So what's with the seemingly abandoned District of Columbia school buses on the 1400 block of New York Avenue NE? Every time I drive by on this stretch of road -- which is across from the old 'Streamline Moderne' Hecht Company Warehouse -- I see more than half a dozen disabled-looking yellow school buses just parked. Nearly all of them have either the front or rear door open, or the hood of the engine up or a bumper half hanging off or some serious-looking dings and dents or other defect showing them as unusable. I am assuming too that if a door is left open it means the door doesn't work (and surely this is an invitation to homeless people to stay in them at night). On the other side of the street are what I presume are the usable unbattered buses in an alternate parking lot; this lot of buses seems to be thinning out as the battered buses end up across the street. I seem to recall that the local school system bought a bunch of new buses recently -- sometime in the past 5 years -- and most of these buses look pretty new as the bright yellow paint seems fresh. However, the buses in the train-track side parking lot do look pretty battered up as if either the drivers aren't any good and/or they get into a LOT of fender benders. Or is that there's no maintenance? On one attorney company solicitation website they wrote that the "factors that commonly contribute to school bus accidents include: hazardous weather conditions; faulty vehicles; driver negligence; intoxicated drivers; defective roadways." It's pretty nerve-wracking to think that this number of school buses have so many accidents and that these may be caused by some serious driver bad behavior when our children are taken back and forth. 
Just the other day I noticed that New York Avenue NE -- just before the BW Parkway begins -- is disappearing from what it used to be. There is no longer the Hess gas station nor the string of car and equipment businesses, nor the fast food joints on the south side of the street. In fact, it looks like they've all been abandoned and some sort of development is going to occur. The properties are abandoned and fenced in, as if someone has been quietly buying the land for some purpose. I wish I had photographed this sstreet section when these businesses were still alive and bustling but somehow I missed that moment and only have these. It's not that these are amazing and wonderful looking buildings but it seems like the pace of development in DC is so fast that before I know it a streetscape has completely changed very quickly. So, before it's gone, I decided I'd better take a few photos or I might regret it like I regret not having photographed a couple of other unique sites and buildings within a mile or two of where I live. Before I almost realize it, a bunch of buildings are torn down and some giant newscale building goes in. I know this is how cities grow and presumably improve, but I get used to what I've seen and feel I must mark the change somehow even if it's only in this blog. 
