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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It's actually the best of Muriel Bowser. She spent some effort clearing bike lanes (pissing off the anti-bike people) but most bike lanes are still blocked in many areas like large patches or impassable mountains at the end so they're not usable (pissing off anyone trying to bike).  Let's just do it one way or the other.[/quote]

This has been her MO for years. She has one of her agencies (DCPS, DDOT etc.) propose something (building a new school, putting in a protected bike lane or mixed-use path, changing school boundaries etc.) that attracts a camp of supporters and opponents. Her agencies then launch a length "consultation process" that the supporters and opponents take very seriously. The respective groups have impassioned debates on DCUM, listservs, ANC meetings, neighborhood civic / community association meetings and so forth and commission petitions, leaflets, yard signs, and banners replete with pithy slogans that reflect their own interpretations of whatever has been proposed. Folk on both sides get angry at people on the other side as the battle lines are drawn up, insults are exchanged, long-standing friendships are ruined, and what were previously open and inclusive associations become very secretive. This goes on for years, with trust in neighborhoods falling to historic lows amidst the division over the proposal. Finally, the agency reaches a decision and announces a timeline. The group who didn't gets their way doubles down on whatever back channels to Bowser they can muster and then, on the eve of construction, Bowser (or one of her minions) announces a completely decision that is the complete opposite of whatever came out of the consultation process.

There is a great quote attributed to Saddam Hussein which describes the art of politics as "making a decision, telling his allies he would do one thing, his opponents something else, and then taking a course of action that surprises even himself" (or words to that effect). The mess that has been Bowser's administration seems to approximate that relatively well. We as DC residents - and even more so, our neighborhood institutions - have suffered it as we've wasted our time, money, and energies engaging in participatory processes that Bowser and her minions haven't the slightest bit of respect for. Forums like this and the listservs have done very well out of it.

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