Gray on Bikes: Post-Primary

The title of Malcolm Kenton at GGW had me hopeful, "Gray promises transit and bicycle funding at first town hall" but the story itself still leaves me unsure of what to think.

He said we need more bike lanes, but that they should be planned in concert with affected residents. The crowd hardly reacted to Gray's transportation plans, but it erupted in applause when he said that people shouldn't wake up to find parking spaces on their street replaced by a bike lane without prior knowledge. Examples of situations where the construction of a bike lane has removed many parking spaces are scarce, so it seems to be the specter of such a change in the streetscape, rather than an actual occurrence, that drove the crowd's reaction.

Bike lanes usually are planned in concert with affected residents (and really, most of the time, no one is affected except cyclists), in fact I can't think of a time they weren't. If people don't chose to come to the public meetings, what is DDOT to do? As for "waking up to find parking spaces on their street replaced by a bike lane without prior knowledge;" I'm pretty sure that has never happened, but I agree, it would be bad. DDOT has rarely removed parking spaces to add in bike lanes (over-under: 40?), and certainly not without outreach. So I'm not sure what he's saying. Is he just making a promise that no one would break, but that sounds like something substantive; or is this code for "we need more bike lanes, but not many more."

This part gives more reason to hope.

"There's no way to sustain ourselves with increasing auto use," Gray proclaimed, citing worsening traffic congestion and the negative environmental effects associated with car dependence. "One of the ways to get people out of their cars is to have a multimodal transportation system," he explained.

Comments

[Chris]

It's consistent with the line he said during the primary. I can't remember what it was exactly, but something along the lines that bike lanes are fine, but they need to be thought through a little more. I'd hate to bring up the PA Avenue lanes again, but given the false start those had because of poor planning on the public relations front, I think he's got a point.

I think there's a bigger threat to more lanes that would exist regardless of whether Gray or Fenty won: funding issues. Money is getting tighter, and Fenty tended to spend money like a drunk sailor. I hope the city council isn't faced with a choice between building more bike lanes and funding a public library or something.

[Jim]

Let's not attribute to Gray the emphasis of his audience. Did you ever hear applause by Congressmen of one party to a presidential state of the union speech from a President of the other party?

If Gray gives several details of his plan, it is not--or at least it should not--be unusual to include a few sentences about sensitivity to community concerns. Nor should it be too surprising that an anti-Fenty audience timed its applause so that it might sound like a rebuke to Fenty. Hopefully he will say the same thing when he comes other wards, and people here can tell us whether and how the audience reaction shifts.

[gcr]

"Let's not attribute to Gray the emphasis of his audience"

No but we can attribute to him the use of anti-bike myths.

[Dr Pangloss]

We know there'll be pressure on Gray to implement really stupid policies. The question is whether he'll have the guts to stand up to the folks who gave him the mayorship.

Let's be honest, most of the folks cheering wildly at his pro-car / anti-bike, anti-pedestrian agenda can't wait to win the lottery and move out to PG County anyway.

[nookie]

"Bike lanes usually are planned in concert with affected residents (and really, most of the time, no one is affected except cyclists), in fact I can't think of a time they weren't. If people don't chose to come to the public meetings, what is DDOT to do? As for "waking up to find parking spaces on their street replaced by a bike lane without prior knowledge;" I'm pretty sure that has never happened"

Dear sir, I think you are mistaken. Perhaps you have forgotten about the incident when the 15th street lane was being constructed? Parking was removed, tempers flared, Jim Graham had to slap DDOT back.

http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post.cgi?id=3971

[washcycle]

Chris, I'll agree that there is a perception that the Penn Ave bike lanes were poorly planned. But they, in themselves, were not. As for funding, I still contend that the funding is safe. Most of it comes from federal programs. It seems that every time I hear Jim Sebastian talk about how to pay for something, he mentions federal money. The only risk is that TE or CMAQ money will be spent on some other eligible program, but that won't be libraries.

nookie, only people on one block weren't informed, and that was because the bike lane was not to be installed on that block. The contractor made a mistake. And those parking spaces were only to be temporarily removed. I was thinking more specifically of the permanent, planned removal of parking - not temporary, accidental removal of parking.

[asuka]

Still "confident"?

Write in Fenty November 2nd.

[nookie]

Washcycle,

Do you edit/change words and phraseology in everyone's posts or just mine?

I guess we will agree to disagree that a "notice" stuck to a telephone pole a day before the work begins constitutes "notice" and "planning with the residents".

And yes, even the biggest DDOT lovers of them all over at GGW lambasted DDOT for the poorly planned PA bike lanes.

How you can look at a complete and total restructuring of the original plan before they were even opened as "not poorly planned" is beyond me.

[washcycle]

Just yours.

On 15th they held meetings for years in advance of the change and they sent letters to everyone on the block.

How you can look at a complete and total restructuring of the original plan before they were even opened as "not poorly planned" Because the restructuring had nothing to do with the way they were planned. They had everything to do with Fenty freaking out that this was going to be an issue in the election and that AAA would kill him. Thank God he made Klein change it or Fenty might have lost to Gray. This was not an engineering decision. It was a political one. That is not DDOT's job.

[washcycle]

Oh, and it's "washcycle." Don't worry, I'll correct it for you.

[Chris]

Washcycle -

We've already disagreed before as to the design of the PA Avenue lanes - I think they were (and still are) poorly designed; and you don't. It's all good, and I don't feel like dealing with that who argument again.

However, I was not trying to say that the PA Avenue bike lanes were poorly planned in my comment above. Rather, I was trying to say that the rollout of them were. And this is the point that I think Gray's comments go to - the best design in the world can be doomed because of poor planning on the public relations front. And, clearly, something went wrong on that front.

[asuka]

The fact that Gray, despite having won the primary, still seems unwilling to communicate positions in a manner that doesn't require a hefty does of divination is not a good sign.