TheWashCycle

Maryland elections open thread

Someone pointed out that I ignored the municipal elections going on in Maryland today. Sorry, I didn't know about them. It looks like there are local elections in College Park, Greenbelt, Bowie, Rockville and Takoma Park - among others. Rather than dig through all the races and candidates, I'm just opening a general thread for people to speak their minds about various candidates. Who supports biking. Who's oppossed efforts? etc... But, as always, let's keep it bike focused.

Virginia Election open thread

There are elections in Virginia on Tuessday. Rather than dig through all the races and candidates, I'm just opening a general thread for people to speak their minds about various candidates. Who supports biking. Who's oppossed efforts? etc... But, as always, let's keep it bike focused. Here's the only note I have:

John Cox isn't running for re-election - Hooray!

Ward 6 Community Garden Bike Tour

More here

You like bikes. You like community gardens. Well then, you have to join us this Sunday, September 29th, 12-3 pm, for the Ward 6 Community Garden Bike Tour. We’ve got dozens and dozens of great community gardens throughout our neighborhoods (too many to see in one tour!).

For this Ward 6 ride, leaders from each garden visited will talk about their garden space and share their stories! This exciting Ward 6 ride is in partnership with the BicycleSPACE City Explorer’s program.

Potential Ward 6 Council Candidate Charles Allen will be there, for those who would like to ask him about biking policy.

Thursday Early Afternoon Ride - Wells

At the BAC meeting last night, DDOT mentioned that they have 22 more CaBi stations in the warehouse ready to install by the end of the year. 

• A not-particularly flattering profile of bike-riding Councilmember Tommy Wells. "Wells’ campaign motto is “Building a Livable Walkable D.C.,” and he’s focused much of his energy as a councilmember on improving public transit and cycling infrastructure.... But ask for more examples, and he’ll launch into a catalog of his work during his half-year helming the transportation committee: doubling the Capital Bikeshare program...it’s clear that his heart isn’t in oversight of cops and firefighters as much as it was in buses, bikes, and trains. This is, after all, Mr. Livable-Walkable, who bikes to work and aims to give the whole city the car-free accessibility his Capitol Hill neighborhood enjoys."
• WABA wants your stories of police bias. 

Monday Morning Ride - All-powerful

Good morning

• DDOT is preparing to advertise the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens Segment of the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail for construction bids by contractors with construction expected to start in Fall 2013.
• Arlington County Board will hold a hearing this week on a proposal to lower the speed limit on four roads in the county. "The proposed amendment to the county code would would lower speed limits to 25 mph from the current 30 mph on four streets: Two key routes between Rosslyn and Clarendon (Wilson Boulevard between Washington Boulevard and Route 110 and Clarendon Boulevard between Washington Boulevard and N. Oak Street), a stretch near the Iwo Jima Memorial in Rosslyn (North Meade Street between Arlington Boulevard and Marshall Drive) and a road near the East Falls Church Metro station...the county believes the lower speeds will improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists." Hearing is on July 13th at 8:30 a.m. at 2100 Clarendon Blvd., in the  boardroom on the 3rd floor. Follow the link for maps. 
• Wall Street Journal discovers that there really is a bike lobby (and video). Next week's headling could look like this. The reason people made fun of Rabinowiz is not that she said there was a bike lobby, but that she called it all-powerful. If that were so, America might look more like this. 
• Speaking of which - The end of car culture. 

 

Tuesday Morning Commute - satin scarf

Good morning

• Citizen volunteers are patrolling the PA Ave Cycltracks and reporting scofflaws to the police. "I think he sensed my general question of "why are you doing this?" (which I'm not totally sure if I actually asked) and he told me that he once got a ticket for running a red light and he didn't want bicyclists to run red lights any more."
• NPR had a story on Black Women Bike:DC and Veronica Davis. "With Black Women Bike: DC, Davis works to change the perception of just who is a cyclist. It's not just spandex-clad weekend warriors riding 30-speed carbon fiber bikes. It's moms who want to ride with their kids. It's women who are training for their first triathlon. And it's utilitarian commuters like her."
• Former County Executive Douglas M. Duncan, running to regain that office said that "Montgomery needs an “all of the above” approach to its transportation conundrum that includes more transit, bike trails, and lane capacity"
• Bridge idea across the Potomac in the vicinity of the CIA HQ. Would include a bike ped lane in the middle. 
• Metro's Strategic Plan includes a goal to increase mode share for pedestrian and bicycle access to transit. 

Monday Morning Commute - randonnée

Good morning

• The majority of people (66%) in the DC area approve of "Washington D.C.'s effort to increase the number of bicycle lanes on major roads." Only 26% Disapporve. Oddly support was lower in DC than in Maryland and Virginia. But that may be because bike lanes had much lower support (57% as opposed to 71%) among African-Americans. Still, there wasn't a single group that didn't approve by a wide margin. In addition, local residents think 
• Post article on reduced congestion barely mentions biking "Although 75 percent of area commuters get there by car, the survey revealed that commuters are open to alternatives. By about 2 to 1, there was a preference for options other than roads. Two-thirds of those surveyed said they approve of the District’s expansion of the bike lane network."
• In April, "street markings and signs on the 9th Street S. and 12th Street S. side of the bike boulevards" that parallel Columbia Pike were to be placed in "late Spring." Now they're saying "in the next 6 weeks." 
• the Montgomery County Planning Board approved construction of the North Branch Hiker Biker Trail.  It will go from Lake Frank in Rock Creek Regional Park to Bowie Mill Park on Bowie Mill Road, connecting to the ICC Trail along the way.  Future extensions will take the trail into Olney.  A developer of a residential subdivision is building part of the trail on that land.  It will be placed on the 2015-2020 capital improvement plan, meaning that it should be built by 2020. See map below. 
• Find a bike shop, mapped, anywhere in the world. 
• "The only thing standing between where we are and the kind of infrastructure in Arlington and DC  is the will to act....But in many ways, the true highlight of the trip was our meeting with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA)"
• Good article on CitiBike. I like this "could one use my iPhone’s speaker to tell me which bike stations have empty docks as I approach my destination?"
• "There's no direct translation for randonnée (pronounced ran-don-NAY) — it can mean a long outing or trip, or a ramble in the countryside. For its practitioners, called randonneurs, it's easier to define the event by what it isn't: a race. There are time limits, which means riders can't go too slowly — but they also can't go too quickly."

Monday Morning Commute - For just once, can't we as Americans focus on race?

Good morning

• And...the racist take on the Met Branch Trail attack. The idea that the story has been ignored is pretty laughable really. I've actually been surprised at how much press it has gotten. It's been more reported than some rapes, sexual assaults and murders that have occurred along other trails in the area (or hit and run fatalities on our roads). I don't want to get into a "this attack is worse than that attack" kind of argument, but I actually think that this one has been one of the most reported ones out there - largely due to the lack of motive and the visuals. And I wouldn't really be able to argue with someone who thought that reporting spike was because of race too. So, it's funny that I read it all in a nearly opposite way. But, they're right that there have been many similar attacks on this trail over the last year. It is novel argument - however - that the police are somehow biased in the favor of black people. I've not heard that one before. 
• The GAP is open. Or closed? I mean it's finished. Which is to say it has started...Whatever. 
• On the all-powerful bike lobby: "The effort has been a bit more successful on the local level in some communities. D.C. Mayor Vince Gray recently proposed to spend what the D.C. Bicycle Advisory Council estimated was about $3.7 million of its transportation fund on bicycle programs, and the district has made a robust, multiyear public investment in its Capital Bikeshare program."
• "A Hagerstown, Md. man riding a bicycle in Adams County[PA] was struck by a vehicle and later pronounced dead at York Hospital, according to the York County Coroner's Office."

Monday Afternoon Commute - somewhere else in her head

I had a dream that they finished the Met Branch Trail in DC, but as an art installation, they added a ninja along the trail that would try to kill you as you rode by. So, you had to go fast. I remember thinking "I support the arts, but this is a bad idea." Now that I'm awake, I stand by that position.

• Stabbing on the Four Mile Run Trail. "A witness say the woman was walking alone near Glencarlyn Park at about 11 a.m. when a man jumped out of the bushes, grabbed her from behind and began attacking her with the knife."
• Details on last week's drunken driver on the W&OD Trail incident. "An intoxicated McLean woman drove at high speed for five miles down a popular Northern Virginia recreational trail Saturday night, sending trail users scrambling for safety before the car struck and seriously injured a bicyclist, police said." She's been charged with drunken driving and felony hit-and-run. "Police have not named the [victim], and a police spokeswoman did not know his condition Sunday afternoon." She was reportedly going 50 mph. She lucky that more people weren't hit. 
• Tandem cyclists nearly hit by marjor league home run in Pittsburgh. 
• CitiBike and fashion (See video below)
• Sen. Rand Paul uses his love of biking to bolster his claim that "Republicans care just as deeply about the environment as Democrats." [But isn't planting a Sequoia in Kentucky actually equivalent to planting an invasive species]

Monday Afternoon Commute - Beatty for Council?

Good afternoon

• There are quite a few stories about how drivers are parking or driving in the not-yet-completed L Street Bike lane. I kind of think this is much ado about nothing at this point. And look, I'm no defender of drivers in bike lanes, but (1) they aren't finished yet, (2) in some cases the signs haven't been changed yet (3) even when finished, there will be some lag time between that point and when drivers are fully informed about them. I think we all knew that there would be drivers in the bike lane for some time after the construction starts. But once the safe-hit flex posts are installed, I suspect you'll see less of this, until then it feels a little like fishing for a story. Once it's finished there should be a period of light enforcement (warnings and such) and then some ticket writing, but until then, some patience is probably needed. Here's more about the cycletrack that recognizes the temporaryness of this problem. 
• Challengers for District Council At-Large seats were asked for several positions on issues - including mandatory helmet laws. "Cooper, Swain and Wilcox support a law. Beatty opposes, calling it a “freedom issue.” Grosso would “have to think about it more” before deciding."
• Broadneck Pennisula Trail moves forward.
• The Pucher/Buehler book on City Cycling is now out. 
• Banning texting while driving might actually cause accidents as drivers contort themselves to hide their texting. "The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says that 3 of every 4 states that have enacted a ban on texting while driving have seen crashes actually go up rather than down."