Gray under pressure to keep Klein, bike lanes

From today's Post

business leaders and advocates for public transportation are pressuring Gray to reappoint transportation chief Gabe Klein and retain the city's new bicycle and bus lanes.

Gray also is under considerable pressure to keep transportation chief Klein and Harriet Tregoning, the head of the Department of Planning, in order to send a signal he embraces Fenty's vision for bicycle lanes, more mass transit options and lively neighborhoods.

"There are people who are going to look at these appointments, and he needs to send a clear message he's going to move things forward, or he can send a message he is not," said Dave Alpert, founder of the Greater Greater Washington blog, which advocates for smart growth and public transportation.

Yet, as the election proved, amenities such as bike lanes have more appeal in Northwest then they do in some other areas of the city.

This will be the first chance for Gray to signal that he really does believe bikes will play an ever larger role in DC transportation.

Comments

[SJE]

While a bike lane may have more electoral appeal in NW than SE, its not like bike lanes in NW are somehow hurting the residents of SE. Its not like school reform or the police.

[Read Scott Martin]

Agree. Not an evidence-based argument. It is based on fear - the always exploitable fear that people who look like people in NW want to hurt residents who look like people who live in SE. And that residents in NW like certain things, so it stands to reason people in SE are against those things. Welcome to the new 1970s, just like the old 1970s.

[guez]

Read Scott Martin,

I agree with you to a point, but I think that there's another version of the argument, along the lines of "people who look like people in NW are relatively unconcerned with many of the issues that affect many of the people who look like people in SE." What got Fenty in trouble is not so much that he built bike lanes, but rather that he didn't seem to be that concerned by the affordable housing crisis (to take one example).

Of course there's no reason why you can't have *both* bike lanes and affordable housing, but that would require the kind of leadership that DC seems to lack. It also requires a kind of activism, outside of government, that goes beyond both transportation wonkiness and class/race warfare.

[Chris]

Fenty overwhelmingly lost his own ward, which is not in SE. Can we move beyond an "us" versus "them" attitude?

[satan]

bike lanes are amenities?

gray doesnt believe in multi-modal transport? was he in a car this weekend on M street? Connecticut? etc etc?? ha ha ha...(he probably thinks more lanes will solve car problems since it appears he's an idiot.)

is putting up with stupidity the kind of which is stinking up this article part of the "playing defense" re: quality of life issues?

the usa is a piece of rapidly declining crap...and the "people," much less their leaders, have been created as too stupid to do anything to stop the slide...

[Read Scott Martin]

@ Chris: Amen. I just wish I had a transcript of Kelvin Robinson's appearance on Kojo to illustrate what we're talking about. Naasty.

[Chris]

The problem is, I think it goes both ways. It's black versus white, but it's also white versus black. The atmosphere is too toxic, and it's time to move on.

[guez]

One of my favorite Bikesnob comments:

"Really, one person's 'livable city' is another person's uninhabitable hellhole."

http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2009/12/weird-world-of-bike-advocacy-mourning.html

[SJE]

Kelvin Robinson's chat with Tom Sherwood is available if you google "Kelvin Robinson Kojo"

[asuka]

Klein will probably be the one bone Gray tosses Wards 2 and 3. No matter - this city is changing, and the days of taking the neighborhoods West of the Park for granted are rapidly coming to an end. The Write In campaign sent Gray a message. If he chooses to ignore it, he does so at his own peril.

[Chris]

Taking neighborhoods west of the park for granted? Seriously? Cry me a river!

[asuka]

Many of us are getting tired of being called racists because of where we live, then being asked to pay for everything while using very little. We will no longer tolerate the divide and conquer tactics of the bad old days. Firing Klein would be a tremendous insult. Gray's been warned. Lets see if he listens.

[Chris]

Asuka, the fact that you believe you are "being asked to pay for everything while using very little" demonstrates that you buy into the divide-and-conquer tactics you condemn - you just wish you were on the winning side of that apparent division.

If you really believe that it would be better to work together as a city, I think it might be smart to have a slightly less holier-than-thou attitude and understand that the area west of the park doesn't "pay for everything" and certainly derives a great deal of benefit. It might also be a good idea to know what you're talking about - if you actually examine the electoral history, the fact is that there are some city-wide candidates (including Marion Barry is some of his runs for public office) who win because of support west of the park, and some who do not.

I certainly don't want to suggest anyone I don't know is a racist, and I don't actually recall candidate Gray doing so either. I do think you need to examine the attitude you are communicating and try to understand how what you say might be a contributing factor to the social divide in this city. I will agree that there are problems on all sides, but your attitude doesn't seem very productive towards finding a solution. If you use Klein as a barometer for whether or not Gray is a racist or whether he's concerned about your neck of the woods, you are frankly parodying the behavior you critique.

[washcycle]

Let me say, to get back on track, that I think Gray could replace Klein and still signal a commitment to biking as transportation. He would just need to hire someone who see it the way Klein, Moneme and Tangherlini do.