator next to the plants he donated, you'll see that several of them are already starting to spread out from their little square beds.

Eventually they'd spread to the point where they'd need maintenance to keep in check. Otherwise they'd spread into the escalator, possibly causing all sorts of damage. As someone who suffered through multiple years of non-functional Hell arising from Metro's cost-saving measures when buying new (and really crappy) escalators, I'd rather have Metro putting it's money into required maintenance/upkeep/replacement rather than having to pour it into elective stuff. Walking up the Dupont Circle escalators (which aren't even all that long) during afternoon rush, right into the Sun in 98 degree, high humidity heat will do that :)