Options for opposing Connecticut Avenue changes?

[Anonymous]

Yes that’s right - the only way to fight crime is to make the roads as unpleasant for bikes, pedestrians and bus riders as possible. Woo hoo!

[Anonymous]

Bike lanes are indefinitely postponed. The city has lots of other more pressing financial commitments and a declining tax base. Maybe we'll see bike lanes in ten years when we sort out these problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes that’s right - the only way to fight crime is to make the roads as unpleasant for bikes, pedestrians and bus riders as possible. Woo hoo!

It takes a lot of money to fight crime. You need a tax base in order to get a lot of money. You lose your tax base when you make it painful for commuters to get down town.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes that’s right - the only way to fight crime is to make the roads as unpleasant for bikes, pedestrians and bus riders as possible. Woo hoo!

It takes a lot of money to fight crime. You need a tax base in order to get a lot of money. You lose your tax base when you make it painful for commuters to get down town.

Don't be silly. The easiest way to commute downtown along Connecticut Avenue is under Connecticut Avenue, on the Metro.

Oh, you didn't mean "commuters", you meant "drivers".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes that’s right - the only way to fight crime is to make the roads as unpleasant for bikes, pedestrians and bus riders as possible. Woo hoo!

It takes a lot of money to fight crime. You need a tax base in order to get a lot of money. You lose your tax base when you make it painful for commuters to get down town.

I live in upper NW D.C. and pay high property and income taxes, and the most painful way to get downtown I could think of is to drive my car to my office. I take Metro about 2/3 of the time and bike 1/3 of the time. Have driven from here to work maybe five times in the six years I've lived in this neighborhood and cannot imagine why anyone would want to do it every day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes that’s right - the only way to fight crime is to make the roads as unpleasant for bikes, pedestrians and bus riders as possible. Woo hoo!

It takes a lot of money to fight crime. You need a tax base in order to get a lot of money. You lose your tax base when you make it painful for commuters to get down town.

I thought commuters weren't going downtown anymore?

[Anonymous]

It depends where you live, but the Metro takes me at least double the time it takes to drive. I do take it sometimes because I know it's better for the environment, but if time is an issue, I drive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It depends where you live, but the Metro takes me at least double the time it takes to drive. I do take it sometimes because I know it's better for the environment, but if time is an issue, I drive.

The way to take a lot more vehicle traffic off of Connecticut Avenue would be to build a limited access highway parallel to it and Wisconsin Avenue, as was proposed in the 50s and 60s.

That would be effective, but few would welcome that today. For better or worse, Connecticut and Wisconsin are the arterial routes through upper Northwest. We have to be practical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bike lanes are indefinitely postponed. The city has lots of other more pressing financial commitments and a declining tax base. Maybe we'll see bike lanes in ten years when we sort out these problems.

I like bike lanes. But this thread has made me dislike their proponents. Hurray for DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes that’s right - the only way to fight crime is to make the roads as unpleasant for bikes, pedestrians and bus riders as possible. Woo hoo!

It takes a lot of money to fight crime. You need a tax base in order to get a lot of money. You lose your tax base when you make it painful for commuters to get down town.

I live in upper NW D.C. and pay high property and income taxes, and the most painful way to get downtown I could think of is to drive my car to my office. I take Metro about 2/3 of the time and bike 1/3 of the time. Have driven from here to work maybe five times in the six years I've lived in this neighborhood and cannot imagine why anyone would want to do it every day.

Let’s see. Hospitalizations. Traumatic brain injuries and deaths. And that’s just the people I know or knew of biking regularly on bike lines in traffic.

Raise them onto the sidewalks or completely separate and leave the streets alone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bike lanes are indefinitely postponed. The city has lots of other more pressing financial commitments and a declining tax base. Maybe we'll see bike lanes in ten years when we sort out these problems.

I like bike lanes. But this thread has made me dislike their proponents. Hurray for DC.

PP, I advise against liking or disliking people based on anonymous posts on DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes that’s right - the only way to fight crime is to make the roads as unpleasant for bikes, pedestrians and bus riders as possible. Woo hoo!

It takes a lot of money to fight crime. You need a tax base in order to get a lot of money. You lose your tax base when you make it painful for commuters to get down town.

I live in upper NW D.C. and pay high property and income taxes, and the most painful way to get downtown I could think of is to drive my car to my office. I take Metro about 2/3 of the time and bike 1/3 of the time. Have driven from here to work maybe five times in the six years I've lived in this neighborhood and cannot imagine why anyone would want to do it every day.

Let’s see. Hospitalizations. Traumatic brain injuries and deaths. And that’s just the people I know or knew of biking regularly on bike lines in traffic.

Raise them onto the sidewalks or completely separate and leave the streets alone.

So, in other words, there should be safe, protected bike lanes - which also make the streets safer for everyone else.

There's no such thing as "leaving the streets alone" because the streets are for everyone - people on foot, people in strollers, people on bikes, people in wheelchairs, people on scooters, people going to or from buses, etc. etc. etc. Not just people in cars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes that’s right - the only way to fight crime is to make the roads as unpleasant for bikes, pedestrians and bus riders as possible. Woo hoo!

It takes a lot of money to fight crime. You need a tax base in order to get a lot of money. You lose your tax base when you make it painful for commuters to get down town.

I live in upper NW D.C. and pay high property and income taxes, and the most painful way to get downtown I could think of is to drive my car to my office. I take Metro about 2/3 of the time and bike 1/3 of the time. Have driven from here to work maybe five times in the six years I've lived in this neighborhood and cannot imagine why anyone would want to do it every day.

Let’s see. Hospitalizations. Traumatic brain injuries and deaths. And that’s just the people I know or knew of biking regularly on bike lines in traffic.

Raise them onto the sidewalks or completely separate and leave the streets alone.

So, in other words, there should be safe, protected bike lanes - which also make the streets safer for everyone else.

There's no such thing as "leaving the streets alone" because the streets are for everyone - people on foot, people in strollers, people on bikes, people in wheelchairs, people on scooters, people going to or from buses, etc. etc. etc. Not just people in cars.

Nope and this is a prime example of why people will never support you. You purposely misunderstand the argument, restate it differently and then argue with yourself.

Geneva style, bike lanes on the sidewalks. Plenty of sidewalk on Connecticut, but guess what, now you’re getting a big fat instead

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes that’s right - the only way to fight crime is to make the roads as unpleasant for bikes, pedestrians and bus riders as possible. Woo hoo!

It takes a lot of money to fight crime. You need a tax base in order to get a lot of money. You lose your tax base when you make it painful for commuters to get down town.

I live in upper NW D.C. and pay high property and income taxes, and the most painful way to get downtown I could think of is to drive my car to my office. I take Metro about 2/3 of the time and bike 1/3 of the time. Have driven from here to work maybe five times in the six years I've lived in this neighborhood and cannot imagine why anyone would want to do it every day.

Let’s see. Hospitalizations. Traumatic brain injuries and deaths. And that’s just the people I know or knew of biking regularly on bike lines in traffic.

Raise them onto the sidewalks or completely separate and leave the streets alone.

I'm the PP you replied to. That sounds great to me, putting bike lanes completely separated from traffic. Would vastly prefer safe bike lanes to the current situation, but I also would rather bike and take my chances of getting hit than I would drive every day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes that’s right - the only way to fight crime is to make the roads as unpleasant for bikes, pedestrians and bus riders as possible. Woo hoo!

It takes a lot of money to fight crime. You need a tax base in order to get a lot of money. You lose your tax base when you make it painful for commuters to get down town.

I live in upper NW D.C. and pay high property and income taxes, and the most painful way to get downtown I could think of is to drive my car to my office. I take Metro about 2/3 of the time and bike 1/3 of the time. Have driven from here to work maybe five times in the six years I've lived in this neighborhood and cannot imagine why anyone would want to do it every day.

Let’s see. Hospitalizations. Traumatic brain injuries and deaths. And that’s just the people I know or knew of biking regularly on bike lines in traffic.

Raise them onto the sidewalks or completely separate and leave the streets alone.

So, in other words, there should be safe, protected bike lanes - which also make the streets safer for everyone else.

There's no such thing as "leaving the streets alone" because the streets are for everyone - people on foot, people in strollers, people on bikes, people in wheelchairs, people on scooters, people going to or from buses, etc. etc. etc. Not just people in cars.

Nope and this is a prime example of why people will never support you. You purposely misunderstand the argument, restate it differently and then argue with yourself.

Geneva style, bike lanes on the sidewalks. Plenty of sidewalk on Connecticut, but guess what, now you’re getting a big fat instead

Your argument was that there is currently no safe bike infrastructure, which endangers bicyclists. I agree with you. Also, we live in the US, where there are plenty of existing design guidelines for safe bike infrastructure that don't require taking sidewalk space away from pedestrians.

https://highways.dot.gov/safety/proven-safety-countermeasures/bicycle-lanes