question for cyclists in NWDC

[Anonymous]

I mean if OP was asking for a historical analysis he got a pretty good one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The simple truth is that Wisconsin is an important and heavily utilized road and there's not enough demonstrated demand.

If you want to get more complicated then it's because the Ward 3 council member, Frumin, and lots of other powerful people live off of Wisconsin, it's already a traffic cluster, the space has been taken up by streeteries, and an absolute maelstrom of discontent was sparked by the attempt to sneak bike lanes through on Connecticut during the pandemic.

OMG here we go again with this BS.

The bike lanes on Connecticut Avenue were not snuck thru during the pandemic.

There were something like 200 public meetings and specifically because of the pandemic they were very well attended.

The ANC 3C meeting when the proposal was voted on had something like 200 attendees (most of whom supported bike lanes) which is about 4 times the number of people that usually attend a 3C meeting.

There was not a maelstrom of discontent - a bunch of entitled drivers who don't like to share (many of whom live in MD) scared the Mayor so we are stuck with a highway running down Connecticut Avenue instead of a street that serves the people who live on it.

Approximately 175 of them didn't live in that ANC. And let me stop you before you trot out "the bike lanes were supported by every ANC commissioner along the avenue." Nearly all of those ANC commissioners ran unopposed. Please stop your truly inane assertion that this equals some sort of mandate. You sound like a cretin when you do that.

A lot of the ANC commissioners were recruited by Greater Greater Washington and the Trump lobbyist who runs DC Smart Growth.

YES THIS STORY AGAIN GREAT I NEEDED A GOOD FAIRYTALE

Fabrizio Ward (also associated with DC smart growth) is the chief pollster to the Trump campaign.

[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:The simple truth is that Wisconsin is an important and heavily utilized road and there's not enough demonstrated demand.

If you want to get more complicated then it's because the Ward 3 council member, Frumin, and lots of other powerful people live off of Wisconsin, it's already a traffic cluster, the space has been taken up by streeteries, and an absolute maelstrom of discontent was sparked by the attempt to sneak bike lanes through on Connecticut during the pandemic.

OMG here we go again with this BS.

The bike lanes on Connecticut Avenue were not snuck thru during the pandemic.

There were something like 200 public meetings and specifically because of the pandemic they were very well attended.

The ANC 3C meeting when the proposal was voted on had something like 200 attendees (most of whom supported bike lanes) which is about 4 times the number of people that usually attend a 3C meeting.

There was not a maelstrom of discontent - a bunch of entitled drivers who don't like to share (many of whom live in MD) scared the Mayor so we are stuck with a highway running down Connecticut Avenue instead of a street that serves the people who live on it.

Approximately 175 of them didn't live in that ANC. And let me stop you before you trot out "the bike lanes were supported by every ANC commissioner along the avenue." Nearly all of those ANC commissioners ran unopposed. Please stop your truly inane assertion that this equals some sort of mandate. You sound like a cretin when you do that.

A lot of the ANC commissioners were recruited by Greater Greater Washington and the Trump lobbyist who runs DC Smart Growth.

'

Yes, we all know Donald Trump cares a lot about multimodal transportation and urban density.

TrumpWorld is full of extreme property rights/pro-deregulation Libertarians. The overlap with “smart growth” and big development in DC isn’t surprising at all.

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-gets-bad-news-his-own-pollsters-firm-1814645

That may be. As far as I'm concerned, though, Donald Trump, libertarians, and real estate developers can all get stuffed. All I want is a relatively safe, relatively direct way to occasionally ride my bike from my single-family house to my office.

Good news! That already exists. Get on the Cap Crescent Trail and join the dozens doing so already.

DP. Similarly, drivers who want to get from Chevy Chase to Dupont Circle should join the many drivers on the GW Parkway.

Well they certainly shouldn't get a brand new bespoke route for their occassional use virtually private use because they decided to buy a $2 million house in a neighborhood that doesn't have the transportation connections they want.

When we were house shopping proximity to CC trail was definitely on the list.

Exactly. We did the same thing with Rock Creek. Considering the cost of these neighborhoods it boggles my mind that some people seemingly didn't do any basic research on something they supposedly care about.

I hope you're not taking the position that people who want to be able to bicycle safely to their childcare or their office should have had the foresight to pay a lot of money to live near the Capital Crescent Trail and/or Rock Creek, and if they didn't, too bad.

If a specific amenity is that important for someone then they should have considered that before they spent $2 million on a house. There are dozens of neighborhoods within the region that meet their requirements. Heck, most of them are cheaper so they would have saved money had they only done the barest minimum of research.

(a) my house didn't cost $2 million when I bought it and I very seriously doubt anyone would pay $2 million for it now
(b) I moved from a neighborhood with better bike lanes to downtown to my current location because "good bike routes to work" wasn't my sole, or even my leading, consideration in where to live
(c) I do bike to work now using the existing infrastructure
(d) that doesn't mean I wouldn't prefer to have safer bike infrastructure

[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:The simple truth is that Wisconsin is an important and heavily utilized road and there's not enough demonstrated demand.

If you want to get more complicated then it's because the Ward 3 council member, Frumin, and lots of other powerful people live off of Wisconsin, it's already a traffic cluster, the space has been taken up by streeteries, and an absolute maelstrom of discontent was sparked by the attempt to sneak bike lanes through on Connecticut during the pandemic.

OMG here we go again with this BS.

The bike lanes on Connecticut Avenue were not snuck thru during the pandemic.

There were something like 200 public meetings and specifically because of the pandemic they were very well attended.

The ANC 3C meeting when the proposal was voted on had something like 200 attendees (most of whom supported bike lanes) which is about 4 times the number of people that usually attend a 3C meeting.

There was not a maelstrom of discontent - a bunch of entitled drivers who don't like to share (many of whom live in MD) scared the Mayor so we are stuck with a highway running down Connecticut Avenue instead of a street that serves the people who live on it.

Approximately 175 of them didn't live in that ANC. And let me stop you before you trot out "the bike lanes were supported by every ANC commissioner along the avenue." Nearly all of those ANC commissioners ran unopposed. Please stop your truly inane assertion that this equals some sort of mandate. You sound like a cretin when you do that.

A lot of the ANC commissioners were recruited by Greater Greater Washington and the Trump lobbyist who runs DC Smart Growth.

'

Yes, we all know Donald Trump cares a lot about multimodal transportation and urban density.

TrumpWorld is full of extreme property rights/pro-deregulation Libertarians. The overlap with “smart growth” and big development in DC isn’t surprising at all.

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-gets-bad-news-his-own-pollsters-firm-1814645

That may be. As far as I'm concerned, though, Donald Trump, libertarians, and real estate developers can all get stuffed. All I want is a relatively safe, relatively direct way to occasionally ride my bike from my single-family house to my office.

Good news! That already exists. Get on the Cap Crescent Trail and join the dozens doing so already.

DP. Similarly, drivers who want to get from Chevy Chase to Dupont Circle should join the many drivers on the GW Parkway.

Well they certainly shouldn't get a brand new bespoke route for their occassional use virtually private use because they decided to buy a $2 million house in a neighborhood that doesn't have the transportation connections they want.

When we were house shopping proximity to CC trail was definitely on the list.

Exactly. We did the same thing with Rock Creek. Considering the cost of these neighborhoods it boggles my mind that some people seemingly didn't do any basic research on something they supposedly care about.

I hope you're not taking the position that people who want to be able to bicycle safely to their childcare or their office should have had the foresight to pay a lot of money to live near the Capital Crescent Trail and/or Rock Creek, and if they didn't, too bad.

If a specific amenity is that important for someone then they should have considered that before they spent $2 million on a house. There are dozens of neighborhoods within the region that meet their requirements. Heck, most of them are cheaper so they would have saved money had they only done the barest minimum of research.

(a) my house didn't cost $2 million when I bought it and I very seriously doubt anyone would pay $2 million for it now
(b) I moved from a neighborhood with better bike lanes to downtown to my current location because "good bike routes to work" wasn't my sole, or even my leading, consideration in where to live
(c) I do bike to work now using the existing infrastructure
(d) that doesn't mean I wouldn't prefer to have safer bike infrastructure

(e) I'm not OP and didn't go to Harvard, but only belatedly realized the people replying to my post that developers and Donald Trump can both get stuffed probably thought I was the same poster

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The short answer is that you were trying to move to DC's version of Cambridge (Capitol Hill), but you accidentally moved to DC's version of Newton (Upper NW).

Cycling culture in DC is actually quite good, and downtown DC is much more cycling friendly than downtown Boston. But the personalities of Newtonians and Chevy Chase residents are what they are, and they bring into existence the world they, apparently, want. I guess there's no accounting for taste.

OP here. Thanks for the analogy, that made me chuckle and makes sense. I wish someone told me that before we moved here. I was told that NWDC is very walkable and convenient for this area, and I was considering a couple of other factors like proximity to our childcare, safety, public schools, etc. I also didn't know how old NWDC skews and that reminds me of Newton too. I will have the chance to move as we settle into our life here, I will explore Capitol Hill more.

Not sure why some people assume I bought a $2 million house here. If I did have a $2 million house budget, you bet I would buy somewhere that is safe, has good public schools, and has good biking infrastructure....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The short answer is that you were trying to move to DC's version of Cambridge (Capitol Hill), but you accidentally moved to DC's version of Newton (Upper NW).

Cycling culture in DC is actually quite good, and downtown DC is much more cycling friendly than downtown Boston. But the personalities of Newtonians and Chevy Chase residents are what they are, and they bring into existence the world they, apparently, want. I guess there's no accounting for taste.

OP here. Thanks for the analogy, that made me chuckle and makes sense. I wish someone told me that before we moved here. I was told that NWDC is very walkable and convenient for this area, and I was considering a couple of other factors like proximity to our childcare, safety, public schools, etc. I also didn't know how old NWDC skews and that reminds me of Newton too. I will have the chance to move as we settle into our life here, I will explore Capitol Hill more.

Not sure why some people assume I bought a $2 million house here. If I did have a $2 million house budget, you bet I would buy somewhere that is safe, has good public schools, and has good biking infrastructure....

1. It's convenient because of the major roads
2. It's walkable because traffic is on the major roads

Both of those things would be harmed by what you are demanding.

3. We all know what the cost of a single family home along the Wisconsin corridor in DC costs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The short answer is that you were trying to move to DC's version of Cambridge (Capitol Hill), but you accidentally moved to DC's version of Newton (Upper NW).

Cycling culture in DC is actually quite good, and downtown DC is much more cycling friendly than downtown Boston. But the personalities of Newtonians and Chevy Chase residents are what they are, and they bring into existence the world they, apparently, want. I guess there's no accounting for taste.

OP here. Thanks for the analogy, that made me chuckle and makes sense. I wish someone told me that before we moved here. I was told that NWDC is very walkable and convenient for this area, and I was considering a couple of other factors like proximity to our childcare, safety, public schools, etc. I also didn't know how old NWDC skews and that reminds me of Newton too. I will have the chance to move as we settle into our life here, I will explore Capitol Hill more.

Not sure why some people assume I bought a $2 million house here. If I did have a $2 million house budget, you bet I would buy somewhere that is safe, has good public schools, and has good biking infrastructure....

1. It's convenient because of the major roads
2. It's walkable because traffic is on the major roads

Both of those things would be harmed by what you are demanding.

3. We all know what the cost of a single family home along the Wisconsin corridor in DC costs.

DP. Nah. It's convenient because it's close-in, and it's walkable because it's more or less a grid. Good bike infrastructure would harm neither of those things.

True fact: some people rent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The short answer is that you were trying to move to DC's version of Cambridge (Capitol Hill), but you accidentally moved to DC's version of Newton (Upper NW).

Cycling culture in DC is actually quite good, and downtown DC is much more cycling friendly than downtown Boston. But the personalities of Newtonians and Chevy Chase residents are what they are, and they bring into existence the world they, apparently, want. I guess there's no accounting for taste.

OP here. Thanks for the analogy, that made me chuckle and makes sense. I wish someone told me that before we moved here. I was told that NWDC is very walkable and convenient for this area, and I was considering a couple of other factors like proximity to our childcare, safety, public schools, etc. I also didn't know how old NWDC skews and that reminds me of Newton too. I will have the chance to move as we settle into our life here, I will explore Capitol Hill more.

Not sure why some people assume I bought a $2 million house here. If I did have a $2 million house budget, you bet I would buy somewhere that is safe, has good public schools, and has good biking infrastructure....

Safe, good public schools, good biking infrastructure. You can choose two.

[Anonymous]

New poster:

If you're considering moving out of Ward 3, where I assume you are, consider Ward 4 east of Rock Creek Park and Petworth! Great biking infrastructure. I bike 4 miles from my home to my office, and 90% of my ride is in a protected bike lane. I have kids in elementary school who are starting to bike around, too. The neighbors are wonderful. There are other places to live in NW DC. This forum seems to be dominated by Ward 3 or Cap Hill, so I like to put in a plug for Ward 4 east of the Park.

I do agree with you that the bike infrastructure generally just isn't here yet. It's too bad. But as a bike commuter who obeys traffic signals, I've observed so many bad/unsafe bikers as well as bad/unsafe drivers. Maybe there would be more support for bike infrastructure if more cyclists signaled, waited at stop lights, etc.

Re: biking on Wisconsin: just do it and be as safe as you can and bike in the middle of the car lane. That's what I used to do 10 years ago. If you do it enough, maybe some of the NIMBYs will get annoyed and start realizing a bike lane would be a good idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The short answer is that you were trying to move to DC's version of Cambridge (Capitol Hill), but you accidentally moved to DC's version of Newton (Upper NW).

Cycling culture in DC is actually quite good, and downtown DC is much more cycling friendly than downtown Boston. But the personalities of Newtonians and Chevy Chase residents are what they are, and they bring into existence the world they, apparently, want. I guess there's no accounting for taste.

OP here. Thanks for the analogy, that made me chuckle and makes sense. I wish someone told me that before we moved here. I was told that NWDC is very walkable and convenient for this area, and I was considering a couple of other factors like proximity to our childcare, safety, public schools, etc. I also didn't know how old NWDC skews and that reminds me of Newton too. I will have the chance to move as we settle into our life here, I will explore Capitol Hill more.

Not sure why some people assume I bought a $2 million house here. If I did have a $2 million house budget, you bet I would buy somewhere that is safe, has good public schools, and has good biking infrastructure....

Safe, good public schools, good biking infrastructure. You can choose two.

Another Boston transplant here. Yep, I miss Boston for this reason. You can get all three in several neighborhoods there. Here, I had to forgo good biking for safety and good schools for the kids.

[Anonymous]

Capitol Hill is no one’s version of Cambridge. Unless by Cambridge you mean Compton

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The simple truth is that Wisconsin is an important and heavily utilized road and there's not enough demonstrated demand.

If you want to get more complicated then it's because the Ward 3 council member, Frumin, and lots of other powerful people live off of Wisconsin, it's already a traffic cluster, the space has been taken up by streeteries, and an absolute maelstrom of discontent was sparked by the attempt to sneak bike lanes through on Connecticut during the pandemic.

OMG here we go again with this BS.

The bike lanes on Connecticut Avenue were not snuck thru during the pandemic.

There were something like 200 public meetings and specifically because of the pandemic they were very well attended.

The ANC 3C meeting when the proposal was voted on had something like 200 attendees (most of whom supported bike lanes) which is about 4 times the number of people that usually attend a 3C meeting.

There was not a maelstrom of discontent - a bunch of entitled drivers who don't like to share (many of whom live in MD) scared the Mayor so we are stuck with a highway running down Connecticut Avenue instead of a street that serves the people who live on it.

Approximately 175 of them didn't live in that ANC. And let me stop you before you trot out "the bike lanes were supported by every ANC commissioner along the avenue." Nearly all of those ANC commissioners ran unopposed. Please stop your truly inane assertion that this equals some sort of mandate. You sound like a cretin when you do that.

A lot of the ANC commissioners were recruited by Greater Greater Washington and the Trump lobbyist who runs DC Smart Growth.

YES THIS STORY AGAIN GREAT I NEEDED A GOOD FAIRYTALE

Fabrizio Ward (also associated with DC smart growth) is the chief pollster to the Trump campaign.

Mission accomplished, Bob and Tony!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New poster:

If you're considering moving out of Ward 3, where I assume you are, consider Ward 4 east of Rock Creek Park and Petworth! Great biking infrastructure. I bike 4 miles from my home to my office, and 90% of my ride is in a protected bike lane. I have kids in elementary school who are starting to bike around, too. The neighbors are wonderful. There are other places to live in NW DC. This forum seems to be dominated by Ward 3 or Cap Hill, so I like to put in a plug for Ward 4 east of the Park.

I do agree with you that the bike infrastructure generally just isn't here yet. It's too bad. But as a bike commuter who obeys traffic signals, I've observed so many bad/unsafe bikers as well as bad/unsafe drivers. Maybe there would be more support for bike infrastructure if more cyclists signaled, waited at stop lights, etc.

Re: biking on Wisconsin: just do it and be as safe as you can and bike in the middle of the car lane. That's what I used to do 10 years ago. If you do it enough, maybe some of the NIMBYs will get annoyed and start realizing a bike lane would be a good idea.

This isn't responding to anything in particular, but mirroring a comment above, if you want a safe bikeable, good school, walkable, etc. NWDC neighborhood Glover Park is the best option. The commute downtown is safe, doesn't necessarily involve Wisconsin, and there are a bunch of biking families doing the same thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New poster:

If you're considering moving out of Ward 3, where I assume you are, consider Ward 4 east of Rock Creek Park and Petworth! Great biking infrastructure. I bike 4 miles from my home to my office, and 90% of my ride is in a protected bike lane. I have kids in elementary school who are starting to bike around, too. The neighbors are wonderful. There are other places to live in NW DC. This forum seems to be dominated by Ward 3 or Cap Hill, so I like to put in a plug for Ward 4 east of the Park.

I do agree with you that the bike infrastructure generally just isn't here yet. It's too bad. But as a bike commuter who obeys traffic signals, I've observed so many bad/unsafe bikers as well as bad/unsafe drivers. Maybe there would be more support for bike infrastructure if more cyclists signaled, waited at stop lights, etc.

Re: biking on Wisconsin: just do it and be as safe as you can and bike in the middle of the car lane. That's what I used to do 10 years ago. If you do it enough, maybe some of the NIMBYs will get annoyed and start realizing a bike lane would be a good idea.

This isn't responding to anything in particular, but mirroring a comment above, if you want a safe bikeable, good school, walkable, etc. NWDC neighborhood Glover Park is the best option. The commute downtown is safe, doesn't necessarily involve Wisconsin, and there are a bunch of biking families doing the same thing.

The western half of Glover Park stretches the definition of "walkable."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Capitol Hill is no one’s version of Cambridge. Unless by Cambridge you mean Compton

Lol. This is an exaggeration but yeah, Capitol Hill is no Cambridge. Biking is not bad but it's a small pocket and you're not going to get good schools. It's great for DINKs and those with young children but everyone leaves by elementary or middle school. And it's not nearly as safe as Cambridge.