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:
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.
Isn’t that a parents job? Teaching your kid to ride a bike is probably one of the most joyous accomplishments in life. I miss those days.
I’m sympathetic about needing professionals for swim instruction but my god there is no need to pay anyone millions to reach kids how to ride a bike. It would be cheaper and more effective to just buy every kid whose family is below AMI a $300 bike. Call ‘em “Bowser bikes” and be done with it.
We don't know if it's "millions", it's just that one anonymous person who keeps insisting it is, without evidence. Also, why are you ok with swim instruction but not with bike instruction?
I flagged the posts with false accusations of fraud. suggest you do to.
First off, you’re either lying or dumb. No one is accusing fraud. People are accusing corruption.
Second, if you in the business of flagging posts that spread misinformation, I hope that you have flagged your own. Here is the actual contract.
https://contracts.ocp.dc.gov/contracts/attachments/Q1c3NTQ3MsKmQmFzZSBQZXJpb2TCpnszRTM4NkU4Qy1BRDQ3LTQ1MUMtQTlBNC05Qzk0OEI3MEY3ODF9
The truth is that WABA has an annual budget of $2,000,000 and only $100,000 comes from donors. The rest comes directly from DC taxpayers. DC tax payers pay for their rent and facilities. WABA uses those facilities to lobby the DC government.
This is a contract from 2019, for a base year and 4 option years (5 years total). In the base year, for $485,480, WABA was contracted to:
-schedule and deliver pedestrian/bicycle education classes at 12 DC public charter schools ($12,225 per school)
-schedule and deliver 2 parent and child bicycle safety education courses ($7,600 per course)
-schedule and deliver 2 bicycle skills challenge course trainings ($12,000 per course)
-schedule and deliver 3 pedestrian/bicycle safety including 2 Child Learn To Ride classes ($6,500 per event)
-provide and maintain necessary equipment including fleet of bicycles (30 bicycles at $1,000 per bicycle)
-provide 8 adult bicycle education classes for adults who already ride bikes ($6,000 per course)
-provide 4 Learn To Ride classes for adults who don't know how to ride a bicycle ($6,000 per course)
-provide and maintain a safety education website (1 website at $10,000)
-implement a Bicycle Ambassadors Program ($150,000)
-provide printed materials - Smart Cycling Quick Guide (4,000 at $2.26 each)
-provide printed materials - Pocket Guide to DC Bike Laws (4,000 at $2.26 each)
Maybe you think that looks like a boondoggle. I don't.
If you think that organizations that contract with DC governments should be forbidden from employing lobbyists, you should contact your DC councilmembers.
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
