How can we make DC streets bicycle and pedestrian-only?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2023/11/24/dc-car-free-zones/

Looks like some of the CM's are getting some good ideas from this forum!

Fantastic news. Hope it passes fast. I'm sure Muriel will veto it to curry favor with District and suburban drivers.

[Anonymous]

Bike lanes in Connecticut won’t happen now. DDOT is deflecting and Frumin has made clear that bike lanes are not a priority.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2023/11/24/dc-car-free-zones/

Looks like some of the CM's are getting some good ideas from this forum!

So maybe Dan Malouf is the one posting here. But it's laughable to think anyone on this site -- apart from the special interest hacks who have parachuted into -- proposed this idea. I especially love this quote from the Adams Morgan BID leader, who noted that while closing down 18th was successful in isolated incidents, but that it was not feasible to do so on a regular basis and would hurt businesses. It's fun for a day a year and I support that as well.

Here's the quote from the article:
But Barden said the BID isn’t prepared to support a more permanent closure, noting that “a pedestrian zone alone doesn’t work for the businesses unless there is a special event at the same time.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bike lanes in Connecticut won’t happen now. DDOT is deflecting and Frumin has made clear that bike lanes are not a priority.

Thank God.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2023/11/24/dc-car-free-zones/

Looks like some of the CM's are getting some good ideas from this forum!

Fantastic news. Hope it passes fast. I'm sure Muriel will veto it to curry favor with District and suburban drivers.

This baby is dead on arrival unless it's just a few days a year.

[Anonymous]

With President Biden’s pledge to transition away from fossil fuels, right now is the perfect time to push for a car/truck free D.C. !

[Anonymous]

Great way to keep major league sports teams in DC. Keep up your suggestions, Skippy!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With President Biden’s pledge to transition away from fossil fuels, right now is the perfect time to push for a car/truck free D.C. !

Not even Mayor "Crime for All" Bowser suggested this during her junket to COP 28.

And perhaps she should have stayed in DC to negotiate with the Wizards and Caps instead of leaving a giant carbon footprint jetting off business class to Dubai.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would love for each neighborhood to have a pedestrian only street - 18th st, 17th st, etc where kids can play in the street and people can mull around. So many cities around the world do that (and we can use smaller trucks and back alleys for deliveries, no one is trying to kill businesses)

We should learn from, and emulate European cities.

But alas, we don’t.

You sound like someone who visited Paris or Rome and said, "Why can't we have that here?" Well, because the US didn't provide billions in lavish agricultural subsidies to keep farmers in business. Hence, they didn't sell their land to developers. Have you filled up lately? The cost of gas is like 3-4 times higher in Italy. Electricity costs a fortune there, so no incentive to heat/cool a large home. And a lot of countries in Europe tax the hell out of spenders. The sales tax in the Netherlands is nearly 10x what it is in the US. There are a lot of complicated, nuanced reasons why we're not like European cities. And we should not emulate them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would love for each neighborhood to have a pedestrian only street - 18th st, 17th st, etc where kids can play in the street and people can mull around. So many cities around the world do that (and we can use smaller trucks and back alleys for deliveries, no one is trying to kill businesses)

We should learn from, and emulate European cities.

But alas, we don’t.

You sound like someone who visited Paris or Rome and said, "Why can't we have that here?" Well, because the US didn't provide billions in lavish agricultural subsidies to keep farmers in business. Hence, they didn't sell their land to developers. Have you filled up lately? The cost of gas is like 3-4 times higher in Italy. Electricity costs a fortune there, so no incentive to heat/cool a large home. And a lot of countries in Europe tax the hell out of spenders. The sales tax in the Netherlands is nearly 10x what it is in the US. There are a lot of complicated, nuanced reasons why we're not like European cities. And we should not emulate them.

We absolutely do do that.

[Anonymous]

Great idea, probably only way to reduce carjackings is to keep cars out of DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Great idea, probably only way to reduce carjackings is to keep cars out of DC.

Love it

In keeping with the way every other problem is “solved” in the 2020s 😂

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Great way to keep major league sports teams in DC. Keep up your suggestions, Skippy!

Why does a personal automobile have anything to do with keeping sports teams in DC. It's on top of a metro station that is a transfer site, next to another metro station that is another transfer site. Taking your car to a caps game is probably the dumbest thing to do, ever. Unless you just like paying the garage folks top dollar during event night???

[Anonymous]

The same people that know that motorcycle drivers are at a drastically increased risk of death from getting hit by a car want to take their bicycles out on the road in rush hour traffic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The same people that know that motorcycle drivers are at a drastically increased risk of death from getting hit by a car want to take their bicycles out on the road in rush hour traffic.

Rush hour traffic is one of my favorite times to bike. I do it home every day. Much faster than driving and much less stressful than dealing with traffic.