DC delays Conn Ave bike lanes bcuz of opposition

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

Cyclists believe they’re entitled to everything: roads open to car traffic, roads closed to car traffic, sidewalks, trails where biking is allowed, trails where biking is prohibited, etc.

[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

Have you considered counseling? Individual, or couples? Or divorce? This is not a bike issue. This is a relationship issue (your relationship).

[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

20MPH is the speed limit on any street in DC that does not have a posted speed limit so this isn't a problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

A bike group? On Connecticut Avenue? During the morning rush hour? WTH. Now you’re not even trying to make sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Sure they are. There's only a few dozen people that bike on Connecticut. There's already a path for commuters on Beach. The businesses on Connecticut are opposed and say it will harm them while the schools are located on the very side streets that will get the majority of diverted traffic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

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.

Are you kidding? There is a well-known dearth of swimming instruction for kids in DC. If DC expanded access by contracting with an outside organization, that would be amazing. There is actually money in the Mayor’s budget proposal to increase swim lesson access. Qualified instructors are hard to find, so if the city can contract for a good source of instructors that would be amazing.

[Anonymous]

Isn’t this what DC does? Spend a lot of time on planning and ultimately do nothing. I remember how much time and energy was spent on the Tenley redo behind WF. I gave input, then we saw the designs and gave more input. Not one thing has changed in that time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Sure they are. There's only a few dozen people that bike on Connecticut. There's already a path for commuters on Beach. The businesses on Connecticut are opposed and say it will harm them while the schools are located on the very side streets that will get the majority of diverted traffic.

They don’t bike there *because there is no bike lane.* Have there been mass business declines om 17th or 9th since the bike lanes went in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Are you kidding? There is a well-known dearth of swimming instruction for kids in DC. If DC expanded access by contracting with an outside organization, that would be amazing. There is actually money in the Mayor’s budget proposal to increase swim lesson access. Qualified instructors are hard to find, so if the city can contract for a good source of instructors that would be amazing.

You know what would be really amazing? Swimming lessons AND bike-riding lessons! Everyone should know how to swim, and everyone should know how to ride a bike.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Are you kidding? There is a well-known dearth of swimming instruction for kids in DC. If DC expanded access by contracting with an outside organization, that would be amazing. There is actually money in the Mayor’s budget proposal to increase swim lesson access. Qualified instructors are hard to find, so if the city can contract for a good source of instructors that would be amazing.

You are completely missing the point -- on purpose, I'm guessing.

[Anonymous]

So I just looked at the anti-bike lane petition. Full of misrepresentations as I suspected.

https://www.change.org/p/save-connecticut-avenue-cancel-the-bike-plan

1. Claims pedestrians will have to cross bike lane to cross street or get on bus. False - peds will cross normally at the corner and bus stops are still curbside

2. Will remove most parking. False!!

3. No curb access for deliveries. Ok well that doesn’t exist reliably now. What would make it reliable is designating parking spots for pick up/drop off. Is that what they want?

4. Small businesses will close. False. This has not been the experience of any bike lane projects.

5. Traffic will be “rerouted to neighborhood streets.” Misrepresentation because it suggests quiet residential streets will become arterials. DDOT’s study shows traffic will divert to other already busy streets (eg Wisconsin) and traffic will be REDUCED on E-W routes that are more residential.

6. Residents all oppose this plan but were “disenfranchised” because it was “pushed through” during the pandemic at a time they “could not meet with their representatives.” MASSIVE lie. There were countless public meetings and opportunities to participate. The transition to Zoom during the pandemic increased accessibility and public attendance at these meetings. And of course W3 elected representatives who support the redesign.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Are you kidding? There is a well-known dearth of swimming instruction for kids in DC. If DC expanded access by contracting with an outside organization, that would be amazing. There is actually money in the Mayor’s budget proposal to increase swim lesson access. Qualified instructors are hard to find, so if the city can contract for a good source of instructors that would be amazing.

You know what would be really amazing? Swimming lessons AND bike-riding lessons! Everyone should know how to swim, and everyone should know how to ride a bike.

Even more amazing would be finding instructors for swimming and bike riding whose mission wasn't ripping off the city by charging a ridiculous amount for something that can be had for much, much cheaper. That would be amazing for our kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Are you kidding? There is a well-known dearth of swimming instruction for kids in DC. If DC expanded access by contracting with an outside organization, that would be amazing. There is actually money in the Mayor’s budget proposal to increase swim lesson access. Qualified instructors are hard to find, so if the city can contract for a good source of instructors that would be amazing.

You are completely missing the point -- on purpose, I'm guessing.

No, I’m not missing the point. You’re engaged in frankly defamatory smear tactics about a municipal activity that is transparently a good use of government funds (teaching kids to bike) based on your fever-dream obsession with change. I am pointing out that DC funds all sorts of recreation for kids including using contractors. Normal people know the WABA school bike program is an excellent, forward-thinking municipal activity.

If you have some actual specific info on the WABA contract having ethical issues, please back that up here with details, including citations to relevant conflict of interest regulation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Maybe this bike ambassador could teach cyclists to ride their bikes safely. I saw one riding on the sidewalk at probably close to 30 mph, ignoring every single stop sign, who came with a hair’s breadth of being mowed down by a SUV turning left

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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

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.

Are you kidding? There is a well-known dearth of swimming instruction for kids in DC. If DC expanded access by contracting with an outside organization, that would be amazing. There is actually money in the Mayor’s budget proposal to increase swim lesson access. Qualified instructors are hard to find, so if the city can contract for a good source of instructors that would be amazing.

You know what would be really amazing? Swimming lessons AND bike-riding lessons! Everyone should know how to swim, and everyone should know how to ride a bike.

Even more amazing would be finding instructors for swimming and bike riding whose mission wasn't ripping off the city by charging a ridiculous amount for something that can be had for much, much cheaper. That would be amazing for our kids.

Back this up with actual details. If not I am going to start asking Jeff to delete unfounded accusations against a specific entity.