Reply to D.C. needs to get a lot more car friendly

Forum Index » Metropolitan DC Local Politics

Reply to "D.C. needs to get a lot more car friendly"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Given that a few thousand businesses have left downtown D.C. over the past two years, you would think that the city would be exploring ways to encourage more people to return and spend their money.

It may pain some District residents to hear this, but the city needs the suburbs. At this point, making the city less accessible by car will only hurt the District and strengthen the cycle of economic disinvestment and rising crime.[/quote]

public transport must be improved, not private transport, which makes the city a terrible place. And as everybody knows: a lot of busniesses had to close in the last two years beacuse of the pandemic. Bikers and pedestrians are not the cause.[/quote]
It’s fascinating that you believe the city is so enthralling that people in the suburbs will willingly and in large numbers take public transit into the city for recreation and entertainment purposes over other options, if only public transit was better? This is seriously deluded thinking that is contradicted by the fact that people in the suburbs refuse to take transit today to go to the city for work. But sure, on a Saturday they’ll hop on the metro for shopping or a performance at the Shakespeare Theatre when the same stores or high quality theatre experiences are available more conveniently and closer to home.

The reality is that another sectoral shift has occurred (starting back in 2015) away from cities and these policies just accelerate the inevitable.  [/quote]

it’s fascinating that you think the economic welfare of the city rests on people being able to drive into downtown and park for free in front of Macy’s to go shopping. [/quote]
In your view, so you agree that it’s important for Macy’s to continue to have a store downtown? What would you think are the economic conditions that allow Macy’s presence in DC to continue to be viable?

It’s always been hard to go there and park. Metro Center is right there, but people are not taking the Metro either in large numbers. No one from the suburbs needs to go there anyways because they are going to have a Macy’s closure to home that’s more convenient. Commercial office space is at less than 40% capacity. Not a lot of people live nearby. What would happen to downtown DC if Macys closed?

So what’s your plan for Macy’s? How do they stay in business and thrive given these conditions? Does it matter to you to make it easier for a DC resident to shop there versus choosing instead to go to a Macys in the suburbs?

What I see from you is a lot short sighted and frankly selfish advocacy that doesn’t look at the big picture and impacts of highly ideological desires actually affect your community.

The worst part about it is that I’m sure that once the city is destroyed, you’ll be off somewhere else leaving the wreckage behind and blaming your decision in a vaguely racist way on crime and public safety. [/quote]

Say perhaps a resident of Brightwood that has a choice between Wheaton and Downtown DC.  Do they take 16th out of the city or into downtown?

Your answer is that they'll take a bus downtown rather than drive to Wheaton.  Decades of history tell us the opposite.[/quote]

I’m talking about commuting for work or school … I think downtowns as primarily retail centers was over a while ago, nothing to do with bike lanes. But yes, I expect residents of 16th st will take the bus to school, work, and entertainment. [/quote]

They won't.  They'll drive to Silver Speing which now takes less time and is more convenient.  They'll move altogether once the kids hit middle/high school because the options are better.

If you want to keep the families in DC then the secondary school options have to be equal.  If you want businesses to survive then the time and hassle variables have to be equal.[/quote]

That’s the whole point - it is not equal for single-driver cars to dominate a disproportionate share of the streets. Bus lanes are not going to kill DC, truly. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics