Comments on Gray aims high with sustainability plan; can agencies deliver? - Greater Greater Washington

Comment by HogWash

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 14:29:19 EDT

Well 20 year plans with no concrete, intermediate goals are an easy way to position yourself as being in favor of something without any singificant fear of being held accountable.

Let's see the plan for each agency. And no bonus points for starting with the easiest objectives.
This administration lacks vision, and pie in the sky dreams are no replacement.

Gotta love this logic. If he doesn't come up w/any plan..he has no vision. If he comes up w/one...well..it's not really a plan because this is the easy stuff.

Comment by Mark

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 14:05:43 EDT

As others have noted this plan is worthless without short term performance metrics.
Let's see the plan for each agency. And no bonus points for starting with the easiest objectives.
This administration lacks vision, and pie in the sky dreams are no replacement.

Comment by Alan B.

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 17:08:49 EDT

Well 20 year plans with no concrete, intermediate goals are an easy way to position yourself as being in favor of something without any singificant fear of being held accountable. I'm not convinced this is a complete charade, but I think it's safe to say he's probably keeping his feet planted on both sides of the issue while he decides which way to go. It could be an important first step or it could just end up on a shelf collecting dust.

Comment by HogWash

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 16:13:00 EDT

Like any politician might he understands the importance of capitulating to the people he was so badly burned with when he took away the Streetcar funding.

Isn't this Fenty criticism 2.0? In this case, Gray "really" is opposed to the things he's for...advocating for things largely supported by "those people" who like things such as transit improvements and other sustainable goals? Bizarro World redux?

Comment by ceefer66

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 15:34:00 EDT

As it is, I will frequently drive in from MD on weekends and park my car at my girlfriend's house or at my rental house (if my tenants are away) to avoid traffic and parking hassles and use Metro to get around in the city.

But lately, given the deterioration of weekend Metro service, I feel like I'm putting up with or tolerating a bad situation as opposed to using a desirable alternative.

Comment by Willson Building

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 14:20:30 EDT

It is no secret within the administration that Mayor Gray has contempt for many of these initiatives as outlined. Like any politician might he understands the importance of capitulating to the people he was so badly burned with when he took away the Streetcar funding. This is also the politician who called the Pennsylvania Avenue bike lanes "ludicrous" in 2010. However we know he loves "plans" particularly when it doesn't mean that you have to follow through on it. Best of both worlds I would say.

Comment by HogWash

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 13:47:32 EDT

Yeah some of this stuff is pie in the sky, especially the 75% of trips using transit. But at least there's some sort of vision.

The 2011 WABA article was essentially premature whining.

Comment by Kate W.

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 13:37:52 EDT

Improved transit is key! Large chunks of the city really aren't that accessible by transit on the weekends especially. A trip that takes about 15 minutes by car on the weekend can take more than an hour on transit.

I also think we need to figure out ways to deal with parking in neighborhoods where parking is becoming scarce and non-rush hour transit isn't good.

I agree that car storage is not the best use of street parking (as someone who parks on the street), but after two years of trying to be car free I couldn't do it anymore. A big part of that was being diagnosed with a neurological disorder that results in fatigue, but the inability to get anywhere spontaneously on the weekend was a factor too.

I would reasonably happily pay for off-street parking, but there is no off street parking to be had in my neighborhood. So you've got limited street parking that is being overwhelmed by growth and limited transit. Of course existing residents are stressed about parking.

Can we find ways to help make existing off-street parking available to others(at a fee) in places where the spots sit empty on nights, weekends, and holidays? Could we make it financially disadvantageous for say the Autozone on H Street to keep the parking lot empty when they aren't open? This wouldn't open up huge numbers of spots, but I do think it might ease some of the tension that results in serious resistance to change.

Comment by Alan B.

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 13:29:43 EDT

I love the plan in theory but it's pointless without clear, short-term priorities and intermediate goals. What exactly is the path to get to 75% and do we even know where we stand now? Call me a cynic but the whole thing has an air of pie in the sky.

Comment by EmilySquirrely

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:56:41 EDT

Is this 75% of trips that originate in the District or 75% of trips that go through the District at any point? The former seems much more achievable than the latter, but limiting trips from the exurbs into the city seems more important than a 1.5 mile trip across town.

Comment by Rich

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:54:25 EDT

I suspect the plains meant tone atrial balloon to see if Gray can improve his standing among he nominally reformist voters who had supported Fenty. Hie came into office with a track record as an ineffectual manager in he Kelly administration and his mayoral leadership hasn't demonstrated anything particularly different from that.

Many years ago, as a student intern, I did an evaluation of a 30 year master plan for a medium sized city. A lot had happened consistent with help an but none of it seemed to reflect he influence of he plan. I suspect that an ineffectual mayor's 20 year plan will meet a similar fate. Many, if not most, department heads will be gone when Gray leaves and there's no indication hat he's gotten the career staff fired up about any of this.

Comment by Birdie

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:53:07 EDT

Weiwen, I 100% agree with you about weekend metro service. ALL weekend transit service leaves much to be desired. In my neighborhood, we lose our weekend circulator service for almost 6 months a year! It's ridiculous. The result is I drive to Eastern Market most of those weekend, rather than deal with the hassle of very limited weekend metro or metrobus service. If the weather cooperates, I'll bikeshare, but in Janaury, that's never a certain thing.

Comment by darren

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:22:52 EDT

"There isn't actually data on total trips today..."

I suppose it's a bit dated, but there was a household travel survey counting all trip in 07-08, and another data collection underway right now. http://www.mwcog.org/transportation/activities/hts/

Comment by Adam L

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:19:56 EDT

"DC won TIGER grants for bus priority projects from 2009, but those still haven't yielded anything on the ground."

This. What's the hold up?

Comment by Jasper

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:13:51 EDT

I can only hope that DDOT will interpret this to massively expand CaBi and push very hard for more metro and streetcars downtown.

Comment by Weiwen

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:10:44 EDT

I used to live in NW DC with my wife. I'd walk or bike down to Dupont Circle to work. My wife would Metro over to Brookland. On the weekends, we typically drove her over to the Wilson aquatic center, and we'd shop at Whole Foods. I'd walk over to Trader Joe's at work, and we might walk to the Safeway in Adams Morgan.

So from my perspective, more frequent weekend Metro service is the biggest thing DC needs to do to get to 75% of trips being non-motorized. Poor weekend Metro service was the biggest reason we didn't Metro over to the pool. There were no reasonable bus alternatives for that location, either. This would have the biggest impact.