Tips on getting a rack in Falls Church?

[DaveK]

@adamx 50739 wrote:

the vice mayor (i believe) read it and posted a letter to the editor in the FC News Press publicly admonishing the entire project and the staff for a gross document where absolutely nothing in it was feasible or could be implemented. the plan died…as far as i can tell…on the spot. i replied to the letter and recommended that the Vice Mayor not reprimand his staff in a public forum.

Is any of this available on the website?

[Drewdane]

@adamx 50739 wrote:

Jeff; i am 3 houses out of FCC on Tod St and yes in Falls Church, FFX Co. Yes, wendy led an effort for nearly a year to put a bike/ped plan together. i attended a couple of meetings and their was an online site for residents to comment blah blah. and then it was publised and presented to FCC heads of state. the vice mayor (i believe) read it and posted a letter to the editor in the FC News Press publicly admonishing the entire project and the staff for a gross document where absolutely nothing in it was feasible or could be implemented. the plan died…as far as i can tell…on the spot. i replied to the letter and recommended that the Vice Mayor not reprimand his staff in a public forum. it was really pretty pathetic. and there you have it…in my opinion. but you gotta give wendy credit for trying and with BikeNetic and others she is hosting a Pit Stop for the second year during Bike to Work day…i believe morning and evening.

Pretty typical of how Falls Church City is run, from what I can tell (I live about a block outside of FCC limits). An incestuous cabal and its house organ, the Falls Church News-Press, more interested in monster-scale cookie-cutter upscale retail than maintaining a decent quality of life for its residents.

[americancyclo]

@Drewdane 50783 wrote:

Pretty typical of how Falls Church City is run, from what I can tell (I live about a block outside of FCC limits). An incestuous cabal and its house organ, the Falls Church News-Press, more interested in monster-scale cookie-cutter upscale retail than maintaining a decent quality of life for its residents.

Do I dare ask how you feel about Anthony’s?

[americancyclo]

@DaveK 50779 wrote:

Is any of this available on the website?

http://fcnp.com/2012/03/22/letters-to-the-editor-march-22-28-2012/

[h=6]Snyder Assails Size, Cost of Pedestrian Plan[/h] Editor,
The City’s multi-hundred page “Pedestrian, Bicycling and Traffic Calming Plan” and related documents is set for first Council consideration on Monday, but was just unveiled this week during a poorly attended work session. While positive in intent and goals, it goes badly off track in terms of its huge, unnecessary costs and its multiple, serious negative consequences.
The overall price tag is $22 million, requiring the diversion of tax dollars from pressing City needs such as schools, stormwater and public safety, or higher taxes for all. Worse yet, dozens, if not hundreds, of property owners face the destruction of their fences, the uprooting of trees and the loss of their on-street parking. That’s because the Plan doesn’t just provide for needed safety improvements (something we could all agree on) but instead adds “wants” such as sidewalks where they are not needed and removal of on-street parking to allow for bicycle lanes and other “improvements”. The tragic irony is that this waste of money actually might make our streets less safe, by making some streets one way (thereby encouraging higher speeds and cut-through traffic) and removing our citizens’ parked cars ( an inexpensive traffic calming measure). It also jeopardizes the historic look and feel of Falls Church that sets us apart from the rest of NOVA’s suburban sprawl. And, the reduced on-street parking will also hurt our businesses that rely on it to serve their customers, who in turn, help support the City through meals and sales taxes.
It is imperative that we force the process to go back to the drawing board by identifying essential safety improvements and eliminating projects such as new sidewalks across the street where they already exist in residential neighborhoods. Otherwise, all taxpayers will face steep new bills and many property owners will wake up one morning to find City backhoes chewing up their yards, tearing out their fences, uprooting their trees and no parking signs placed where they have parked their cars for decades.
Dave Snyder
Vice Mayor, City of Falls Church

There are some other good ones out there too, of the “Oh my lord won’t someone think of my cars! Where will I park my three cars!!!http://fcnp.com/2012/05/03/letters-to-the-editor-may-3-9-2012/
http://fcnp.com/2012/04/26/letters-to-the-editor-april-26-may-2-2012/
http://fcnp.com/2012/04/21/shields-to-urge-extension-of-review-time-for-fc-pedestrian-plan/
http://fcnp.com/2012/04/05/letters-to-the-editor-april-5-11-2012/
http://fcnp.com/2012/04/03/city-pedbike-plan-available-for-public-comment/

[mstone]

@americancyclo 50808 wrote:

http://fcnp.com/2012/03/22/letters-to-the-editor-march-22-28-2012/

There are some other good ones out there too, of the “Oh my lord won’t someone think of my cars! Where will I park my three cars!!!http://fcnp.com/2012/05/03/letters-to-the-editor-may-3-9-2012/
http://fcnp.com/2012/04/26/letters-to-the-editor-april-26-may-2-2012/
http://fcnp.com/2012/04/21/shields-to-urge-extension-of-review-time-for-fc-pedestrian-plan/
http://fcnp.com/2012/04/05/letters-to-the-editor-april-5-11-2012/
http://fcnp.com/2012/04/03/city-pedbike-plan-available-for-public-comment/

Hence their affectionate nickname, “little Loudoun”.

[DismalScientist]

As someone from a neighborhood in Arlington with incomplete sidewalks, it was “required” that sidewalks and curbing to be added to get the street repaved. I don’t think foisting sidewalks on us will really make the neighborhood any more pedestrian friendly–people just walk in the streets and it is perfectly safe. The bike lanes proposed in the plan are for streets with 25 mph speed limits–and often these streets have big speed sensor sign with your speed displayed. Given how Falls Church seems to think that half its budget should be paid through traffic tickets, cars tend to not significantly exceed this limits. I’ve ridden these streets without bike lanes and they seem perfectly safe.

I find it interesting that sometimes cyclist and pedestrian advocates seemed to want roads treated as shared space (see, for example the woonerf: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/28/automobiles/where-share-the-road-is-taken-literally.html?hpw&_r=2&) and sometimes they think that segregation is appropriate. I guess I’m in the camp where segregation can be minimized on low traffic/low speed roads.

[mstone]

@DismalScientist 50821 wrote:

As someone from a neighborhood in Arlington with incomplete sidewalks, it was “required” that sidewalks and curbing to be added to get the street repaved. I don’t think foisting sidewalks on us will really make the neighborhood any more pedestrian friendly

Agreed; I really hate seeing mature trees killed for sidewalks. But there’s a big difference between a rational conversation about what facilities are appropriate for each street, and killing an entire safe streets effort because engaging in the planning process is too hard and it might take away some parking spots and the cyclists should be over on the W&OD anyway. I think it’s safe to say that there are some streets in Falls Church that are fairly safe with no sidewalks or other facilities, and others that are terrifyingly dangerous and need safety upgrades. I’m not sure how you address the latter by killing any planning process that might affect the status quo.

[DaveK]

@americancyclo 50808 wrote:

http://fcnp.com/2012/03/22/letters-to-the-editor-march-22-28-2012/

There are some other good ones out there too, of the “Oh my lord won’t someone think of my cars! Where will I park my three cars!!!http://fcnp.com/2012/05/03/letters-to-the-editor-may-3-9-2012/
http://fcnp.com/2012/04/26/letters-to-the-editor-april-26-may-2-2012/
http://fcnp.com/2012/04/21/shields-to-urge-extension-of-review-time-for-fc-pedestrian-plan/
http://fcnp.com/2012/04/05/letters-to-the-editor-april-5-11-2012/
http://fcnp.com/2012/04/03/city-pedbike-plan-available-for-public-comment/

Wow. Through the looking glass…

[dasgeh]

@DismalScientist 50821 wrote:

I guess I’m in the camp where segregation can be minimized on low traffic/low speed roads.

I love those areas (re: the NY Times article) in Europe, but one key to them is that there are fewer cars in them. Another is that drivers are familiar with these streets, and drive very slowly. I don’t see that around these parts, even on “quiet residential streets”.

The other thing is that my opinion of these residential streets with no sidewalks has changed dramatically through my work with APS. When thinking about a kid walking along a road to school, especially alone, you really want separation of modes unless the cars really truly drive slowly. So I’m all for more sidewalks unless we can reduce speed limits to under 20mph.

[Drewdane]

@americancyclo 50806 wrote:

Do I dare ask how you feel about Anthony’s?

Anthony’s was never a huge favorite of mine, but I think it’s a damned shame what’s happening to them, and it’s illustrative of my point above.

[americancyclo]

@Drewdane 50783 wrote:

more interested in monster-scale cookie-cutter upscale retail than maintaining a decent quality of life for its residents.

@Drewdane 50856 wrote:

Anthony’s was never a huge favorite of mine, but I think it’s a damned shame what’s happening to them, and it’s illustrative of my point above.

I’m not in FCC either, just over the border, but I’ve only been to Anthony’s once. Not really worth a second visit in my opinion.
I’d love to see a sidewalk where I live, but its a FFX county road signed at 20mph while people regularly pass my house at 40mph, about a block from a W&OD crossing.

There really aren’t any good ways to get around in Falls Church City other than the W&OD though, particularly when you have a kid in a trailer.

[Author]

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