Parking, Parking, Parking

In addition to announcing that there will be a SmartBike station in Columbia Heights once SmartBike's expands, NCH (via GGW) found out that

DDOT and the DC USA developer have identified places to add bike racks, but "the Deputy Mayor's office has refused to consider racks in the garage." Update: DMPED argues that allowing bikes in the garage would pose a safety problem.

What kind of safety problem exactly? All too often "safety problem" is code for "we just don't want it but we're afraid to say so." The law actually requires bike parking, but I'm not sure if DC USA is grandfathered in. When I rode through the area recently I noticed more bike parking, specifically on the triangle where Park and Kenyon meet. Still, the parking is nowhere near adequate. Business owners are always complaining about a lack of auto parking, but they hardly care about a lack of bike parking.

Maybe some cool Columbia Heights-specific bike parking would dress the area up, something that ties in to the Tivoli for instance. I posted the video before, but CPG has sketches of the David Byrne designed bike racks up. They aren't amazing, and I wonder if anyone would care if David Byrne hadn't done them, but they're clever looking.

Another option - or really in addition - for the area is a bike corral like the one in Portland. (I like the garage parking for employees and bad weather, but the bike corral allows for quick customer use).

Also on the subject of parking, John Kelly wrote about the "ugly" bike removed from Union Station.

I called Union Station. Joan Malkowski, the general manager, told me, "We have a policy in place that is pretty much in line with the District's policy." That means that bikes are tagged and, if they haven't been moved in 10 days, they can be removed. She admitted she wasn't sure why Georgina's bike was taken.

Removing abandoned bikes by the District's policy makes sense, but it sounds like Union Station wasn't following it.

Finally, GGW reports that

A coalition of arts groups is trying to raise money and get a lease from the city to re-open the old trolley tunnels under Dupont Circle as a new art gallery and event space.

Of course, I'd like to see the area (or one half of it) turned into a bike station after the Union Station one is opened, but I wouldn't stand in the way of a gallery if they could get it to work. It's a shame to leave that space completely unused. Since the trolley station is actually two underground spaces there may be room for both.

Comments

[Phil Lepanto]

It isn't that DC USA has a problem with bike racks, it is the Columbia Heights shopping area that has a problem with bike racks. One should note that there are some very nice bike racks opposite the parking garage entrance, that are practically never used while the bike racks on the sidewalks that front 14th street and by the Metro are usually full.

Bikers should be made aware of the extra rack space, but I think few would use it.