Sorry Josh Rogin broke his arm, but are there any more details so we can know whether he was or was not engaged in "reckless walking"?

by ah on Jul 17, 2009 11:01 am  

The Nat'l Harbor story makes me question Milt Peterson's PR skills. Kentlands/Lakelands is surrounded by massive surface parking lots, a single-use corporate campus, and collector roads feeding a freeway, and has the same out-of-place look as Nat'l Harbor. Yet Duany Plater-Zyberk invests heavily in public relations (PR contact is listed in big letters in their contact page), which ensures the usual crowd of architectural critics and academics get the story about "new urbanism", instead of writing about the massive surface lots east of Kentlands Boulevard, or the fact that 3 of the 4 corners at the intersection of "Main and Market" are occupied by surface parking.

Nat'l Harbor is getting a bum rap in the press because Peterson went overboard with big parties and celebrations when it opened, which only lifted the media' expectations for the future. If he had been more subtle and had his PR people focus on winning over some of the academics, the news about Nat'l Harbor would have rolled out slowly about the walkability of the neighborhood, the proximity to downtown, not a few big stories about who was at the grand opening. Kentlands/Lakelands is filled with chain restaurants and big box retail, yet the press never writes about that. But heaven forbid a single 7-11 opens at Nat'l Harbor, and the bad press begins to roll.

We wouldn't be reading these stories about Nat'l Harbor if Peterson had the PR skills of DPZ or Federal Realty.

by David on Jul 17, 2009 11:10 am  

Good points, David.

Also, as far as I know, Duany Plater-Zyberk have not been putting heavy pressure on Maryland to subsidize express buses from Metro right to Kentlands (or are they)? Peterson's constant whining that there isn't good transit to his development, located somewhere without good transit, is what rankles the most. And yet Maryland bumped the NH-1 way up the WMATA priority corridors list and is giving it a lot of dedicated funding.

P.S. David, could you please start using a last initial or something in your name? I don't want to create confusion. We now have many comment threads with multiple Stephens, Davids, etc.

by David Alpert on Jul 17, 2009 11:16 am  

David, you think no one would have noticed a huge destruction of wildlife habitat on the shores of the Potomac river if they hadn't had big galas?

by Bianchi on Jul 17, 2009 11:32 am  

The blog linked refers to bringing awareness to taxi cab violence. Taxi cab violence? Isn't that stretching things a bit? In my experience, cab drivers are usually very good drivers, and have an innate sense of things on the street, and have good intuition. I don't think they are pure angels, but in my experience they aren't bad drivers at all.

by Jazzy on Jul 17, 2009 11:34 am  

In my experience, cab drivers are usually very good drivers, and have an innate sense of things on the street, and have good intuition. I don't think they are pure angels, but in my experience they aren't bad drivers at all.

Well, that definitely is interesting.

Do you mind if I ask: Where do you live? London?

by ibc on Jul 17, 2009 12:17 pm  

MARC is saying within the next 30 days for the 3 locos that were originally promised for June 1. That presumably backs the whole process up for deploying all of them by next summer, but I'm sure it will change again.

by Jeff Q. on Jul 17, 2009 12:45 pm  

Jazzy's point isn't crazy . . . I think many cabbies are very good drivers, but they don't necessarily drive safely. NASCAR drivers are also very good--doesn't mean I'd want to be driven that way to the airport.

As for Adams Morgan, I'm pretty sure no one has ever jaywalked there. And everyone's sober, too!

by ah on Jul 17, 2009 12:52 pm  

Got to disagree with ah and Jazzy here. DC cabbies routinely cut off pedestrians, stop in cross walks, go too fast for road conditions, push out yellow lights, etc.

Personally, I don't think you can be a "good" driver without also being a "safe" driver. And DC cabbies are not safe, almost without exception.

by TimK on Jul 17, 2009 12:58 pm  

TimK--I do distinguish the two. I think cabbies are in total control of their cars most of the time, and paying good attention. That is not the case with many drivers around here. On the other hand, taxi drivers' recklessness makes the combined package as unsafe as the morons with one hand on the phone (if not two).

by ah on Jul 17, 2009 1:28 pm  

If we're going to forgive the cabbies for their crazy behavior because they 'are in control', should we similarly be forgiving those cyclists who barrel through stop signs (and crosswalks) when cars and peds are present ... because 'they are in control'? ... or perhaps forgive those pedestrians who jaywalk (i.e., cross in illegal spots or against the crossing signal) right in front of moving traffic? Hell, while we're at it ... lets forgive those motorists who plow down people on the sidewalk IF they 'were in control'.

by Lance on Jul 17, 2009 2:29 pm  

Come come now, let's be realistic. National Harbor isn't exactly in the thick of things but it's not "far from everything"--it's just across the river from Old Town Alexandria, which again, isn't exactly 16th and K, but isn't Outer Mongolia either.

What IS true is that it's woefully underserved by public transportation which makes it more difficult to reach, but does not make it actually farther away (10 miles to Metro Center, about the same distance from our de facto "downtown" as Bethesda). Key difference? Metro accessibility.

by Catherine on Jul 17, 2009 2:39 pm  

Got to disagree with ah and Jazzy here. DC cabbies routinely cut off pedestrians, stop in cross walks, go too fast for road conditions, push out yellow lights, etc...

Not to mention getting into screaming matches with you about route-choice, politics, religion, or whether they can break a $20. All while weaving and nodding off at the wheel.

I'm always stunned that anyone who spends so much time behind the wheel could be such a shitty driver 90% of the DC taxi drivers I've had the pleasure to ride with.

Most unprofessional bunch hacks of any metropolitan area on Earth.

by ibc on Jul 17, 2009 2:46 pm  

Catherine, I think it's relative remoteness is due to a lot more than Metro in-accessibility. While only a bridge separates it from Old Town, it's a world away as far as where it is located. In addition to being separated from downtown by some of the most crime-ridden neighborhoods in the area, the bridge itself has a reputation for being tied up in traffic. (The new bridge may have corrected that situation ... I dunno ... but that's the problem ... I dunno ... and I'm not about to take the chance that traffic may still back up for hours on the Wilson Bridge.) Additionally, once you're there 'that's all it is'. It's not at all like for example Kentlands which may not be surrounded by walkable places, but is surrounded by safe places. Truth is that most of us use personal transportation and not public transit, and this place is a dead zone for those wishing to drive to a place via a short and safe route. National Harbor offers neither of these options. It's only real use is for stranded convention goers who didn't realize what they were getting themselves into.

by Lance on Jul 17, 2009 2:49 pm  

There's an awful lot of griping about taxis here. I use them several times a week and I generally find them safe, friendly and accommodating.

Remember, driving around all day in city traffic isn't exactly a relaxing profession.

by Daniel on Jul 17, 2009 3:06 pm  

Taxi performance is an inherently subjective view, unless your prepared to do a whole lot more work than I am.

That being said, just because they commit sins of commission instead of sins of omission, doesn't make them good.

Of course, my view may be colored by the fact that I have to argue with them every other time to leave the downtown area to go to my house (East side of Cap Hill, near RFK). They're probably disgruntled, hence the incredibly unsafe driving I witness.

by TimK on Jul 17, 2009 3:27 pm  

Vancouver cops reigning in terrorist cyclists.

by Peter Smith on Jul 17, 2009 3:48 pm  

I hope we start doing the same. The 'bad apple' cyclists give everyone an (undeserved) bad name. Most cyclists are good cyclists. But that 1/3 that don't follow the traffic rules ruin it for the rest. The new director of DDOT spoke at the Dupont ANC meeting the other night and apparently he's ordered his police force to start ticketing cyclists for infractions. Now if we could only get the MPD to do the same. Imagine if motorist did 1/4 the infractions which that bad apple minority of cyclists do. Everyone would be in an uproar. But cyclists get away with it because in the aggregate cyclists have normally been 'few'. People have looked the other way. Well, if we want more cyclists on our roads (which we do), then we have to stop turning a blind eye to the bad apples. Way to go Vancouver!

by Lance on Jul 18, 2009 12:16 am  

And they were handing out CDN$100 tickets to bikers for ... being unhelmeted. Not for running red lights, nor wrong way/wrong side riding, nor even failing to come to a complete stop at stop signs (recently popular hereabouts), but for not [bleep]ing wearing helmets.

I suppose that _is_ a way to cut down on the injury rate, but I'd be much happier with strategies aimed at reducing the number of [bleep]ing accidents.

by davidj on Jul 18, 2009 10:59 am  

Catherine: it's not so much "metro accessibility" as it is accessibility, period. For all intents, there's only one vehicle access into/out of National Harbor (via the Beltway or I-295), and until the WWB bike/ped lane opened in June, there was ZERO non-motorized access.

Lance: I commute the WWB every day. The only time there's a major backup now is if there's a serious accident.

Also, except where there are speed/red light cameras, motorists have been getting away with just about everything within the District, due to MPD's acute lack of traffic enforcement.

by Froggie on Jul 18, 2009 2:31 pm  

hmmm 16th &Park has been a mess for a while now...not sure what they are doing but it didn't take this long to re-pave Adams Mill Rd. lol sorry the man got hit, but cab drivers don't usually hit pedestrians--usually it's cars or busses. On another note:I do wish that bikers would bike in the bike lanes and not all over the street while cars are trying to drive--its is frustrating and nerve-wrecking to say the least; esp those bikers who decide to bike during morning rush hour --what idiots...THEY should be ticketed and heavy too! Just My Opinion...observed living in Mt.P/Adams Morgan

by Redtopp on Jul 20, 2009 10:38 am