M Street Cycle Track Delayed. Again.

[DCLiz]

http://wamu.org/news/13/08/14/holdups_delay_m_street_cycle_track_three_months

I am so angry about this. This cycletrack has already been delayed for years, and now a church has succeeded in getting one block of it unprotected so that they can have their Sunday parking. As @timcraigpost commented on Twitter, “Wow. Trading 24-hr. bicycle safety for on-street, unmetered?, parking for 1 or 2 hours of Sunday service?”

I think I need to calm down and then start writing some letters.

Topic

[mstone]

In my experience, church parking lots are the most un-Christian places you will ever find. Ironic, but there is something about cars that brings out the worst in people, even at church.

[jabberwocky]

@mstone 61360 wrote:

In my experience, church parking lots are the most un-Christian places you will ever find. Ironic, but there is something about cars that brings out the worst in people, even at church.

I know people attending churches are fricking dangerous drivers. When I’m out on Sunday morning rides I’m always hyper alert around churches, because those people always drive like they’re out to kill somebody.

[DCLiz]

WABA has an action alert up now. It helps to send your letter to the mayor through their system, so that WABA can keep track of how many letters are being sent. If you are a taxpaying DC resident or otherwise support DC by patronizing businesses in town, be sure to note that. http://org.salsalabs.com/o/451/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=14154

[Terpfan]

@DCLiz 61424 wrote:

WABA has an action alert up now. It helps to send your letter to the mayor through their system, so that WABA can keep track of how many letters are being sent. If you are a taxpaying DC resident or otherwise support DC by patronizing businesses in town, be sure to note that. http://org.salsalabs.com/o/451/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=14154

I used my work zipcode to write in since i’m next to the church. But I do have relatives bothing living and operating a business within the city as well, which I forgot to mention.

[ShawnoftheDread]

@Mikey 60982 wrote:

Jesus would recognize this are ride a sweet steel fixie.

Nope:
http://gwadzilla.blogspot.com/2013/08/love-it-just-love-it.html

[DCLiz]

More on this in The Atlantic Cities: “How D.C. Set 3 Bad Bike Lane Precedents With a Single Decision” The author suggests that we could have a protected bike land AND diagonal parking on Sundays if DDOT eliminated 8 regular parking spaces on that block.

A friend had an interesting idea: cyclists could arrive early (in their cars) for that sweet sweet Sunday morning parking. Use that as a jumping off point for a Sunday morning ride…

[Terpfan]

@DCLiz 65012 wrote:

More on this in The Atlantic Cities: “How D.C. Set 3 Bad Bike Lane Precedents With a Single Decision” The author suggests that we could have a protected bike land AND diagonal parking on Sundays if DDOT eliminated 8 regular parking spaces on that block.

A friend had an interesting idea: cyclists could arrive early (in their cars) for that sweet sweet Sunday morning parking. Use that as a jumping off point for a Sunday morning ride…

I like your friend’s idea. Of course if I decide not cycle, I could just go into my office (stone’s throw away–can see the church from my window) and just park there.

It’s an interesting article and the same argument I’ve been making on it for some time. At the end of the posting, the author asks why they didn’t do the north side and it’s a good question. When you come off Thomas Circle, there are actually sharrows for the first half of M down toward 15th and they’re on the north side. It makes sense given the hotel and church are on the south side.

The most galling thing that wasn’t mentioned is the parking garage next door to the church. They keep complaining about a lack of parking, but there is a garage literally adjacent to the church. And if you count other paid garages, there are 6 within 2.5 blocks of the church. There is also on-street parking on several nearby streets on the weekend. And two metro stops within 3.5 blocks. Plus the random bus lines running on 16th, 14th and Mass. They’re just used to having their way and DDOT is afraid of political ramifications.

[cyclingfool]

@DCLiz 65012 wrote:

A friend had an interesting idea: cyclists could arrive early (in their cars) for that sweet sweet Sunday morning parking. Use that as a jumping off point for a Sunday morning ride…

That would be EPIC!

[DSalovesh]

@Terpfan 65022 wrote:

The most galling thing that wasn’t mentioned is the parking garage next door to the church. They keep complaining about a lack of parking, but there is a garage literally adjacent to the church. And if you count other paid garages, there are 6 within 2.5 blocks of the church.

Actually, in two places on the MAME site they direct people to park in the garages. There’s no mention of street parking, and I’m pretty sure the church self-regulates who can drive up and park there. (Not like the two private security guards they post could actually prevent public parking, but that wouldn’t stop them from trying.)

As the pastor said, this isn’t about parking and they didn’t want any bike lanes at all. Nobody clarified if that opinion was limited to just their block – my guess is that it’s more general.

[dasgeh]

@DSalovesh 65061 wrote:

As the pastor said, this isn’t about parking and they didn’t want any bike lanes at all. Nobody clarified if that opinion was limited to just their block – my guess is that it’s more general.

Let’s invite the pastor out on a bike ride. In fact, could we organize a bike ride of clergy/religious leaders. That sounds super interesting, actually… Emailing minister now…

[Terpfan]

@DSalovesh 65061 wrote:

Actually, in two places on the MAME site they direct people to park in the garages. There’s no mention of street parking, and I’m pretty sure the church self-regulates who can drive up and park there. (Not like the two private security guards they post could actually prevent public parking, but that wouldn’t stop them from trying.)

As the pastor said, this isn’t about parking and they didn’t want any bike lanes at all. Nobody clarified if that opinion was limited to just their block – my guess is that it’s more general.

“Sebastian said DDOT worked with Metropolitan A.M.E on a compromise solution to the church’s concerns about potentially losing parking spaces on the north side of M St.”
http://wamu.org/news/13/08/15/church_concerns_cause_delay_in_m_street_bike_lane

WAMU’s reporting seemed to think it was about parking. I know they mentioned funerals and people crossing the street too, both of which I sort of thought were null points given the 15th cycletrack is a block away already.

Interesting on the private guards. I hadn’t seen them, but I’ve not been by my office when the Congregation is in before save once when I was paying no attention.

[jnva]

I ride down M street every weekday and never even knew there was a church here…

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[DSalovesh]

It was in Martin DiCaro’s followup piece:

“The original proposal was to put a bike lane across the street from the church and there would be no parking and would eliminate a travel lane,” said Rev. Braxton. “The church didn’t want the bike lane, period. The bicycling community wanted it and it didn’t seem to matter to them that it would eliminate a travel lane.”

…and…

Met. A.M.E. spends about $25,000 per year so its congregants can use nearby parking garages, Rev. Braxton said. “The issue is larger than parking.”

http://wamu.org/news/13/08/20/cycling_advocates_push_back_on_dc_for_changes_to_m_street_bike_lane

[DCLiz]

Yesterday evening, as I was riding from my office to Trader Joe’s (a straight shot down M Street) during the evening rush, I was thinking how nice it would be when I could do the trip in a protected cycle track. And then I realized it was mid-October, and there was no sign of the promised construction that started this thread. This lane was supposed to be completed in August.

Wherefore art thou, M Street Cycletrack?

[DSalovesh]

@DCLiz 66750 wrote:

This lane was supposed to be completed in August.

Wherefore art thou, M Street Cycletrack?

The original deadline was 2010, actually, as set in the bike/ped master plan of 2005. (Didn’t happen for a lot of reasons, only one of which is “they didn’t try to make it happen”.) As of about a year ago the deadline was moved to spring 2013 – that May meeting was supposed to be the rubber stamp on many years of discussion and planning, with no further obstacles. August was an ambitious start date, but (hope was) it signaled DDOT and DC’s commitment to ending delays and moving forward after 8 idle years.

I’m still hopeful, they still have two weeks and it really doesn’t take long to do the minimal revisions required: erase some paint, lay some fresh, and screw down a handful of flex-posts. Minimal signage gets updated. It could still be done “in October” or very close to it.

But if they somehow threw all necessary hands on overtime and made a heroic effort to complete this before November, in the end the best they deserve is credit for meeting a long and relaxed deadline they themselves set and ignored until the last minute. This simply isn’t the activity one expects of a committed, dedicated, progressive transportation planning project, and it gives the proponents of the project a lot to point to when explaining why people get so upset about “minor” delays and revisions.

[Author]

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