!Meeting Update! Attendees Needed! Washington Blvd Bike Lanes Meeting 3/1 5pm-8pm

[lordofthemark]

@dasgeh 152954 wrote:

I don’t want to throw flames, but to challenge your assumptions here. For one, I don’t believe the lanes will be narrowed – that’s why parking spots will be eliminated. As far as “stealing parking from the honest home owner” – again, there’s no eminent domain being used or changing of curbs. It’s the County’s land and we’re discussing how the County should use it. Right now, the County provides completely free parking right in front of these houses, and the proposal is that it no longer will. Most (if not all) of these lots have driveways. There will still be parking across the street, and on the side streets. As the blocks are not particularly long on this stretch, this seems completely reasonable.

Also, the current set up forces some people, who would otherwise choose to bike, into cars. So the question is whether the County should maintain this space as (free) parking spots, or use the space to provide lanes that will decrease the number of cars on the road. As someone who lives nearby, I would think your interest would be better served by having fewer cars on the road.

You are such a silly person. Don’t you know that honest home owners have a property right in the “public” parking spots on their street, and that only “bike lane bolsheviks” would take them away?

Why just the other day, in the Alexandria Gazette, an upstanding Old Town homeowner complained that the street he lives on is in poor shape and in need of repaving. The reason – of course its because of the money the city spent on creating buffered bike lanes on King Street. That King Street was being repaved anyway, because it was in absolutely awful shape, had nothing to do with that. And the cyclists did not pay for that, unlike the long time homeowners. Because cyclists, obviously, are never homeowners, nor is anyone who is not a homeowner a taxpayer in Alexandria.

How can one argue against such solid logic?

[Tim Kelley]

Heads up! I just heard that this meeting has been postponed for several weeks now. No reason given at this time.

So, don’t show up tomorrow.

[Tim Kelley]

More details:

Washington Boulevard Roadway Bicycle and Pedestrian Project (NEW DATE-MARCH 1, 2017 5PM=8PM)

The previously scheduled community meeting on Jan 18 is NOW RE-SCHEDULED for MARCH 1 (5PM-8PM). The project is focused on enhancing bicycle access and pedestrian safety along the Washington Blvd corridor between Sycamore Street (at East Falls Metro) and Westover. During this newly scheduled March session, we invite community members to provide ideas and insights on how we achieve the maximum benefits for bicycle access and pedestrian safety, while minimizing potential impacts in the area. Additional information can be found at the Washington Boulevard Bicycle and Pedestrian (Repaving Project) webpage.

NEW Date: Wednesday, March 1, 2017
TIME: 5:00 PM -8:00 PM
LOCATION: Westover Library

[Tim Kelley]

Here’s the official flyer!

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[chris_s]

March 1st quickly approach-eth…

[chris_s]

Wednesday!

[sjclaeys]

I will make all efforts to be there, though it could closer to 8:00.

[Tim Kelley]

FYI–the comment period ends on Friday!

Dear Washington Boulevard Enhancements Project Community,

Thank you to everyone who was able to attend last week’s Open House and Presentations on the proposed striping plan for enhancements on Washington Boulevard, west of McKinley, as part of VDOT’s 2017 re-paving project. We greatly appreciate the time many of you took to join us in person, or to send comments via email. We have received a lot of good comments, suggestions, and questions.

Great news! VDOT has extended the submittal deadline so that we, Arlington County, can also extend the public comment period to Friday, March 17th. Please share this information and help us spread the word to others who might also be interested in commenting on this project.

Also, the County’s project webpage has the Open House Presentation, the initial proposed re-striping plan, and other project information. We will be updating the webpage periodically with additional information, including updated Frequently Asked Questions.

Project website (entire link): https://projects.arlingtonva.us/projects/washington-boulevard-repaving-striping-westover-east-falls-church/

Next steps:
• Transcribe and post public comments on the project webpage
• Update striping plan based on comments
• Community meeting during the week of April 17th – a follow-up email will be sent with date/time/location. At that meeting, County staff will share the final striping plan, as well as how community comments influenced the design.
• Submit final striping plan to VDOT for approval and implementation in 2017.

Again, the deadline for public comments is March 17. Comments should be emailed to David Goodman, Program Manager, at dgoodman@arlingtonva.us. Thanks for continuing to help us get the word out and make this a plan that balances community goals and needs.

[chris_s]

Hopefully you are all on the WABA alert list and saw this already, but Arlington has capitulated to the vocal minority freaking out about parking and the “final” striping plan has a bike lane only in the westbound direction. Guess how many USED parking spaces this keeps? TEN. The other 29 or so that are “saved” were never in use during the County’s parking utilization study. There is plenty of parking capacity to handle those 10 “displaced” cars either across the street or around the corner.

If you haven’t already, make some noise on this. This is about more than Washington Blvd; this is potentially precedent-setting. 10 parking spaces are not more important than safety and enabling a car-free or car-light lifestyle for thousands of Arlingtonians.

Take action through the WABA Alert, or email countyboard@arlingtonva.us and countymanager@arlingtonva.us or reach out directly to some County Board members if you have any sort of relationship. Capitulation to a vocal minority is not the political environment we want surrounding the process for updating Arlington’s Bike Plan (set to kick off by the end of next month, FYI)

[KLizotte]

I wrote a letter supporting the bike lanes a few weeks ago. How frustrating the board decided against them.

Can anyone explain why board members are so afraid of a vocal few arguing to save parking spaces in this situation? It’s particularly odd when most houses in the area have their own driveways, there is ample parking in the area, etc.

Why is government still so afraid of car owners??? I’ll never understand why my voice as a cyclist (or a ped) is worth less than when I’m a driver. I cost the government far more as the latter and do more harm to society and yet I’m put at the front of the line.

Sigh.

I am only heartened because I saw a ton of cyclists around Pentagon City this evening and trying to find a Cabi for the commute home is a challenge because all of the bikes are routinely taken (okay, that isn’t so fun).

[Drewdane]

This is such BS. Does anyone have any more specific info about the process surrounding this change in plans? It would be useful if we can contrast that with the transparency of the original process that came up with the plan to include bike lanes.

Also, if (like me) you are not a resident of Arlington, please write in anyway. I spend a fair amount of money in Westover’s restaurants and bars, and am likely to spend more with better bike access. Actively deciding to limit access for cyclists will definitely affect my decision next time I want to go out to eat or have a drink.

[lordofthemark]

Far be it from me to support this negative outcome, but can I suggest that, in addition to putting more effort into bike advocacy of all kinds, we all try to make an effort to use the newer (and more controversial) pieces of bike infra? (At least those of us who consider bike infra beneficial). Lots of people here complain about crowding and misbehavior on the trails – try the alternatives – ride the Eads street bike lanes (far from perfect, but easier to push for improvements with more riders I imagine). If you have somewhere to go in Alexandria, consider riding down the King Street lanes (or up, for a hill workout) – come on to the Van Dorn buffered lanes to check out Aldi’s and a lovely little branch library. Use the Wilkes Street Neighborhood bikeway. That could help make cases I think.

[chris_s]

@Drewdane 158747 wrote:

This is such BS. Does anyone have any more specific info about the process surrounding this change in plans? It would be useful if we can contrast that with the transparency of the original process that came up with the plan to include bike lanes.

The process:
1) VDOT says “we’re repaving this stretch, how would you like it restriped when you’re done”
2) Staff creates initial plan based on County Transportation Policy and Plans
3) Staff presents that plan at a public meeting and accepts comments on the plan.
4) Staff changes plan, in theory, to address the comments received.
5) Staff releases new “final” plan via email and will talk about it at tonight’s meeting, though apparently it’s final and they aren’t taking any comments about the changes??

The East Falls Church Sector plan process, by contrast, was months and months of meetings, a public hearing before the Board, etc. Same for the bike element of the MTP.

That said, I hate critiquing the process, but that may just be a personable foible. For me, it’s just a bad decision made for no defensible reason. Our policies and plans say put bike lanes there, the majority of the community feedback was pro-bike lane…so why the hell are we deviating from our plans and policies?

[OneEighth]

@KLizotte 158727 wrote:

Can anyone explain why board members are so afraid of a vocal few arguing to save parking spaces in this situation? It’s particularly odd when most houses in the area have their own driveways, there is ample parking in the area, etc.

If I remember correctly, some of the houses on that stretch do not have driveways.

[Birru]

@OneEighth 158756 wrote:

If I remember correctly, some of the houses on that stretch do not have driveways.

Yeah, that’s the dilemma. The bike lane in that stretch is basically removing de facto driveways for a few homeowners. I can appreciate they’d be pretty upset about that. I really don’t like the re-routing option though. It seems half-baked and needlessly long. I’d much rather take the lane in that stretch and perhaps traffic calming measures would have been a better compromise.

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