[Lincolnparkdc] Final plans

Fri Apr 9 12:28:25 EDT 2021

My job is to increase the safety of our public roads for drivers,
bicyclists and pedestrians.

Every week on Friday morning, almost every DDOT employee in all departments
is required to attend a Safety Stat meeting where we go over fatal crashes
that occurred the previous week. You are correct-my initial description of
the child's death was not as I had been told on the day of the crash.
Currently the investigation points to a crowded sidewalk (not enough room
for pedestrians) a poorly located bus stop (buses stack up into the
intersection restricting viewsheds) and a signal timing issue not giving
enough time for pedestrians hurrying to catch a bus before the light
changes.

Here's what DDOT can do: make the sidewalks wider (oops going to lose some
street parking), move the bus signs further into the middle of the block,
adjust the signal timing, and put up signs eliminating right turns on red.
Georgia avenue can absolutely go on a "road diet" where we remove lanes or
narrow the lanes, or remove parking from one side, and expand the sidewalk
for pedestrians as I mentioned above. Of course, studies are conducted to
see what the impact on the adjacent streets would be. This is done all
the time. The sense of urgency and importance is stressed to each and every
one of us at these safety stat meetings. FYI We also had a bicyclist who
was hit by a car driver and died last week.

My point is that there are designs and strategies that DDOT can use to make
our streets safer and slower. So maybe we can fix our roads so that
pedestrians have an easier time of crossing the street, a car driver will
be able to see a mom hurrying across the street to catch a bus and stop
before she hits the child, a car driver will see a new road striping
pattern and slow down to figure it out, or two cars driving fast towards
one another will slow down to pass each other in the middle of the block,
or maybe even a young father moving through an intersection with a green
light will have a better sight line around the corner so he can see that a
car is running the red light, and stop before he is hit.  Some of these
strategies require an adjustment to the on street parking we all enjoy. But
because these roads are the property of all residents, who use different
modes of travel, we can't just prioritize parking of cars of a few people
at the expense of the safety of many, many more people.

We all make adjustments to living in the city. Personal crime can happen at
any time whether you are parking close to your house or not. I can only
work in a field for which I have  expertise.

Gina Arlotto

On Fri, Apr 9, 2021 at 11:32 AM John Hirschmann <hirschj154 at gmail.com>
wrote:

>
> 
> Regina
>
> I think we all agree our objective to maximize public safety. We disagree
> on how best to achieve that. The mission of DDOT is to focus on the safety
> of pedestrians and bicyclists.  It does NOT include minimizing the risk of
> being the victim of street crime. That is MPD‘s responsibility and
> therefore DDOT apparently chooses to not think about it since it is outside
> its mission.
>
> We also proposed ways to have Advisory Bike Lanes without the need to
> loose so many parking paces, but this did not get considered by DDOT.
>
> I have asked Cdr Kane of 1D MPD twice for their data on incidents of
> street crime versus pedestrian/bicyclists injuries. So far she has not
> responded to those requests.
>
> You cited two recent tragic accidents to illustrate your point. In doing
> so, you did NOT choose to mention that there had been an armed robbery in
> the 100 block of Kentucky in mid-March and several other street crimes in
> adjoining blocks recently. I consider this a much more imminent threat.
>
> As tragic as the accidents you mention were, I don’t see its relevance to
> installing Advisory Bike Lanes on Kentucky Avenue.  The accident at 14th
> and C NE involved an intersection with both streets already being one-way
> with a single auto traffic lane and bike lanes already included on both
> streets. The intersection Is also controlled by a traffic light. Given
> that, I don’t think the kids were just partially at fault, I think they
> were totally at fault. Certainly lowering the legal speed limit to 20 MPH
> didn’t help, since it was clearly not being obeyed.
>
> The death of a 4 year old off Georgia Avenue was described very
> differently in last Friday‘s Washington Post.  They report the accident did
> not occur at a
> crosswalk and the car was going straight across Georgia, rather than
> turning.
>
> Much of what your raising really is addressing is whether our traffic laws
> are being effectively enforced. Other than by automated devices, I see
> essentially no such activity. There is now discussion of taking this
> responsibility from MPD, but I’ve seen no discussion of who would assume it
> or how well it would be funded.
>
> The new advisory bike lanes requirement whole new protocols of how and
> when bicyclists and motorists should yield to each other, including in
> particular when cars going in opposite directions now need to share some of
> same space in the street.  But I’ve seen absolutely NO effort to educate
> the public on how the various lanes are to be shared under various
> scenarios.  Without that, I think the probability of a serious accident
> occurring goes up significantly, either a car hitting a bicyclist or cars
> going in opposite directions Meeting head-on.
>
> DDOT made a commitment in writing to the Federal Highway Administration to
> get approval for this project to educate the public prior to its
> implementation about the concept and how bicyclists and drivers should
> behave. This is despite the fact advisory bike lanes have been in place on
> E Street SE for about six months. I would certainly think given DDOT’s
> interest in our safety, this would have happened well before now.
>
> John
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> John F Hirschmann
> hirschj154 at gmail.com
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On Apr 8, 2021, at 09:35, regina arlotto <citymom92 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> 
> Wow. Nice neighborly sentiment Diana. FYI we can't be fired when we are
> just doing our job implementing the laws of the city to improve safety for
> all PUBLIC road users. That means people who walk, ride a bike, a scooter,
> jog in the street or push a baby in a stroller. The PUBLIC roads are not
> JUST for storing your car until you decide to use it. That is just a fact.
>
> *A four year old boy was killed by a right turning car driver *while in
> the crosswalk with the light on Friday April 2.* A young father and HIll
> neighbor was killed on Easter Sunday *by kids who stole a car and were
> speeding running red lights. Both cars actually ended up hitting my
> co-worker Will Handfield's house. One car caught on fire, the other in his
> window. Now you may think well that's the fault of the kids. Which partly,
> it is. BUT the fact is that our streets all over the city were built for
> speed, so commuters could get in and out of the city as fast as possible.
> We know now that these designs are dangerous and deadly no matter the
> reason a car is able to drive fast and kill people. *We at DDOT are
> working every day to prevent these tragic accidents BEFORE they happen.*
>
> This is not a haphazard, ridiculous or faulty effort of spending. In fact,
> it is one of the most cost-effective things we can do to make our roads
> safer.
>
> I am very disappointed that you would suggest we be fired for doing our
> job, upholding the law, and trying to prevent crashes that cause deaths of
> other drivers, bicyclists and children walking. I'm proud of the work that
> we do. I absolutely do not mind losing a few parking spaces so that we can
> see more easily around a crosswalk. I'd rather not hit a person because I
> can't see them.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Gina Arlotto, AICP
> Transportation Planner DDOT
> 123 Kentucky Ave
>
>
>
> On Thu, Apr 8, 2021 at 12:04 AM Diana Quinn <dqquinn at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi Steve, you're being facetious, right?   There are no criteria for
>> success. There is no plan. There is no website.
>> This is a haphazard, ridiculous, faulty effort to spend money without
>> thinking.
>> The people behind this should be fired.
>> How can we help to GET them fired?
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Apr 7, 2021 at 10:24 PM Peter Barclay <barclaypj at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Steve, thanks for sharing.
>>>
>>> Can you also share what the criteria for success are and the base data
>>> points used? If there’s a website with this info , please advise.  And
>>> lastly, what is the evaluation period for this test?
>>>
>>> Any info on next steps would be appreciated
>>>
>>> - Peter
>>>
>>> On Apr 7, 2021, at 21:25, Holtzman, Steve (SMD 6B05) <6B05 at anc.dc.gov>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> 
>>>
>>>
>>> best,
>>>
>>>  Steve
>>>
>>> Steve Holtzman, 6B05
>>>
>>> ------------------------------
>>> *From:* lincolnparkdc <lincolnparkdc-bounces at lincolnparkdc.info> on
>>> behalf of Margaret Rafferty <mhrafferty at hotmail.com>
>>> *Sent:* Wednesday, April 7, 2021 7:58 PM
>>> *To:* hirschj154 at gmail.com <hirschj154 at gmail.com>; Kentucky List Server
>>> <lincolnparkdc at lincolnparkdc.info>
>>> *Subject:* [Lincolnparkdc] Final plans
>>>
>>> CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the DC Government. Do not
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>>> please forward to phishing at dc.gov for additional analysis by OCTO
>>> Security Operations Center (SOC).
>>>
>>>
>>> Hi John,
>>>
>>> Will you please forward the final plans? I can’t find them. Don’t think
>>> Holtzman sent them out to the list serve. I want them to show to whoever
>>> shows up tomorrow.
>>>
>>> Thank you for your all you’ve done to prevent this fiasco.
>>>
>>> Margaret
>>>
>>> Sent from my iPhone
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>>> <Kentucky_Ave_SE_Final_Plans.pdf>
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