Breakfast links: Moving right through

by David Alpert • May 4, 2009 8:57 am

Bike-friendly drive-thru. Photo by Richard Drdul.

Klein reveals stimulus grant priorities: Cities and regions across the nation are gearing up to apply for the competitive transportation grants in the federal stimulus. DC will be applying to fund the K Street Transitway, alternative fuel Circulators, and even possibly a network of electric car charging stations. (Washington Business Journal)

Drive-thru, not bike-thru: The drive-thru Burger King at 3rd and Florida, NE not only refused to serve a bicyclist, but wouldn't even do the courtesy of saying no outright. Instead, the employee told the cyclist to wait at the side of the lane, then ignored him. (TheWashCycle)

Metro route choice survey back: Matt Johnson's survey of route choices on Metrorail is back up. If you regularly ride Metrorail and didn't get to fill it out before, do so now and help them with their analysis.

Construction closes both sides of 6th Street: Over a year ago, Mayor Fenty changed the rules to require construction projects maintain space for pedestrians. But many projects still don't. On 6th Street, SW, there are two projects across the street from each other, and both closed the sidewalk. (SWDCBlog)

Banning throwing away clean bags?: Madison, Wisconsin is considering a different way of handling the problem of bags polluting the environment and costing cities money to dispose of properly: a ban on throwing the bags away unless they are dirty. The city would designate sites where residents could drop off their clean bags for reuse or recycling, but couldn't throw them away in the trash. Despite including penalties in the proposed bill, officials state that they would "rely on cooperation rather than enforcement." Besides, if they did start enforcing, people could just start making the bags dirty. Either way, the law seems unlikely to have much effect. (Wisconsin State Journal)

Green buildings versus green cities: Roger Lewis highlights the paradox of building "green" houses in suburban sprawl while maintaining zoning codes that prohibit more energy-efficient, denser living options. (Post via Just Up the Pike)

What do we do about crime?: Conservative author Reihan Salam notes that fleeing from "crime-ridden" cities to suburbs actually increases your chances of dying, as traffic deaths exceed crime deaths. He goes on to recommend some other crime-reducing techniques that don't involve more and more incarceration. (Forbes)

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6 comments Share	— tags: bicycling, carryout bag fees, Circulator, crime, DC, DDOT, drive-thrus, electric cars, environment, K Street Transitway, LEED, links, pedestrian safety, Republicans, retail, road safety, sidewalks, Southwest Waterfront, sprawl, stimulus, surveys, TIGER, Wisconsin, WMATA

12 Councilmembers co-introduce 5-cent fee for disposable bags (Feb 17, 2009)
Get plastic bags out of the Anacostia (Feb 12, 2009)
Stimulus draft released; $30B for highways vs. $10B for transit (Jan 15, 2009)
Environmental groups identify $145B of immediate green stimulus (Dec 11, 2008)
What's wrong with empowering cities? (Jan 4, 2008)

Comments

Sadly, Salaam failed to realize that the "hollowing out" of our cities is what contributed to the high crime rates in the 1980's, not the other way around. Many middle class people had already moved out of the city in favor of car-dependent suburbs long before the crack epidemic and even before the 1968 riots. They were spurred on by government policies, cultural trends, and the wrong-headed belief that acquiring more stuff increases happiness.

He deserves credit for pointing out that there is a higher chance of dying in a car collision in suburbia than in a crime in a city.

by Cavan on May 4, 2009 10:58 am

Depends on what part of the city also. Trinidad /= Foxhall Rd.

and the wrong-headed belief that acquiring more stuff increases happiness.

Come on, that's a judgment call and you know that; you can do better than that. Just as not everyone in DC is a crack baby with AIDS, not everyone in the suburbs is miserable, has no socialization and is financially ruined from flipping a McMansion.

Most of the thriving immigrant communities, for example, are in the DC suburbs, not the city itself. Just off the top of my head, we've got Bolivans, Salvadorans and Koreans in Annandale (going to AHS was like being in the UN), Vietnamese in Falls Church, etc. etc.

by MPC on May 4, 2009 12:45 pm

I don't see why "green" housing is either/or. People are going to want to live in suburban areas as well--no reason not to have those houses be as green as possible, even while making efforts to allow more "greening" of urban regulations/limits.

by ah on May 4, 2009 1:19 pm

The burger king/bike thing is just . . . odd. Talk about terrible customer service. At least tell the guy he has to come inside. What's up with that?

That all said, I used to ride through the drive through w/o issue, but in a different time and place.

by ah on May 4, 2009 1:20 pm

There is also a difference between violent crime, and property crime. Property crime is still orders of magnitude higher in the cities. It may not directly be related to violent crime, but when you come home and find your place ransacked, you tend to feel a bit more concerned about your personal security afterwards.

by charlie on May 4, 2009 2:08 pm

Well, ah, Lewis' point was that when people get caught up in the notion that they can green everything in their lives with new gadgets and thermal chimneys, they miss the cheaper, easier (yes, easier in the long run) option of lifestyle change.

by цarьchitect on May 4, 2009 2:29 pm