Bike Parking for the Welcome Happy Hour on Tuesday evening

[wheelswings]

Bike parking for the Freezing Saddles Happy Hour:

There are 15 racks between Bier Baron and Dupont Circle, which will hold about 70 bikes, plus assorted poles and other things to latch onto.

There is also Capital Bikeshare, assuming you can find a space in which to dock your bike.

And Bier Baron is located near the Dupont Circle Metro, if you opt to take transit instead.

Background:
We’ve tried many other options, with no luck.
Church of the Pilgrims
–dkel called Church of the Pilgrims and was told no.
–I followed up with the church by phone and email, but ultimately they said they rent out their garage in the evenings to a nearby hotel.
–I checked with the specified hotel to make a deal with them, and they said they only rent out the church garage on weekends.
–I talked to the church again. They were not pleased that I had called the hotel. I asked whether we could use the garage after the 6 pm exodus from the pre-school.
–Eminva called the church today and got a final no. Three strikes, we’re out!
The statue out front of the Bier Baron
Unfortunately it turns out that the statue is on land owned by National Park Service. Their permitting office says we would need to pay $120 just to apply for a permit and it would take a couple weeks. This is the same permit they’d require for a demonstration of 1000 people or more…but their paper-pushers don’t care about the distinctions. If they catch us there without a permit (e.g., if an officer drives by during the HH), we are told they will remove our bikes. No comment. [FYI, NPS does not know the date of our event.]
DC public school
I got permission from the principal at School Without Walls to set up bike parking in their outdoor lot. We would hire our own guards for this location. But I’m told there’s little interest in this option since it’s three blocks away. So we’ll likely tell the school no thank-you.
Capital Bike-Share Corral
Henry/Bike Arlington and I have been discussing the possibility of a bike-share bike corral, but apparently it’s too expensive… hundreds of dollars…out of our price range.
Racks
–WABA is not able to loan us their racks. There’s a bike valet service but the cheapest deal they offer is $250. And we’d still have the problem of where to put the racks.

In summary, it seems our best option is to rely on existing racks and poles in the neighborhood and to latch on with a sturdy U-lock. Or to try and grab a couple parking spaces out-front of the Bier Baron for an improvised bike-parking like we did last year.

[Henry]

Most of the public racks are on P Street, between 22nd and Dupont Circle. Try the handy Rackspotter App to learn where.

Henry

[secstate]

Thanks for all your work on this. I don’t mind walking a few blocks, or even many blocks.

[Steve O]

I’m planning to bike there with my bike. I’ll probably bring both a cable and a u-lock.

Personally I think there isn’t a lot to be nervous about. There will some of us coming and going almost all the time, and I’m sure we will keep an observant eye out for each other.
We could, though, organize a foot patrol to walk the street between Bier Baron & DuPont. I’d be willing to take a 10- or 15-minute shift.

[TriGirlSara]

@wheels&wings 151404 wrote:

Bike parking for the Freezing Saddles Happy Hour:

There are 15 racks between Bier Baron and Dupont Circle, which will hold about 70 bikes, plus assorted poles and other things to latch onto.

There is also Capital Bikeshare, assuming you can find a space in which to dock your bike.

And Bier Baron is located near the Dupont Circle Metro, if you opt to take transit instead.

Background:
We’ve tried many other options, with no luck.
Church of the Pilgrims
–dkel called Church of the Pilgrims and was told no.
–I followed up with the church by phone and email, but ultimately they said they rent out their garage in the evenings to a nearby hotel.
–I checked with the specified hotel to make a deal with them, and they said they only rent out the church garage on weekends.
–I talked to the church again. They were not pleased that I had called the hotel. I asked whether we could use the garage after the 6 pm exodus from the pre-school.
–Eminva called the church today and got a final no. Three strikes, we’re out!
The statue out front of the Bier Baron
Unfortunately it turns out that the statue is on land owned by National Park Service. Their permitting office says we would need to pay $120 just to apply for a permit and it would take a couple weeks. This is the same permit they’d require for a demonstration of 1000 people or more…but their paper-pushers don’t care about the distinctions. If they catch us there without a permit (e.g., if an officer drives by during the HH), we are told they will remove our bikes. No comment. [FYI, NPS does not know the date of our event.]
DC public school
I got permission from the principal at School Without Walls to set up bike parking in their outdoor lot. We would hire our own guards for this location. But I’m told there’s little interest in this option since it’s three blocks away. So we’ll likely tell the school no thank-you.
Capital Bike-Share Corral
Henry/Bike Arlington and I have been discussing the possibility of a bike-share bike corral, but apparently it’s too expensive… hundreds of dollars…out of our price range.
Racks
–WABA is not able to loan us their racks. There’s a bike valet service but the cheapest deal they offer is $250. And we’d still have the problem of where to put the racks.

In summary, it seems our best option is to rely on existing racks and poles in the neighborhood and to latch on with a sturdy U-lock. Or to try and grab a couple parking spaces out-front of the Bier Baron for an improvised bike-parking like we did last year.

Wow, thank you for going above and beyond to get this figured out! I will be riding my crappy commuter bike there, so I’ll be happy to park it a little bit further away to leave more lock-up spots for nice bikes closer to the bar.

[Author]

Posts