Latest and GreaterestAnyone who disagrees with the Post is a "self-interested minority"The self-interested minority at the Washington Post editorial page is urging the Council to build Klingle Road. Their arguments avoid almost any discussion of the merits of the issue. Like most of the opponents at the hearing, their main argument is: the Council voted before to rebuild the road, and so we should push on against all objections—and anyone raising those objections must be a "self-interested minority."
Never mind that a majority of Council members, a majority of attendees at a hearing, and most of the emails I've seen on neighborhood email lists advocate for a park over an unneeded road. Anyone advocating for the environment must be "few but powerful". Few but powerful may better describe the Post editorial page; few, certainly, but hopefully not too powerful. New Urbanist Plater-Zyberk nominated to CFA: President Bush has nominated Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk to serve on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, one of the two boards that oversee architecture and planning in federal DC. She and her husband Andrés Duany were founders of the New Urbanism movement and authors of Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream. (comment) Transit quiz 3: what percent walk to transit?The answer to yesterday's quiz: 64.5% of transit riders nationwide start their trip within five minutes of their transit. 19.9% are 6-10 minutes away (meaning 84.4% are within 10 minutes). 8.9% are 11-15 minutes, 2.5% 15-20 minutes, and 4.1% more than 20 minutes.
Laurence Aurbach came in with a last-minute winning guess of 65%, which was 99% accurate. Great guess Laurence! Here's the next quiz: of all the people who used transit as their primary mode of travel (regardless of whether they were 5 minutes from transit or not), what percent walked to transit (versus driving or something else)? Who are "seniors"?Boarding the train at Union Station, the Amtrak gatekeeper called for seniors to pre-board as is their usual policy. Approximately half the waiting crowd got on, mostly very able-bodied far-from-elderly people who looked to be in their mid-50s and early 60s. One very non-old woman even said to her companion, "I love being a senior!"
As baby boomers get older, more and more of the population is going to consist of "seniors" even though most of them won't be any less able than a 45-year-old. And on Amtrak at least, there's no check for who is a senior, nor even a sign or announcement about what age is eligible. I'm all for having aging people of declining mobility pre-board, but do we really mean to give all the baby boomers preference over everyone else? What's the fair thing to do? I'm an environmentalist but...Last night, about 150 people showed up for a DC Council hearing on Klingle Road. The Washington Post has a carefully balanced article on the hearing, at which about 80% of the attendees and speakers opposed reopening the road (largely thanks to good organizing by WABA, the Sierra Club, and others).
Many proponents of building a new road in Klingle Valley, including Councilmembers Jim Graham and Muriel Bowser as well as several speakers, all touted their environmentalism and pro-transit credentials while arguing for an action that would harm the environment and decrease transit ridership. Here are some of the arguments they made: I'm an environmentalist but... I need this road to get across town a few minutes faster. One speaker even said "a few minutes faster" in so many words, almost making a caricature out of his own testimony. Protecting the environment sometimes requires sacrifices. A few minutes doesn't seem too much to ask, but it is for some folks. ... but making cars go faster actually reduces pollution by reducing idling. This is a widespread myth, but it's untrue. If the number of cars is fixed, then increasing speeds does somewhat reduce emissions, but the number of cars is never fixed. A new road generates new vehicle trips, whose new emissions outweigh any savings. I appreciate parkland but... I also like driving through a pretty park. When a park has a highway in it, it's quite pleasant to drive in—that is, until everyone else decides it's pleasant too and it fills up with traffic. Meanwhile, the highway prevents everyone else from enjoying the park in other ways. ... but we've already spent money on studies to fix the road, and there are already ramps at the freeway-like Porter Street interchange in the middle of the park. The man who testified right after me had the pithiest rebuttal, calling this "sewing a coat on a button"; it's folly to build a road just to connect to a ramp. Economists call this the sunk-cost fallacy. ... but the Council didn't follow the correct process to close the road. Jim Graham repeatedly harped on the issue of process, arguing that the Council shouldn't vote to close a road in a budget hearing, that there are processes to follow to close alleys and closing a road should require more process. Generally people fixate on process when they don't agree with the outcome, and I can't help thinking that Graham is just upset that Cheh outmaneuvered him in his committee. I support reducing vehicle traffic but... people drive regardless of whether the road is there. Bowser, in particular, hung much of her argument on the incorrect assumption that the amount of traffic isn't related to road capacity. When this road went away 17 years ago, she argued, people started taking other routes. Some did. But some started taking transit, carpooling, living closer to work, or making fewer trips across town. Creating a new road would also create an incentive for some people to drive solo when they wouldn't today, because a new high-speed bypass would make driving more appealing. I'm a transit advocate but... the road won't affect transit ridership. Bowser and Graham both argued that the solution to traffic is to improve transit (true, that's one solution), and reiterated their longstanding support for transit. Bowser spoke about reducing driving from the demand end, not the supply end. We must do it on both ends. Increasing supply will lower demand for transit and make it more difficult for WMATA to cover its costs, forcing cuts in service, making transit worse and pushing more people to drive. If the Council acts to reopen the road, it is acting affirmatively to discourage public transportation. Graham and Bowser don't want to do that. They should get beyond their frustration over process or their misconceptions about traffic behavior and stop pushing for this road. But whether they do or not, with Cheh, Wells, Evans, Alexander, Barry, Brown, and Mendelson on record against this road, the environmental, recreational, and induced demand reasons for keeping it closed are likely to prevail against those who want to save five minutes. Transit quiz 2: how many are within five minutes of transit?The answer to yesterday's quiz: among one day's transit riders nationwide, 44% come from households that don't own a car. 33% come from one-car households, 14% two cars, and 9% have more than one.
The closest guess was Matt' who guessed 40%. Good job Matt'! Now for today's transit quiz: according to the same survey (of transit riders nationwide, using all modes, on a particular day): what percentage of transit riders took only five minutes or less to get from the start of their trip (i.e. home) to the place where they boarded the transit (whether they walked, drove, etc.)? Post your guesses in the comments. Answer here. Did the gas tax hurt Hillary Clinton in Indiana?: The Post's Chris Cillizza talks to some experts and comes up with a tentative yes. At the very least, it helped her a lot less than she had anticipated or hoped. (comment) DC tops "most improved" bicycling listWashington, DC is the most improved bicycling city in America, according to Bicycling Magazine (via DCist). The SmartBike bike sharing program is a big factor in the magazine's decision, as are the bike facilities at the new stadium and the bicycle use by Mayors Williams and Fenty.
But bike lane construction is lagging behind the Bicycle Master Plan, and there's still inadequate bike parking at many shops and workplaces. We should set our sights beyond just being "most improved" and strive to be "best" by completing the bike lane network, mandating indoor bike parking and shower facilities in new office and apartment buildings, and finishing our trails like the Anacostia Riverwalk and Metropolitan Branch trails. Transit quiz: how many transit riders don't own a car?Tim Torma of the EPA sent me a great site with lots of interesting stats on transit ridership. Here's a quick quiz to test your intuition: according to a survey of people in the United States who Post your guess in the comments. Answer is here. Bethesda garage only needed if you ignore all the other parking lotsMontgomery County is planning to spend $88 million to quadruple the size of the downtown parking lot in Bethesda. Does Bethesda need so much parking? Turns out that there's plenty of parking, even at peak times. Montgomery County's analysis simply assumed that nobody would park a few blocks away, where there's plenty of parking.
Instead, argues Cheryl Cort of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, Bethesda could install electronic signs to direct drivers to one of the nearby lots that has room when the others are full. For Bethesda should learn from Pasadena and Boulder, areas with similar walkable downtowns amid lower-density suburbs. In those towns, performance parking prices the more convenient spaces closer to the center at a slightly higher rate, enough to ensure they are 85% full but not too full; more distant lots with or without shuttles let people park cheaper if they value money over time. Plus, the added revenue from no longer subsidizing parking could improve Bethesda. Fix up some blocks that need work. Or, better yet, fund more bus service, so instead of cutting Ride-On as Montgomery County is doing, they can expand options for people to get to shopping and jobs in Bethesda without driving. Really cool 1954 Boston subway diagramVanshnookenraggen has this amazing historic drawing—part map, part artistic rendering—of the Boston subway and elevated rail system as it existed in the mid-twentieth century (sometime between 1929, when the Ashmont-Mattapan High Speed Line opened (lower left), and 1964, when the MBTA replaced the MTA and gave the lines color designations).
Update: Mike figured out that the map must date from 1951-1955, between the opening of the Museum of Science and the Science Park Green line station. Update 2: It's 1954. The extension to Wonderland (lower right) opened in January 1954, but the Day Sq. station was renamed Wood Island Park (now Wood Island) in October 1954. Vanshnookenraggen also has MBTA transit expansion visions similar to mine and the others for DC. (Thanks, Mike!) New 'Get The Fuck Outta The Road' Program Aims To Increase Pedestrian Safety: From The Onion. (comment) Klingle: sign up today to testify: We need people to testify in favor of making part of Rock Creek Park a park instead of a highway. The meeting is tomorrow, Thursday, 6:30 pm at the Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Ave NW. People interested in speaking must call or email Jonathon Kass, jkass@dccouncil.us or 202-724-8152, by 5 pm today. (comment) The more things changeThe New York Times ran an op-ed on Sunday about politicians running for President coming up with proposals to ease the pain of high gas prices. Only this op-ed was from the summer of 1996, when average nationwide prices were rising from about $1.07 a gallon to $1.23 per gallon. The author, Russell Baker, wrote: Sure I'm mad about the price of gasoline, but what I'm really mad about is having to buy the stuff just to go to the grocery.If only we'd started fixing this problem twelve years ago. |
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