Here are my notes from the July meeting of DC's Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting. Unfortunately it was the same night as the Alison Swanson Ghost Bike ceremony.
1. BAC Support Established by law and appointed by the City Council, the BAC advises the Mayor and city government on bicycling issues. But for as long as I've been attending meetings, it has been run from inside DDOT. To a large extent this is because only DDOT - specifically the bicycle program - has shown any interest in it. Most other agencies don't attend, or attend very rarely. But the BAC is not part of DDOT. So to address this - and free up some time for DDOT - the city council is creating a position for someone who will be the Bicycle Advisory Council's Staff Person. They will handle all of the official tasks from planning agendas and writing minutes, to bringing issues to the attention of agencies, the Mayor and council members. They can do planning and research. Update the BAC website maybe. All in all this could be a very good development. The idea was Jim Graham's and the staffer will work out of the Policy Office. Jonathon Kass from the DC council was there and he pointed out that it has been a good year for cyclists legislatively speaking. Every bicycle bill submitted has passed and the district is committing $1.5 million more annually toward bicycle safety and education funding.
2. BikeStation and SmartBike I wrote about the Bike Station and SmartBike already and have nothing new to report.
3. BikeDC Rick Bowman who organizes the Providence Bridge Pedal in Portland is organizing BikeDC in September. He recently moved here - lucky us - and is running it from the same company that runs Bridge Pedal (WABA is not organizing it because they can't afford to risk the money - they took a bath (no pun intended) when a hurricane canceled the last one). A figure 8 course has been designed with Freedom Plaza at the center and Anacostia and American University at the ends. There was some discussion of following this with more neighborhood rides (next year maybe).
4. RTC Campaign for Active Transportation - The 2010 Campaign Case Statement is complete. This is the Active Transportation program that Rails to Trails is pushing with the hope of getting several million dollars for several cities. More about this in the March meeting's notes
5. Walk/Bike Conference - DC is bidding on the 2010 Pro Walk/Pro Bike Conference. Hotel space is hard to come by though.
6. NPS - Sometimes we have troubles with NPS. But, the Rivers, Trails and Conservation Branch of the Park Service has created a liaison to help with the numerous trails projects that require NPS assistance in the area. Awesome. Here's what they're doing in the area now:
• Anacostia Watershed Restoration Partnership - Metro Washington Council of Governments
• Cheverly Area Trails and Green Infrastructure Project - Friends of Lower Beaverdam Creek
• Grand History Trail - Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, NE Region l Field Office
• Rural Legacy Trail Connector - Trail Riders of Today
• Virginia Statewide Trails and Greenways Initiative 2008 - Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation
7. Met Branch Trail - Bad news. PEPCO promised to give to DC land DC needed to build the trail between New York Avenue and Franklin Avenue. The Federal government agreed to give DC the money to build it. DDOT had a contractor set up (sounds good so far, huh?) But DDOT couldn't award the contract because the contracting office claims they need the Attorney General's office to review the contract. This often takes weeks. Why they didn't do this during the seven months after the contractor was chosen and before the land was available I'll never know (Do they need a Gantt chart?) With luck, the contractor will not tell DC to go fly a kite and when the contracting office is satisfied, work can begin. You know what they say about anything worth having.
Photo by manyfires
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