DC delays Conn Ave bike lanes bcuz of opposition

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:You anti-bike people are insane. Why even live in or commute to the city? Go make your life out in the exurbs and leave us alone.

Are you aware that less than 4% of the city population bike commutes? You exist in a very narrow minority.

I am aware that both myself and my children would all commute by bike if there were a safe way to do so. And I live right off Conn Ave.

Also, isn't 4% like 28,000 people? Do you want 30,000 more cars on the street for your commute?

1. It is 4% of COMMUTERS. So more like less than 10,000 people and likely substantially lower.

2. Your math indicates that you believe DC has 700,000 residents which is disqualifying.

3. There is a thing called public transit, which a lot of people use.

There are a lot of people who wouldn't be considered "commuters" who would use the bike lanes to bike from one neighborhood to another to shop, eat, etc. Those are not factored into the 4% commuter figure the anti's keep falsely citing.

1. I stand corrected it is only 2% of commuters (thanks PPP)

2. Define “a lot”

3. Why not just use other options available to you? Take transit like the rest of us or bike on side streets?

4. At a time when the city is cutting support to people to prevent eviction and displacement, do you realize how tone deaf you sound? You claim to be a cyclist but I do wonder when the actual last time you touched grass because you are living in a real small bubble.

I don't believe you take transit or patronize local businesses, if you did you wouldn't be complaining about bike lanes. The people who don't want the bike lanes are car commuters who want to be able to speed down Conn Ave at 45mph on their way from their home garage to their work garage and back to their home garage.

What's wrong with that? That's life. Do you expect people from the suburbs to drive to the district line, park, get on a bike and bike the rest of the way to work? How about anyone over 30 who doesn't want to hang their head down as they peddle UP HILL all the way back? Are you crazy? Most people simply will not, ever, bike to work. Most people. Most people don't have time, energy, or a shower waiting for them at work. Most people want to get ready for work at home, not take rumpled clothes out of their bike bag at the office. Most people have busy lives that have more in them than simply riding a bike to and from work. Get a life. Ride your bike if you are fortunate enough to have the time, but don't expect others to become completely different people than they are to suit your need to ride a bike.

It's not just work that's a destination, of course. You can go to get groceries, run errands, meet up with friends, etc... farther than walking and without worrying about parking. The increasing number of e-bikes also increases this mobility.

Apparently the only trip that matters is the trip to or from work, which it is only possible to make in a car.

That's how the road is used THE MOST. Maybe you can have a designated lane during non-rush hours, so you can ride a bike to pursue your weekday, daytime hobbies, chase butterflies and eat on the sidewalk, but the majority of people need to use the road to commute to and from work.

Then it would be a LOT more efficient to do it by bus and have more bus service. Commuting by car is a loser position.

Then why are we cutting bus service to fund a vanity project for a few dozen?

one is not related to the other

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:You anti-bike people are insane. Why even live in or commute to the city? Go make your life out in the exurbs and leave us alone.

Are you aware that less than 4% of the city population bike commutes? You exist in a very narrow minority.

I am aware that both myself and my children would all commute by bike if there were a safe way to do so. And I live right off Conn Ave.

Also, isn't 4% like 28,000 people? Do you want 30,000 more cars on the street for your commute?

1. It is 4% of COMMUTERS. So more like less than 10,000 people and likely substantially lower.

2. Your math indicates that you believe DC has 700,000 residents which is disqualifying.

3. There is a thing called public transit, which a lot of people use.

There are a lot of people who wouldn't be considered "commuters" who would use the bike lanes to bike from one neighborhood to another to shop, eat, etc. Those are not factored into the 4% commuter figure the anti's keep falsely citing.

1. I stand corrected it is only 2% of commuters (thanks PPP)

2. Define “a lot”

3. Why not just use other options available to you? Take transit like the rest of us or bike on side streets?

4. At a time when the city is cutting support to people to prevent eviction and displacement, do you realize how tone deaf you sound? You claim to be a cyclist but I do wonder when the actual last time you touched grass because you are living in a real small bubble.

I don't believe you take transit or patronize local businesses, if you did you wouldn't be complaining about bike lanes. The people who don't want the bike lanes are car commuters who want to be able to speed down Conn Ave at 45mph on their way from their home garage to their work garage and back to their home garage.

What's wrong with that? That's life. Do you expect people from the suburbs to drive to the district line, park, get on a bike and bike the rest of the way to work? How about anyone over 30 who doesn't want to hang their head down as they peddle UP HILL all the way back? Are you crazy? Most people simply will not, ever, bike to work. Most people. Most people don't have time, energy, or a shower waiting for them at work. Most people want to get ready for work at home, not take rumpled clothes out of their bike bag at the office. Most people have busy lives that have more in them than simply riding a bike to and from work. Get a life. Ride your bike if you are fortunate enough to have the time, but don't expect others to become completely different people than they are to suit your need to ride a bike.

It's not just work that's a destination, of course. You can go to get groceries, run errands, meet up with friends, etc... farther than walking and without worrying about parking. The increasing number of e-bikes also increases this mobility.

Apparently the only trip that matters is the trip to or from work, which it is only possible to make in a car.

That's how the road is used THE MOST. Maybe you can have a designated lane during non-rush hours, so you can ride a bike to pursue your weekday, daytime hobbies, chase butterflies and eat on the sidewalk, but the majority of people need to use the road to commute to and from work.

Then it would be a LOT more efficient to do it by bus and have more bus service. Commuting by car is a loser position.

Then why are we cutting bus service to fund a vanity project for a few dozen?

one is not related to the other

Money is fungible. So yes. Bus service is being cut for bike lanes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know people barely use all our bike lanes but if they build these, you will see upwards of 30 people using them every week

Impressive numbers. 30/week

FWIW, I drove on CT Ave yesterday from 7:30 to 7:45 AM to get from the circle to south of Woodley Park. In that little stretch of time, I saw easily more than 30 cyclists. So anecdotally, no your numbers are way off.

Bull$h!t. I drive that stretch 5 mornings a week at the same time and there are, at most, five cyclists heading south at that time. One is the 75 yr old white guy in neon green spandex (where is he going? my money is to his law firm, where he is no doubt partner emeritus). One is a 40-something white woman with strawberry blonde hair and a very flimsy bike helmet. She sits very upright in the saddle, often wears a dress. She appears to think she's riding to the Katama market in MV for a scone.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Connecticut Avenue is already on a diet now that parking is allowed all day, no rush hour restrictions. That should slow things down the same as bike lanes would.

With the safety argument gone and the transportation argument quite dubious seeing that it is a major public transit corridor there is no rationale at all beyond providing an expensive amenity for a couple dozen of wealthy white people in a city where a lot of basic needs are not being met. This is the kind of thing a city does when it has a growing economy and is flush with cash. That is not the DC of 2023 and thankfully Mayor Bowser and the Council understand that very well.

DC has the same poverty rate as West Virginia

Is West Virginia planning any boondoggle transportation projects that will only benefit a handful of rich people?

Exactly. DC has spent billions of dollars on bike lanes.

Not sure about billions but certainly more than $100 million over the past decade.

This is total nonsense. After repeated requests, someone in the other thread strung together a bunch of projects that allocated funding to a wide range of infra, including road maintenance, and sheepishly tried to claim that the allocations were all for bike lanes. It was patently absurd. If you nothing to contribute other than lies and manipulation, please just be quiet.

Bowser's current budget proposal alone has close to $60 million. $100 million over the past decade is neither absurd nor an exaggeration.

Bike funding routinely exceeds $100 million annually. DC has had bike lanes for 15 years. Things aren’t cheap and the DC government is very generous when it spends other people’s money

show a link for this claim

Here's a sampling from the 2023 budget:

$36 million to expand bike lanes
$15 million to expand Capital Bikeshare
$1.3 million to hire people to clean bike lanes
$57 million to make K Street more bike/bus friendly
$21 million for bike/pedestrian bridge
$18.5 million for bike/pedestrian bridge
$120,000 to buy electric bikes

Most of the Washington area bicycling associations annual budget comes from the city. DC pays the bike lobby to lobby the DC government. Surprisingly few real people actually give to waba

can we create a bingo card for this thread? “WABA is funded by DC and controls DDOT” will be a square.

Uh, well you can look at the budget and see for yourself

WABA gets about $100,000 annually in membership dues and almost $1 million from the government. I think that’s called astroturf

WABA has/had a contract with DC to teach 2nd graders how to ride bikes. How horrible! What monsters!!!

Oh you mean the program where WABA charges DC public schools $1,000 per child to rent one of their bikes? No, that’s not shady at all

One of the WABA contracts with the city include paying someone $150,000 per year, rising to $180,000 to be a “bicycle ambassador” which includes hanging out and riding around trails and bike lanes for 20 hours per week

I have a deep suspicion that someone I know is in that role. Or was. Do you know where the names of the "bicycle ambassadors" -- paid for with my tax dollars -- can be found?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Connecticut Avenue is already on a diet now that parking is allowed all day, no rush hour restrictions. That should slow things down the same as bike lanes would.

With the safety argument gone and the transportation argument quite dubious seeing that it is a major public transit corridor there is no rationale at all beyond providing an expensive amenity for a couple dozen of wealthy white people in a city where a lot of basic needs are not being met. This is the kind of thing a city does when it has a growing economy and is flush with cash. That is not the DC of 2023 and thankfully Mayor Bowser and the Council understand that very well.

DC has the same poverty rate as West Virginia

Is West Virginia planning any boondoggle transportation projects that will only benefit a handful of rich people?

Exactly. DC has spent billions of dollars on bike lanes.

Not sure about billions but certainly more than $100 million over the past decade.

This is total nonsense. After repeated requests, someone in the other thread strung together a bunch of projects that allocated funding to a wide range of infra, including road maintenance, and sheepishly tried to claim that the allocations were all for bike lanes. It was patently absurd. If you nothing to contribute other than lies and manipulation, please just be quiet.

Bowser's current budget proposal alone has close to $60 million. $100 million over the past decade is neither absurd nor an exaggeration.

Bike funding routinely exceeds $100 million annually. DC has had bike lanes for 15 years. Things aren’t cheap and the DC government is very generous when it spends other people’s money

show a link for this claim

Here's a sampling from the 2023 budget:

$36 million to expand bike lanes
$15 million to expand Capital Bikeshare
$1.3 million to hire people to clean bike lanes
$57 million to make K Street more bike/bus friendly
$21 million for bike/pedestrian bridge
$18.5 million for bike/pedestrian bridge
$120,000 to buy electric bikes

Most of the Washington area bicycling associations annual budget comes from the city. DC pays the bike lobby to lobby the DC government. Surprisingly few real people actually give to waba

can we create a bingo card for this thread? “WABA is funded by DC and controls DDOT” will be a square.

Uh, well you can look at the budget and see for yourself

WABA gets about $100,000 annually in membership dues and almost $1 million from the government. I think that’s called astroturf

WABA has/had a contract with DC to teach 2nd graders how to ride bikes. How horrible! What monsters!!!

Oh you mean the program where WABA charges DC public schools $1,000 per child to rent one of their bikes? No, that’s not shady at all

One of the WABA contracts with the city include paying someone $150,000 per year, rising to $180,000 to be a “bicycle ambassador” which includes hanging out and riding around trails and bike lanes for 20 hours per week

I have a deep suspicion that someone I know is in that role. Or was. Do you know where the names of the "bicycle ambassadors" -- paid for with my tax dollars -- can be found?

Why? Do you want to harass them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Connecticut Avenue is already on a diet now that parking is allowed all day, no rush hour restrictions. That should slow things down the same as bike lanes would.

With the safety argument gone and the transportation argument quite dubious seeing that it is a major public transit corridor there is no rationale at all beyond providing an expensive amenity for a couple dozen of wealthy white people in a city where a lot of basic needs are not being met. This is the kind of thing a city does when it has a growing economy and is flush with cash. That is not the DC of 2023 and thankfully Mayor Bowser and the Council understand that very well.

DC has the same poverty rate as West Virginia

Is West Virginia planning any boondoggle transportation projects that will only benefit a handful of rich people?

Exactly. DC has spent billions of dollars on bike lanes.

Not sure about billions but certainly more than $100 million over the past decade.

This is total nonsense. After repeated requests, someone in the other thread strung together a bunch of projects that allocated funding to a wide range of infra, including road maintenance, and sheepishly tried to claim that the allocations were all for bike lanes. It was patently absurd. If you nothing to contribute other than lies and manipulation, please just be quiet.

Bowser's current budget proposal alone has close to $60 million. $100 million over the past decade is neither absurd nor an exaggeration.

Bike funding routinely exceeds $100 million annually. DC has had bike lanes for 15 years. Things aren’t cheap and the DC government is very generous when it spends other people’s money

show a link for this claim

Here's a sampling from the 2023 budget:

$36 million to expand bike lanes
$15 million to expand Capital Bikeshare
$1.3 million to hire people to clean bike lanes
$57 million to make K Street more bike/bus friendly
$21 million for bike/pedestrian bridge
$18.5 million for bike/pedestrian bridge
$120,000 to buy electric bikes

Most of the Washington area bicycling associations annual budget comes from the city. DC pays the bike lobby to lobby the DC government. Surprisingly few real people actually give to waba

can we create a bingo card for this thread? “WABA is funded by DC and controls DDOT” will be a square.

Uh, well you can look at the budget and see for yourself

WABA gets about $100,000 annually in membership dues and almost $1 million from the government. I think that’s called astroturf

WABA has/had a contract with DC to teach 2nd graders how to ride bikes. How horrible! What monsters!!!

Oh you mean the program where WABA charges DC public schools $1,000 per child to rent one of their bikes? No, that’s not shady at all

You’re right, it’s a conspiracy to supply bike riding children to DDOT so DDOT can build bikelanes that roll the kids right into the basement of Comet Ping Pong.

Obviously not because the WABA crowd is boycotting Comet

Just more evidence that horseshoe theory is real.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Connecticut Avenue is already on a diet now that parking is allowed all day, no rush hour restrictions. That should slow things down the same as bike lanes would.

With the safety argument gone and the transportation argument quite dubious seeing that it is a major public transit corridor there is no rationale at all beyond providing an expensive amenity for a couple dozen of wealthy white people in a city where a lot of basic needs are not being met. This is the kind of thing a city does when it has a growing economy and is flush with cash. That is not the DC of 2023 and thankfully Mayor Bowser and the Council understand that very well.

DC has the same poverty rate as West Virginia

Is West Virginia planning any boondoggle transportation projects that will only benefit a handful of rich people?

Exactly. DC has spent billions of dollars on bike lanes.

Not sure about billions but certainly more than $100 million over the past decade.

This is total nonsense. After repeated requests, someone in the other thread strung together a bunch of projects that allocated funding to a wide range of infra, including road maintenance, and sheepishly tried to claim that the allocations were all for bike lanes. It was patently absurd. If you nothing to contribute other than lies and manipulation, please just be quiet.

Bowser's current budget proposal alone has close to $60 million. $100 million over the past decade is neither absurd nor an exaggeration.

Bike funding routinely exceeds $100 million annually. DC has had bike lanes for 15 years. Things aren’t cheap and the DC government is very generous when it spends other people’s money

show a link for this claim

Here's a sampling from the 2023 budget:

$36 million to expand bike lanes
$15 million to expand Capital Bikeshare
$1.3 million to hire people to clean bike lanes
$57 million to make K Street more bike/bus friendly
$21 million for bike/pedestrian bridge
$18.5 million for bike/pedestrian bridge
$120,000 to buy electric bikes

Most of the Washington area bicycling associations annual budget comes from the city. DC pays the bike lobby to lobby the DC government. Surprisingly few real people actually give to waba

can we create a bingo card for this thread? “WABA is funded by DC and controls DDOT” will be a square.

Uh, well you can look at the budget and see for yourself

WABA gets about $100,000 annually in membership dues and almost $1 million from the government. I think that’s called astroturf

WABA has/had a contract with DC to teach 2nd graders how to ride bikes. How horrible! What monsters!!!

Oh you mean the program where WABA charges DC public schools $1,000 per child to rent one of their bikes? No, that’s not shady at all

One of the WABA contracts with the city include paying someone $150,000 per year, rising to $180,000 to be a “bicycle ambassador” which includes hanging out and riding around trails and bike lanes for 20 hours per week

I have a deep suspicion that someone I know is in that role. Or was. Do you know where the names of the "bicycle ambassadors" -- paid for with my tax dollars -- can be found?

Why? Do you want to harass them?

they truly are descending into true conspiracy-theory territory

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know people barely use all our bike lanes but if they build these, you will see upwards of 30 people using them every week

Impressive numbers. 30/week

FWIW, I drove on CT Ave yesterday from 7:30 to 7:45 AM to get from the circle to south of Woodley Park. In that little stretch of time, I saw easily more than 30 cyclists. So anecdotally, no your numbers are way off.

Bull$h!t. I drive that stretch 5 mornings a week at the same time and there are, at most, five cyclists heading south at that time. One is the 75 yr old white guy in neon green spandex (where is he going? my money is to his law firm, where he is no doubt partner emeritus). One is a 40-something white woman with strawberry blonde hair and a very flimsy bike helmet. She sits very upright in the saddle, often wears a dress. She appears to think she's riding to the Katama market in MV for a scone.

If there is a bike group out, there will easily be 30+ cyclists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do the bike folks always make me want to go out and run over a bunch of cyclists? Talk about the most insufferable pedants in the world...

Can you cite specifically what has triggered you?

I don’t want to run bikers over, but as the wife of an ‘avid’ cyclist, I can help fill in the gaps.

Complete arrogance about sharing the road with cars to the point where some will deliberately ride adjacent to each other, blocking the car, and slow to 20MPH

Viciousness towards each other if the other biker is moving too slowly for their tastes - who can forget the one biker who actually caused brain damage to another - and that was just on the trail

Most bikers think they are dividing their time between biking and family - they are not. When you are an avid cyclist riding 12+ hours per week and work full time, you don’t have much time for anything else when you add in sleeping, personal hygiene and *of course* working on your bike.

Vacations are often planned around biking, or simply aren’t a priority due to biking. When on vacation with family, they get sullen because “it’s a beautiful day and I’m not on my bike”.

Bike clubs normalize this behavior, and worse, make it seem normal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Connecticut Avenue is already on a diet now that parking is allowed all day, no rush hour restrictions. That should slow things down the same as bike lanes would.

With the safety argument gone and the transportation argument quite dubious seeing that it is a major public transit corridor there is no rationale at all beyond providing an expensive amenity for a couple dozen of wealthy white people in a city where a lot of basic needs are not being met. This is the kind of thing a city does when it has a growing economy and is flush with cash. That is not the DC of 2023 and thankfully Mayor Bowser and the Council understand that very well.

DC has the same poverty rate as West Virginia

Is West Virginia planning any boondoggle transportation projects that will only benefit a handful of rich people?

Exactly. DC has spent billions of dollars on bike lanes.

Not sure about billions but certainly more than $100 million over the past decade.

This is total nonsense. After repeated requests, someone in the other thread strung together a bunch of projects that allocated funding to a wide range of infra, including road maintenance, and sheepishly tried to claim that the allocations were all for bike lanes. It was patently absurd. If you nothing to contribute other than lies and manipulation, please just be quiet.

Bowser's current budget proposal alone has close to $60 million. $100 million over the past decade is neither absurd nor an exaggeration.

Bike funding routinely exceeds $100 million annually. DC has had bike lanes for 15 years. Things aren’t cheap and the DC government is very generous when it spends other people’s money

show a link for this claim

Here's a sampling from the 2023 budget:

$36 million to expand bike lanes
$15 million to expand Capital Bikeshare
$1.3 million to hire people to clean bike lanes
$57 million to make K Street more bike/bus friendly
$21 million for bike/pedestrian bridge
$18.5 million for bike/pedestrian bridge
$120,000 to buy electric bikes

Most of the Washington area bicycling associations annual budget comes from the city. DC pays the bike lobby to lobby the DC government. Surprisingly few real people actually give to waba

can we create a bingo card for this thread? “WABA is funded by DC and controls DDOT” will be a square.

Uh, well you can look at the budget and see for yourself

WABA gets about $100,000 annually in membership dues and almost $1 million from the government. I think that’s called astroturf

WABA has/had a contract with DC to teach 2nd graders how to ride bikes. How horrible! What monsters!!!

Oh you mean the program where WABA charges DC public schools $1,000 per child to rent one of their bikes? No, that’s not shady at all

One of the WABA contracts with the city include paying someone $150,000 per year, rising to $180,000 to be a “bicycle ambassador” which includes hanging out and riding around trails and bike lanes for 20 hours per week

And the funny part about this is that the bike ambassador will say the time on their bike ‘doesn’t count because they are working’ and expect another 15+ hours/week from family time to ‘actually bike’

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do the bike folks always make me want to go out and run over a bunch of cyclists? Talk about the most insufferable pedants in the world...

Can you cite specifically what has triggered you?

I don’t want to run bikers over, but as the wife of an ‘avid’ cyclist, I can help fill in the gaps.

Complete arrogance about sharing the road with cars to the point where some will deliberately ride adjacent to each other, blocking the car, and slow to 20MPH

Viciousness towards each other if the other biker is moving too slowly for their tastes - who can forget the one biker who actually caused brain damage to another - and that was just on the trail

Most bikers think they are dividing their time between biking and family - they are not. When you are an avid cyclist riding 12+ hours per week and work full time, you don’t have much time for anything else when you add in sleeping, personal hygiene and *of course* working on your bike.

Vacations are often planned around biking, or simply aren’t a priority due to biking. When on vacation with family, they get sullen because “it’s a beautiful day and I’m not on my bike”.

Bike clubs normalize this behavior, and worse, make it seem normal

sounds like you have a very personal beef against a very non-representative set of bike users. bike lanes are being built for people getting to work, school, stores, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Connecticut Avenue is already on a diet now that parking is allowed all day, no rush hour restrictions. That should slow things down the same as bike lanes would.

With the safety argument gone and the transportation argument quite dubious seeing that it is a major public transit corridor there is no rationale at all beyond providing an expensive amenity for a couple dozen of wealthy white people in a city where a lot of basic needs are not being met. This is the kind of thing a city does when it has a growing economy and is flush with cash. That is not the DC of 2023 and thankfully Mayor Bowser and the Council understand that very well.

DC has the same poverty rate as West Virginia

Is West Virginia planning any boondoggle transportation projects that will only benefit a handful of rich people?

Exactly. DC has spent billions of dollars on bike lanes.

Not sure about billions but certainly more than $100 million over the past decade.

This is total nonsense. After repeated requests, someone in the other thread strung together a bunch of projects that allocated funding to a wide range of infra, including road maintenance, and sheepishly tried to claim that the allocations were all for bike lanes. It was patently absurd. If you nothing to contribute other than lies and manipulation, please just be quiet.

Bowser's current budget proposal alone has close to $60 million. $100 million over the past decade is neither absurd nor an exaggeration.

Bike funding routinely exceeds $100 million annually. DC has had bike lanes for 15 years. Things aren’t cheap and the DC government is very generous when it spends other people’s money

show a link for this claim

Here's a sampling from the 2023 budget:

$36 million to expand bike lanes
$15 million to expand Capital Bikeshare
$1.3 million to hire people to clean bike lanes
$57 million to make K Street more bike/bus friendly
$21 million for bike/pedestrian bridge
$18.5 million for bike/pedestrian bridge
$120,000 to buy electric bikes

Most of the Washington area bicycling associations annual budget comes from the city. DC pays the bike lobby to lobby the DC government. Surprisingly few real people actually give to waba

can we create a bingo card for this thread? “WABA is funded by DC and controls DDOT” will be a square.

Uh, well you can look at the budget and see for yourself

WABA gets about $100,000 annually in membership dues and almost $1 million from the government. I think that’s called astroturf

WABA has/had a contract with DC to teach 2nd graders how to ride bikes. How horrible! What monsters!!!

Oh you mean the program where WABA charges DC public schools $1,000 per child to rent one of their bikes? No, that’s not shady at all

A quarter of kids in DC live in poverty. Can we cut out the WABA graft and just give the money to the kids?

That’s about 30,000 kids. The city could buy each of those kids a backpack and school supplies every year for what they give WABA.

FYI, most parents think the learn-to-ride program is great. I'm happy that DC spends money on recreation for kids. There's a lot in the mayor's proposed budget on that - a new afterschool program app, lots of pool maintenance, some funds for special needs swim lessons. Truly, find something else to fixate on.

Are they spending excessive amounts of money renting googles and fins to kids? If not, that has nothing to do with being fleeced by WABA.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Connecticut Avenue is already on a diet now that parking is allowed all day, no rush hour restrictions. That should slow things down the same as bike lanes would.

With the safety argument gone and the transportation argument quite dubious seeing that it is a major public transit corridor there is no rationale at all beyond providing an expensive amenity for a couple dozen of wealthy white people in a city where a lot of basic needs are not being met. This is the kind of thing a city does when it has a growing economy and is flush with cash. That is not the DC of 2023 and thankfully Mayor Bowser and the Council understand that very well.

DC has the same poverty rate as West Virginia

Is West Virginia planning any boondoggle transportation projects that will only benefit a handful of rich people?

Exactly. DC has spent billions of dollars on bike lanes.

Not sure about billions but certainly more than $100 million over the past decade.

This is total nonsense. After repeated requests, someone in the other thread strung together a bunch of projects that allocated funding to a wide range of infra, including road maintenance, and sheepishly tried to claim that the allocations were all for bike lanes. It was patently absurd. If you nothing to contribute other than lies and manipulation, please just be quiet.

Bowser's current budget proposal alone has close to $60 million. $100 million over the past decade is neither absurd nor an exaggeration.

Bike funding routinely exceeds $100 million annually. DC has had bike lanes for 15 years. Things aren’t cheap and the DC government is very generous when it spends other people’s money

show a link for this claim

Here's a sampling from the 2023 budget:

$36 million to expand bike lanes
$15 million to expand Capital Bikeshare
$1.3 million to hire people to clean bike lanes
$57 million to make K Street more bike/bus friendly
$21 million for bike/pedestrian bridge
$18.5 million for bike/pedestrian bridge
$120,000 to buy electric bikes

Most of the Washington area bicycling associations annual budget comes from the city. DC pays the bike lobby to lobby the DC government. Surprisingly few real people actually give to waba

can we create a bingo card for this thread? “WABA is funded by DC and controls DDOT” will be a square.

Uh, well you can look at the budget and see for yourself

WABA gets about $100,000 annually in membership dues and almost $1 million from the government. I think that’s called astroturf

WABA has/had a contract with DC to teach 2nd graders how to ride bikes. How horrible! What monsters!!!

Oh you mean the program where WABA charges DC public schools $1,000 per child to rent one of their bikes? No, that’s not shady at all

A quarter of kids in DC live in poverty. Can we cut out the WABA graft and just give the money to the kids?

That’s about 30,000 kids. The city could buy each of those kids a backpack and school supplies every year for what they give WABA.

FYI, most parents think the learn-to-ride program is great. I'm happy that DC spends money on recreation for kids. There's a lot in the mayor's proposed budget on that - a new afterschool program app, lots of pool maintenance, some funds for special needs swim lessons. Truly, find something else to fixate on.

Are they spending excessive amounts of money renting googles and fins to kids? If not, that has nothing to do with being fleeced by WABA.

**goggles**

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do the bike folks always make me want to go out and run over a bunch of cyclists? Talk about the most insufferable pedants in the world...

Can you cite specifically what has triggered you?

I don’t want to run bikers over, but as the wife of an ‘avid’ cyclist, I can help fill in the gaps.

Complete arrogance about sharing the road with cars to the point where some will deliberately ride adjacent to each other, blocking the car, and slow to 20MPH

Viciousness towards each other if the other biker is moving too slowly for their tastes - who can forget the one biker who actually caused brain damage to another - and that was just on the trail

Most bikers think they are dividing their time between biking and family - they are not. When you are an avid cyclist riding 12+ hours per week and work full time, you don’t have much time for anything else when you add in sleeping, personal hygiene and *of course* working on your bike.

Vacations are often planned around biking, or simply aren’t a priority due to biking. When on vacation with family, they get sullen because “it’s a beautiful day and I’m not on my bike”.

Bike clubs normalize this behavior, and worse, make it seem normal

Cycling is the new golf. Just a way for affluent white guys to make an excuse to get away from their families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know people barely use all our bike lanes but if they build these, you will see upwards of 30 people using them every week

Impressive numbers. 30/week

FWIW, I drove on CT Ave yesterday from 7:30 to 7:45 AM to get from the circle to south of Woodley Park. In that little stretch of time, I saw easily more than 30 cyclists. So anecdotally, no your numbers are way off.

Bull$h!t. I drive that stretch 5 mornings a week at the same time and there are, at most, five cyclists heading south at that time. One is the 75 yr old white guy in neon green spandex (where is he going? my money is to his law firm, where he is no doubt partner emeritus). One is a 40-something white woman with strawberry blonde hair and a very flimsy bike helmet. She sits very upright in the saddle, often wears a dress. She appears to think she's riding to the Katama market in MV for a scone.

If there is a bike group out, there will easily be 30+ cyclists.

Why would a bike group be out on Connecticut Ave when they closed Beach Dr permanently for this purpose?