[Lincolnparkdc] FINAL PLANS and DDOT's eventual solution to safety

Fri Apr 9 10:14:07 EDT 2021

Steve

Thank you for clarifying. I thought might have been the source of the confusion. 

Given this,  i have to point out the purpose of that call was provide input from the  immediate  community. It was NOT hosted by DDOT,but by a resident of the immediate community.  DDOT reps were invited to listen in to answer questions and learn of community concerns. 

Given that, I don’t think it appropriate to be complaining that viewpoints of the broader community were not being heard that particular evening. 

John

John F Hirschmann 
hirschj154 at gmail.com
Sent from my iPad

> On Apr 9, 2021, at 08:52, Steve Marcus <sdmarcus at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Apologies, I was tracking Yannis's email, which concluded with "Finally, the zoom call with DDOT back in January was a stunning display of tone-deaf attitude and utter disregard for any viewpoint other than DDOT's." I reviewed my emails and the ANC meeting that discussed this streetscape improvement was in November, not in January. 
> 
> On Fri, Apr 9, 2021 at 8:24 AM John Hirschmann <hirschj154 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Steve
>> 
>> Your reply leaves me very confused. You are referring to a January Zoom Call.  I’m NOT aware of any January 2021 call and don’t recall any such call ever being publicized. 
>> 
>> Also, the plans for the Kentucky Avenue Bike lane were finalized in December 2020, so I don’t see how any January meeting would have been relevant to what is now happening.
>> 
>> I don’t understand at all the reference to „the luxury of easy car parking.“. That has NOT been the focus or intent of the discussion. The primary reason people are concerned about losing parking spaces near their homes is concern about the greater risk of exposure  to street crime if they have to park farther from their homes, particularly at night. There was a armed robbery in the 100 block of Kentucky in mid-March and several other street crimes in adjacent blocks in the weeks immediately prior. If our primary concern is public safety, I’m surprised nobody is lobbying for more police protection rather than advocating for programs that require eliminating parking spaces. We developed a proposal to support bike lanes with minimal impact on parking, but the ANC failed to endorse it and submit it to DDOT in a timely manner. 
>> 
>> Also, if you only choose to tell members of the biking community about a meeting and don’t publicize it to the residents of the neighborhood impacted (or vice-versa) you shouldn’t be surprised about bias in the feedback your getting. 
>> 
>> John
>> 
>> John F Hirschmann 
>> hirschj154 at gmail.com
>> Sent from my iPad
>> 
>>> On Apr 8, 2021, at 15:49, Steve Marcus <sdmarcus at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> There were many participants on the January zoom call who advocated for the installation of the bike lane and improvements to pedestrian/bike infrastructure (I was one of them!). And, of course, many of the people who will benefit from that infrastructure were not on the call because that infrastructure will be used by people who do not live in this ANC. For instance, someone who lives on the other side of the Sousa Bridge and wishes to bike to Lincoln Park (or beyond) would likely use Kentucky Ave. DDOT is obligated to consider the views of all street users. 
>>> 
>>> On Thu, Apr 8, 2021 at 2:28 PM Marche Maine <markrichardgrace at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> I do not see it as a war on cars but as an assertion of the equal rights of alternative transport modes.  The luxury of easy car parking is no longer going to come at the expense of safe travel for bikers, scooters, walkers.
>>>> 
>>>> On Thu, Apr 8, 2021, 2:14 PM Margaret Rafferty <mhrafferty at hotmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> Nicely stated Yanis. Thank you.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Margaret
>>>>> 
>>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>>> 
>>>>>> On Apr 8, 2021, at 1:44 PM, Yannis Labrou <labrou at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Reading a recent posting citing 2 awful incidents where the vehicle operators did not observe current laws (and then some), I sense that DDOT's solution to public safety is to address whatever vehicle operators do even when they do not observe signs and traffic laws. Hence, the solution is to make it harder and harder to own and operate a vehicle in Washington DC. Fewer cars, fewer drivers, fewer miles driven, fewer incidents ... thus goes the reasoning. Let's call a spade a spade. Our lost parking spots, no-data decisions, no data-based assessments, traffic-calming eye-sores all over the Hill, etc. are just collateral damage to a flawed thinking in my opinion. 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Incidentally, the mentioned horrific incident of the 4 year old boy being struck by a car (and killed) happened in NW. In terms of relevance to our street's bike lanes etc., it might as well have happened in MD or VA. It is not relevant to the specifics of our street in terms of improving safety. Here is a link to the accident
>>>>>>             https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/4-year-old-boy-struck-and-killed-by-suv-in-northwest-dc/2627621/
>>>>>> Indicative of the current thinking, is the following excerpt from the story:
>>>>>>            "Many residents, including Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Erik Lindsjo, have been pressing to make Georgia Avenue safer for pedestrians and bicyclists.
>>>>>>             There’s no reason in a city where you shouldn’t drive over 20 mph anyways to have this many lanes dedicated to traffic,” Lindsjo said. “You’re inviting tragedy.”
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Yes .. take the lanes away (hmmm, Georgia Ave has two lanes in each direction at that intersection... make it a single lane each way?) ... Well, unless there are fewer cars, the same cars will "spread" to other lanes, presumably not intended for that many cars. Oh ... no worries ... DDOT will make these other lanes undriveable. Hold on ... won't drivers do stupid things because they do not want to spend twice the time as before trying to go from point A to point B? One can easily see that this plan of endless (new) restrictions only works if there are fewer cars being driven around, which appears to be  DDOT's eventual solution to safety. Never mind the fact that Active Vehicle registrations in DC (per DC's DMV) have increased from 275K in 2010 to 360K in 2019 (a 30% increase over 10 years) per https://dmv.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dmv/page_content/attachments/Historical%20Registration%20Data%20FY2010-FY2019.pdf 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> To sum it up: DDOT's approach to safety is to reduce parking availability, driving lanes and miles driven at the same time that vehicle registrations are on the rise. Does this make any sense?
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Zero accidents will eventually happen when we all own autonomous vehicles that always obey traffic laws and protect pedestrians/bikers, even when they (pedestrians/bikers) do not obey the traffic laws; I give it 10 years until it happens. 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Until then, influencing who our elected officials and representatives are, is the only path for those who would like to see a different approach to safety that does not reduce safety to a war on cars at a time that more DC residents own and operate cars.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Finally, the zoom call with DDOT back in January was a stunning display of tone-deaf attitude and utter disregard for any viewpoint other than DDOT's. 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Thank you for your time reading,
>>>>>> Yannis
>>>>>> 
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