Gabe Klein to leave DDOT

He's making an announcement today.

NBC Washington has learned that D.C. Transportation Director Gabe Klein "is expected to announce" Wednesday that he is not being kept on by Mayor-elect Vincent Gray.

Klein has called a staff meeting to make his announcement to staffers first as a courtesy and out of respect for the staff's hard work over the past 22 months he has been director.

Klein has confirmed it on his twitter feed, and Mike Debonis is live-tweeting the speech.

Update: More from TBD

'I think it's probably not a good fit for me going forward' says Klein. Says he's had 'inkling' for about a month

Comments

[contrarian]

Sad news indeed.

[kt]

No! Stay!

[Liz]

Oh, wow, I was hoping he'd be retained. Sorry to hear it.

[Jonathan Krall]

What everyone else said. :( I hope he will keep fighting the good fight for active transportation in his next job and that his next job is located near where I live.

[er]

Really unfortunate. It is projects that were implemented under his watch that got me bike commuting on a daily basis.

[asuka]

Told you.

[TurbineBlade]

I'm disappointed, but not too surprised.

[washcycle]

asuka, you are the official winner of the least bold prediction contest.

[Froggie]

Let's wait to see who Gray replaces him with. THEN people might (and probably will) have reason to be disappointed with Klein leaving...

[washcycle]

Klein's being asked to leave and a choice of replacement are two separate decisions. I think's fine to be disappointed with the first even without knowing the second. Even if it's someone better than Klein, there is still a transaction cost of changing horses. How long it will take to make up for that?

[Christopher Fotos]

From "Jason" over at GGW: Klein said in his presser that Gray hadn't even talked with him in 3 months.

From me: Yikes.

[Chris]

Face it, guys: we're entering a period of significant budget shortfalls and there's not going to be as much money devoted to bicycle infrastructure as there has been during the Fenty administration (if any). This is not because of anti-bicycle approach, because it would be case regardless of who won/lost the recent mayoral race and whoever is the head of DDOT.

[SJE]

And so, with significant budget shortfalls, why are bikes and peds the first on the chopping block? They are by far the cheapest means to move people. Cheaper for the city, and cheaper for the commuters.

[asuka]

And you know this how, Chris? And what is the connection between a budget shortfall, Gabe Klein being fired by an administration that clearly favors politics over performance, and continued investment in bike infrastructure?

[BicycleSPACE]

Tight budgets should favor bicycles - very cost effective investment. I'm calling on everyone with a bicycle to ride tomorrow despite the weather to show support for Mr. Klein.

[bikermark]

Any bets on how long before another city steals him? Not long is my guess.

[Chris]

Tight budgets DO favor bicycles - for individuals. And, putting additional bicycle-related infrastructure on the chopping block doesn't prevent bicycling from happening. Certainly many cyclists view all these new bike lanes and other facilities as helpful, but they are frosting on the cake - they are not absolute necessities.

And how do I know bicycle infrastructure is on the chopping block regardless of who's in office? Because it was on the chopping block in Fenty's last budget submission.

[SJE]

Chris: I disagree that the cost benefits of bikes are limited to the individuals. Cars do far more damage to roads, and require more expensive infrastructure than bikes.

[Chris]

I'm not really disagreeing with that point, SJE.

What I'm saying is that there's all sorts of competing priorities, and given that bicycles can travel on a roadway without putting in all sorts of markings and barriers, etc., it really isn't such a no-brainer that it would be a lower priority.

An example of what I mean are the PA Avenue bike lanes. Are they nice? To most cyclists, it seems they are, and I'm sure there's people who are more likely to ride because of them. But, are they absolutely necessary in order to ride one's bike on PA Avenue? No.

I don't know the budget choices that will be faced by DDOT under Gray. But, I do know that there's going to be some significant budget-tightening throughout government, and that's clear with the budget choices faced by the current Fenty administration (he is, right now, still mayor). The budget is going to be even more tight, given the council's decision not to raise taxes (with the support of Fenty).

So, if faced (for instance) with repaving a road that's full of potholes and putting in a new separated bike lanes with all the bells and whistles, I'm thinking I'd rather the potholes go away. (Of course, that wouldn't prevent them from drawing lines on the road, but I seriously doubt that's going to suddenly end just because Gabe Klein isn't in office.)