Can we cancel Open Streets?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These crowds of people blocking the streets shows that nobody likes it is a real weird take.

My kids loved biking Georgia Ave (before it got too crowded) and we visited businesses (book store, restaurant) that we otherwise wouldn't have.

If you want to go to a new book store or restaurant, you could just go do it — like, today. There’s no need to close major roads on a Saturday, when half the city is trying to move around, in order for you to leave your neighborhood.

The major roads are closed today, though. By cars and their drivers. The nice thing about open streets is that the roads are open.

There are more cars in this city than households. Sorry but that’s how people choose to get around. We can’t dedicate all of our public resources to you and the 12 other white guys who are super into bicycles.

The whole idea of Open Streets is to imagine a new way of using streets so they aren’t solely devoted to cars. To encourage other ways of getting around so we don’t have more cars than households.

You mean like how streets used to be part of the public space before Firestone, gm, and Ford ran wild with propaganda in the 1930's and 1940s?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These crowds of people blocking the streets shows that nobody likes it is a real weird take.

My kids loved biking Georgia Ave (before it got too crowded) and we visited businesses (book store, restaurant) that we otherwise wouldn't have.

If you want to go to a new book store or restaurant, you could just go do it — like, today. There’s no need to close major roads on a Saturday, when half the city is trying to move around, in order for you to leave your neighborhood.

The major roads are closed today, though. By cars and their drivers. The nice thing about open streets is that the roads are open.

There are more cars in this city than households. Sorry but that’s how people choose to get around. We can’t dedicate all of our public resources to you and the 12 other white guys who are super into bicycles.

The whole idea of Open Streets is to imagine a new way of using streets so they aren’t solely devoted to cars. To encourage other ways of getting around so we don’t have more cars than households.

And people in cars are like, no thanks

No, mostly just you.

The city has been relentlessly promoting bike lanes for 15 years and yet hardly anyone uses them. I’m sorry your anti-car agenda is so unpopular. If you want to get people out of cars, un-suck the subway. That would actually make a difference.

Uhmm.. there's more than a few hundred thousand capital bikeshare rides *each month*... so yeah. Those lanes are used PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no shortage of public space for “community events” in this town. Nearly a quarter of the city’s land is considered green space. Washington’s park system has been ranked the best in the nation for years running. There is no other reason to close any street except as a weird flex from the bike fetish cult. It’s all quite bizarre. It’s like years of rage built up over questionable life and career choices and bubbles up in weird ways.

Yes, as we all know: block parties are bizarre expressions of built up rage.

It’s not a party. It’s a lot of lonely people collecting refrigerator calendar magnets and free stress balls from local stores that will never see their business. And a lot of nonprofit workers buying overpriced organic produce and honey that they cannot afford. Maybe a hacky sack game breaks out for a bit, but it’s definitely not a party. This whole event is bad for the city and bad for the residents. It’s manufactured “community.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If we want pre-pandemic office occupancy we probably also need pre-pandemic infrastructure. Opening streets isn’t sufficient to get higher occupancy but it’s probably necessary.

That's why they do it on... Saturday mornings!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no shortage of public space for “community events” in this town. Nearly a quarter of the city’s land is considered green space. Washington’s park system has been ranked the best in the nation for years running. There is no other reason to close any street except as a weird flex from the bike fetish cult. It’s all quite bizarre. It’s like years of rage built up over questionable life and career choices and bubbles up in weird ways.

Yes, as we all know: block parties are bizarre expressions of built up rage.

It’s not a party. It’s a lot of lonely people collecting refrigerator calendar magnets and free stress balls from local stores that will never see their business. And a lot of nonprofit workers buying overpriced organic produce and honey that they cannot afford. Maybe a hacky sack game breaks out for a bit, but it’s definitely not a party. This whole event is bad for the city and bad for the residents. It’s manufactured “community.”

Tell me how you didn't actually go to one of these events, but still feel compelled to mock it derisively with made up garbage?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These crowds of people blocking the streets shows that nobody likes it is a real weird take.

My kids loved biking Georgia Ave (before it got too crowded) and we visited businesses (book store, restaurant) that we otherwise wouldn't have.

If you want to go to a new book store or restaurant, you could just go do it — like, today. There’s no need to close major roads on a Saturday, when half the city is trying to move around, in order for you to leave your neighborhood.

The major roads are closed today, though. By cars and their drivers. The nice thing about open streets is that the roads are open.

There are more cars in this city than households. Sorry but that’s how people choose to get around. We can’t dedicate all of our public resources to you and the 12 other white guys who are super into bicycles.

The whole idea of Open Streets is to imagine a new way of using streets so they aren’t solely devoted to cars. To encourage other ways of getting around so we don’t have more cars than households.

And people in cars are like, no thanks

No, mostly just you.

The city has been relentlessly promoting bike lanes for 15 years and yet hardly anyone uses them. I’m sorry your anti-car agenda is so unpopular. If you want to get people out of cars, un-suck the subway. That would actually make a difference.

Uhmm.. there's more than a few hundred thousand capital bikeshare rides *each month*... so yeah. Those lanes are used PP.

Uh, huh. If you look at the data, you’ll see there’s fewer people using Capital Bikeshare today than there was five years ago. It has been an unmitigated failure and a massive waste of money.

[Anonymous]

Why are there only white people at open streets?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no shortage of public space for “community events” in this town. Nearly a quarter of the city’s land is considered green space. Washington’s park system has been ranked the best in the nation for years running. There is no other reason to close any street except as a weird flex from the bike fetish cult. It’s all quite bizarre. It’s like years of rage built up over questionable life and career choices and bubbles up in weird ways.

Yes, as we all know: block parties are bizarre expressions of built up rage.

It’s not a party. It’s a lot of lonely people collecting refrigerator calendar magnets and free stress balls from local stores that will never see their business. And a lot of nonprofit workers buying overpriced organic produce and honey that they cannot afford. Maybe a hacky sack game breaks out for a bit, but it’s definitely not a party. This whole event is bad for the city and bad for the residents. It’s manufactured “community.”

I feel like this is overused but: “get help”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are there only white people at open streets?

That’s not true. That’s made up by mentally ill OP who thinks it’s acceptable to use false accusations of racism to “win” an argument.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are there only white people at open streets?

That’s not true. That’s made up by mentally ill OP who thinks it’s acceptable to use false accusations of racism to “win” an argument.

It’s not racist to point out that 99 percent of the people at open streets are white

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no shortage of public space for “community events” in this town. Nearly a quarter of the city’s land is considered green space. Washington’s park system has been ranked the best in the nation for years running. There is no other reason to close any street except as a weird flex from the bike fetish cult. It’s all quite bizarre. It’s like years of rage built up over questionable life and career choices and bubbles up in weird ways.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These crowds of people blocking the streets shows that nobody likes it is a real weird take.

My kids loved biking Georgia Ave (before it got too crowded) and we visited businesses (book store, restaurant) that we otherwise wouldn't have.

If you want to go to a new book store or restaurant, you could just go do it — like, today. There’s no need to close major roads on a Saturday, when half the city is trying to move around, in order for you to leave your neighborhood.

The major roads are closed today, though. By cars and their drivers. The nice thing about open streets is that the roads are open.

There are more cars in this city than households. Sorry but that’s how people choose to get around. We can’t dedicate all of our public resources to you and the 12 other white guys who are super into bicycles.

The whole idea of Open Streets is to imagine a new way of using streets so they aren’t solely devoted to cars. To encourage other ways of getting around so we don’t have more cars than households.

And people in cars are like, no thanks

No, mostly just you.

The city has been relentlessly promoting bike lanes for 15 years and yet hardly anyone uses them. I’m sorry your anti-car agenda is so unpopular. If you want to get people out of cars, un-suck the subway. That would actually make a difference.

Uhmm.. there's more than a few hundred thousand capital bikeshare rides *each month*... so yeah. Those lanes are used PP.

Uh, huh. If you look at the data, you’ll see there’s fewer people using Capital Bikeshare today than there was five years ago. It has been an unmitigated failure and a massive waste of money.

There's also more competition from other bikeshare companies and fewer people working downtown 5x a week, so this comparison seems a little less than completely useful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These crowds of people blocking the streets shows that nobody likes it is a real weird take.

My kids loved biking Georgia Ave (before it got too crowded) and we visited businesses (book store, restaurant) that we otherwise wouldn't have.

If you want to go to a new book store or restaurant, you could just go do it — like, today. There’s no need to close major roads on a Saturday, when half the city is trying to move around, in order for you to leave your neighborhood.

The major roads are closed today, though. By cars and their drivers. The nice thing about open streets is that the roads are open.

There are more cars in this city than households. Sorry but that’s how people choose to get around. We can’t dedicate all of our public resources to you and the 12 other white guys who are super into bicycles.

The whole idea of Open Streets is to imagine a new way of using streets so they aren’t solely devoted to cars. To encourage other ways of getting around so we don’t have more cars than households.

And people in cars are like, no thanks

No, mostly just you.

The city has been relentlessly promoting bike lanes for 15 years and yet hardly anyone uses them. I’m sorry your anti-car agenda is so unpopular. If you want to get people out of cars, un-suck the subway. That would actually make a difference.

Uhmm.. there's more than a few hundred thousand capital bikeshare rides *each month*... so yeah. Those lanes are used PP.

Uh, huh. If you look at the data, you’ll see there’s fewer people using Capital Bikeshare today than there was five years ago. It has been an unmitigated failure and a massive waste of money.

Um actually no. That's completely not true at all, they set a record ridership in the system for nearly every month this year against the prior records so far.

January 2023? 204,077. January 2017? 174,804.
March 2023? 290,430. March 2017? 245,403.
April 2023? 389,243. That's almost 25,000 more than April 2017's 365,990.

The only month that missed setting a new record was February - which was 207,591 for 2023 vs. a prior peak of 226,303 in 2017. Basically, 2023 is CaBi's best year by a solid margin and 2022 was actually in the running with 2017/2018.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These crowds of people blocking the streets shows that nobody likes it is a real weird take.

My kids loved biking Georgia Ave (before it got too crowded) and we visited businesses (book store, restaurant) that we otherwise wouldn't have.

If you want to go to a new book store or restaurant, you could just go do it — like, today. There’s no need to close major roads on a Saturday, when half the city is trying to move around, in order for you to leave your neighborhood.

The major roads are closed today, though. By cars and their drivers. The nice thing about open streets is that the roads are open.

There are more cars in this city than households. Sorry but that’s how people choose to get around. We can’t dedicate all of our public resources to you and the 12 other white guys who are super into bicycles.

The whole idea of Open Streets is to imagine a new way of using streets so they aren’t solely devoted to cars. To encourage other ways of getting around so we don’t have more cars than households.

And people in cars are like, no thanks

No, mostly just you.

The city has been relentlessly promoting bike lanes for 15 years and yet hardly anyone uses them. I’m sorry your anti-car agenda is so unpopular. If you want to get people out of cars, un-suck the subway. That would actually make a difference.

Uhmm.. there's more than a few hundred thousand capital bikeshare rides *each month*... so yeah. Those lanes are used PP.

Uh, huh. If you look at the data, you’ll see there’s fewer people using Capital Bikeshare today than there was five years ago. It has been an unmitigated failure and a massive waste of money.

There's also more competition from other bikeshare companies and fewer people working downtown 5x a week, so this comparison seems a little less than completely useful.

Despite what you say here (which is true), PP's point is complete bs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These crowds of people blocking the streets shows that nobody likes it is a real weird take.

My kids loved biking Georgia Ave (before it got too crowded) and we visited businesses (book store, restaurant) that we otherwise wouldn't have.

If you want to go to a new book store or restaurant, you could just go do it — like, today. There’s no need to close major roads on a Saturday, when half the city is trying to move around, in order for you to leave your neighborhood.

The major roads are closed today, though. By cars and their drivers. The nice thing about open streets is that the roads are open.

There are more cars in this city than households. Sorry but that’s how people choose to get around. We can’t dedicate all of our public resources to you and the 12 other white guys who are super into bicycles.

The whole idea of Open Streets is to imagine a new way of using streets so they aren’t solely devoted to cars. To encourage other ways of getting around so we don’t have more cars than households.

You mean like how streets used to be part of the public space before Firestone, gm, and Ford ran wild with propaganda in the 1930's and 1940s?

How dare you remind people that streets existed before there were cars!