why are cars allowed in the National Arbortetum? Why? Why? WHYYYY?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whatever keeps the suburbanites and their cars out of the District is a win in my book!

Suburbanites don't commit enough violent crime for you do they?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, the whiners won and now the cars are restricted and there's only a handful of overcrowded parking lots, meaning if for example you want to see the Asian collection you're probably going to pass a few full lots and end up at the big lot by the State Trees and have to walk a mile plus to see them.

:/

huzzah! there’s plenty of street parking around there too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just had a lovely walk around the Arboretum this weekend, but it was really significantly worsened by car traffic. Not a lot, but enough that the noise and interruption on the path was meaningful. For the life of me, why do they let cars in? What's the point of that? Cars should be allowed in to park, then everyone should walk/bike. Maybe a day a month where the disabled and elderly can be allowed to drive.

Radios / sound speakers should also be banned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Now they need to ban bicycles too.

Amen to that!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whatever keeps the suburbanites and their cars out of the District is a win in my book!

All those suburbanites cars are a danger to the DC youngsters riding dirt bikes in the city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, the whiners won and now the cars are restricted and there's only a handful of overcrowded parking lots, meaning if for example you want to see the Asian collection you're probably going to pass a few full lots and end up at the big lot by the State Trees and have to walk a mile plus to see them.

:/

huzzah! there’s plenty of street parking around there too.

Nope. Were you actually there? Do you actually know what the rest of us are talking about? The entire half of the Arboretum east of Valley Road was closed off to cars. So now, typically the only two options for getting to the Asian collection are a mile walk to get there from the big parking lot by New York Ave or a mile walk to get there from the other big parking lot near the State Trees Grove - any of the other potentially closer parking spaces along Valley Road have been crammed full of cars on any nice weekend or afternoon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because Americans are fat losers who can't go anywhere without their cars.

Right. And elderly people/people with mobility issues don't deserve to experience nature in one of the few places in this city that they still can. Geez. Think before you write!

[Anonymous]

Went to the arboretum today. We drove there (it's the only way to get there for us). Parked by the R Street entrance. Walked to a picnic spot, enjoyed a nice lunch we brought in. Had a bit of time left, but we'd seen the azaleas recently, so we hopped back in the car and drove to the Asian collection, parked, and had a nice time walking all the way down to the Anacostia and exploring all the paths. Wonderful visit. We spent maybe 8 minutes in the car within the park, versus almost 2 hours walking around and enjoying the park.

That's why cars are permitted in the park. The vast majority of people use them solely to get to different parts of the park. If you go during peak season and peak hours (so basically, the weekend between April and June), you might see more cars driving around and it might be less pleasant. But that's so rare. We have a tree near the bonsai gardens we've been picnicking under for years. It's far from any of the roads in the park and we can sit there for hours and not hear or even see vehicles. The only places I ever encounter cars in an unpleasant way is walking around the big open area around the Capitol Columns -- there is very little traffic elsewhere in the park.

Now, banning vehicles from the mall, which is well served by public transportation and can be really badly impacted by traffic congestion? That I'd probably get on board with. Heck, I'd get on board with it at the arboretum if it was well served by metro or bus, and there was a well-maintained shuttle that would take you to the more distant parts of the park. Maybe OP should work on developing a program like that if this is important to them. I would support it! But without infrastructure, I'm going to keep taking my car to the arboretum so that I can actually enjoy the arboretum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because the park is very large. If you mean that they should ALSO have better walking trails that can be safely accessed WITHOUT the use of a car (meaning without having to walk on the edge of the road), I completely agree with you. Right now the park has trails that are most accessible by car, which is very American, and not pedestrian-friendly.

What on earth are you talking about? The arboretum is plenty pedestrian friendly as it is. No one needs to drive to see any part of the park. If you're using "pedestrian-friendly" to mean lazy AF, then ok, you have a point. But the arboretum is easily walkable in any part of the park.

And it's only walkable if you walk along the roads open to cars. And there's the problem. When I look the map of the arboretum, it looks like it would be very easy to consolidate parking lots and only use the R street lot, NY Ave lot, and perhaps keep open the lots on the eastern side. Then you could permit car traffic only between the NY Ave lot and the eastern lot, using the road at the northern periphery. If they opened up the MD Avenue gate, then they could also use that lot, but not allow any traffic circulation beyond the lot. If there's truly a demand for transport between locations, a trolly with a modest fee.

That's not true. You can go from trail to trail and just do very minimum walking on the actual roads. I've done that for years.

I like the fact that I can drive to one specific section, and then walk within that section. It was a huge help when my kids were young and I was teaching them about the different kinds of plants. To expect 4-5 year olds to bike all the way across the arboretum is ridiculous.

Just go at a time that is less crowded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whatever keeps the suburbanites and their cars out of the District is a win in my book!

Suburbanites don't commit enough violent crime for you do they?

They are the ones preyed upon the most because they don't know how to take care of themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whatever keeps the suburbanites and their cars out of the District is a win in my book!

Suburbanites don't commit enough violent crime for you do they?

They are the ones preyed upon the most because they don't know how to take care of themselves.

The most likely victim of crime in DC is a young black male. Crime is mostly a theoretical concept to people coming from the suburbs or living in the whitest parts of NW DC.

[Anonymous]

So nice to have the Arboretum back to normal with more flexibility for cars. This weekend we enjoyed a nice picnic and then spent some time walking some of the collections.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whatever keeps the suburbanites and their cars out of the District is a win in my book!

Suburbanites don't commit enough violent crime for you do they?

They are the ones preyed upon the most because they don't know how to take care of themselves.

False.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So nice to have the Arboretum back to normal with more flexibility for cars. This weekend we enjoyed a nice picnic and then spent some time walking some of the collections.

Thank god. Normalcy restored.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Now they need to ban bicycles too.

Amen to that!

+1 that would be fantastic. Gotta start that push.