"[M]uch of what Klein carried out -- the streetcar program, pedestrian safety experiments, the expansion of Circulator routes -- didn't originate with him or Fenty. They stretch back though this decade and into the '90s.
But Klein was energetic about pursuing those policies and completely bought into the overall goals of increasing mobility and encouraging community development. I predict that people will look back and think that was great. In an era of government retrenchment, somebody was trying something to make life better in a sphere that touches everybody who walks outside the front door."
Thomson predicts that the work Klein championed will continue to move ahead, even after his departure.