Breakfast links: Mixed news for pedestrians

by Eric Fidler • August 30, 2011 8:23 am

Photo by thisisbossi on Flickr.

Car chase on foot: A father ran after and caught a driver who hit his daughter on a sidewalk in Columbia Heights. The young woman survived. (WJLA)

Walking safer in MoCo: Years into a pedestrian safety program, pedestrian fatalities in Montgomery County have fallen to new lows. (Examiner)

People like to tweet on 9 mph streets: San Francisco streets that see average vehicle speeds of 9 mph produce many more tweets than streets with higher or lower speeds. The Golden Gate Bridge, where traffic moves pretty fast, is an exception. (Eric Fischer)

Illegal to let a kid bike to school: Police threatened to take away a child because the mother let her bicycle 1 mile to school. The mother thinks the route is safe enough, but the police don't. (Bike Walk Tennessee, Joel Lawson)

Bike sharing IS transit: Eric Cantor keeps railing against federal money going to bike sharing, saying all money should go to roads or transit. Has Cantor ever walked the streets of DC, asks John Hendel? If so, he might think differently. (TBD)

NNMC getting more parking: The DoD is building more parking at the medical center in Bethesda, 1 space per 3 employees instead of the current 1 per 4. The county and state will spend $100 million to accommodate the induced demand. (Examiner)

Watch where you swim: The hurricane deluge this weekend overwhelmed many sewer systems, causing them to release raw sewage into creeks, rivers, and the bay. Severe contamination can last several days. (Post)

Skyland delays test patience: Though the mayor has prioritized redevelopment of Ward 8's Skyland Town Center, progress is held up until a telecommunications center on the site can be relocated. (City Paper)

And...: The "canstruction" exhibit at the National Building Museum includes a CaBi bike made of cans. (The42Bus) ... Here's one way to keep lawn furniture from blowing away if you're a hotel. (DoobyBrain, Stephen Miller) ... Even without knowledge of trigonometry, Aztecs drew fairly accurate land maps. (Science Now)

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Eric Fidler has lived in DC and suburban Maryland his entire life. He likes long walks along the Potomac and considers the L'Enfant Plan an elegant work of art. He also blogs at Left for LeDroit, LeDroit Park's (only) blog of record.

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Re: Cantor vs. Bikeshare

And so the Republican Party continues its War Against Anything New.

by gavin on Aug 30, 2011 9:05 am • link • report

Re: Cantor

"Federal excise taxes on gasoline sales are supposed to support these programs, however spending has significantly exceeded gas tax revenues in recent years. One reason for the excess has been federal spending on projects that don’t involve highways or transit systems at all, including federally funded bike sharing programs."

Isn't that wrong? Isn't it because they haven't raised the gas tax in years, to cover the rising cost of road and highway building and maintenance? Even if they cut the spending on bikeshare and walking, they still won't have enough to cover our current non-bike/walk infrastructure. This seems like a not-so-transparent way of trying to not raise the gas tax, which is way overdue a hike.

I also think that the benefit of walking and bike-sharing spending is to get cars off the road, thereby benefitting car infrastructure. DC is a perfect example. Get some cars off the roads and it lessens the traffic.

by dc denizen on Aug 30, 2011 9:42 am • link • report

dc denizen your analysis makes too much sense.

What this is really about is the liberal commie hippy bike riding urbanites who are stealing money from the kitty that is supposed to be for fixing roads for God-fearing real Americans who drive to work to put food on the table for their families.

Its all in the framing of the issue.

by spookiness on Aug 30, 2011 10:05 am • link • report

Isn't that wrong? Isn't it because they haven't raised the gas tax in years, to cover the rising cost of road and highway building and maintenance?

Actually, that's just one of the reasons why it's wrong. Another reason is that the federal money for bikeshare doesn't come from transportation funds at all. It comes from environmental funds for clean air.

by Falls Church on Aug 30, 2011 11:19 am • link • report

Skyland Town Center is in Ward 7, not Ward 8.

by Dizzy on Aug 30, 2011 11:51 am • link • report

dc denizen, this is the part that is wrong "One reason for the excess has been federal spending on projects that don’t involve highways or transit systems at all, including federally funded bike sharing programs."

Bike sharing in DC was paid for with Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality improvement (CMAQ) money. Mitigating road congestion definitely involves highways. Mitigating air quality reductions caused by driving also involves highways.

Furthermore, bike sharing is bicycle transit. So it involves a transit system.

The real reason bike sharing shouldn't get funding is it isn't mentioned in either the Bible or the Constitution. Whereas Seawolf submarines show up frequently in the Book of Ruth ["And yea, for she doth smite them with her Seawolf submarine"] and Article II of the constitution ["Congress shall not allow a foreign-born president to cut funding for seawolf submarines."]

by David C on Aug 30, 2011 12:24 pm • link • report

Once again, I apologize to all in the metro area for Cantor. Honestly, I don't know who voted for that guy. I'm beginning to think Canty and Cooch are the same guy.

I was hoping there would be more options to choose from on the YouCut program. I see Joint Strike Fighter is not an option.

by OX4 on Aug 30, 2011 12:45 pm • link • report

@ OX4:I see Joint Strike Fighter is not an option.

Cutting the JSF will not happen as it will piss off too many foreign allies of the US that have invested large amounts of money in it. Cutting the JSF will force a near government crisis in the Netherlands, aside from the bruised trust between the countries. Other countries will be significantly pissed off as well.

Big deal, I hear some people say. That's fine. Just realize that next time you need an international coalition to invade/rebuild/enforce a no-fly zone, those countries will not be there for the US.

by Jasper on Aug 30, 2011 2:52 pm • link • report