Breakfast links: What's in a number?

by Erik Weber • November 9, 2010 8:17 am

Image from Mapnificent.

How far can you get in 15 minutes?: Place a marker on the map, and Mapnificent will show all the places you can get to by foot and public transit in a set time span. It accounts for transit schedules and even asks if you have a bike. (via DCist, Steven Yates)

85-year-old man killed: An Aspen Hill senior was struck and killed when a driver turned right into the man crossing Bel Pre Road at Connecticut Avenue. (WTOP)

Hit-and-run driver avoids felony charge: A Colorado DA has decided not to bring felony charges against accused hit-and-run driver Martin Erzinger, a wealth manager for "ultra high net worth" clients, because a felony indictment could damage his career. Erzinger is accused of rear-ending a bicyclist Steven Milo and then fleeing the scene. (Vail Daily, cminus) Update: The DA says the press reports are incorrect.

How CaBi handled the insanity: Capital Bikeshare added capacity near the Mall before the Stewart/Colbert rally, then ran extra reshuffling trips during the event. For the future, DDOT is looking at mobile docks that can be set up directly at events. (TBD)

Coke gives $50,000 toward Mall rehab: Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will sign the National Mall rehabilitation plan today. The president of Coca-Cola will join Salazar as Coke is donating $50,000 toward a new Mall recycling program. (Housing Complex)

Ballston looks to create BID: Ballston business owners are hoping to create a Business Improvement District with a proposal to the Arlington County Board. A BID could help bring Capital Bikeshare stations to the area, as it did in Crystal City. (ARLnow)

Dulles Metro stop could ruin viewshed?: The Virginia Department of Historic Resources has expressed concern about an elevated Metrorail station near the Dulles Terminal, saying it would destroy sightlines of the historic Saarinen building. In particular, it would ruin the experience "that people would have this sense of arrival when they drive up." Transit riders apparently don't merit the same experience. (Post)

EPA attacks manicured lawns: In a new attempt to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, the Obama Administration has its sights on farms and manicured lawns which dump tons of chemicals into the Bay each year in runoff. (Post) ... Ben Ross points out the anti-regulatory argument, that regulations requiring large setbacks (which become lawns) and that then mandate mowing create enormous expense as well as pollution. (Dissent)

And...: Over the weekend DDOT converted the 15th Street cycle track to two-way. (BeyondDC) ... A long abandoned building on H Street in downtown DC will remain empty for the foreseeable future because the Secret Service supposedly can't afford to renovate it. (DCmud) ... Since Vancouver only allows helmet-less cycling if wearing one interferes with religious practices, local activists founded the Church of Sit-up Cycling. (District Citizen Cycling)

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25 comments

Tags: 15th Street bike lane, Arlington, Aspen Hill, Ballston, bicycling, BIDs, bike lanes, bike safety, bike sharing, Canada, Capital Bikeshare, Colorado, crash charges, data openness, DC, DDOT, downtown DC, Dulles, environment, EPA, helmets, historic preservation, links, maps, Maryland, Montgomery, pedestrian safety, recycling, religion, road safety, Secret Service, Silver Line, The Mall, transit, Vancouver, Virginia, walkability, zoning

Erik Weber has been living car-free in the District since 2009. Hailing from the home of the nation's first Urban Growth Boundary, Erik has been interested in transit since spending summers in Germany as a kid where he rode as many buses, trains and streetcars as he could find. Views expressed here are Erik's alone.

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The bike track looks great. When are they extending it down to Penn Ave?

by Reid on Nov 9, 2010 8:45 am

I've tried Mapnificent on two computers with two different browsers and still can't get it to work. Cool idea, anyway.

by Rob on Nov 9, 2010 9:03 am

Maybe Apple could open a retail store in Federal Triangle or L'Enfant Plaza, and then rehab the mall for us? It worked in Chicago.

by Michael on Nov 9, 2010 9:11 am

@Rob:

For me, it froze up on Internet Explorer, but I got it to work on Firefox.

by rock_n_rent on Nov 9, 2010 9:24 am

My Spidey sense tells me that if EPA goes forward with its plans re: lawns, the GOP-controlled House will seek retribution. Requiring fees for a person to have a lawn is a bit much.

by Fritz on Nov 9, 2010 9:36 am

Fritz,

Get ready for OBAMA (One Big Ass Mistake America) is going to outlaw your Lawn! He is going to make grass illegal! and kill your grandma.

by RJ on Nov 9, 2010 9:52 am

If CaBi was aware of increased numbers before the rally, how come Metro was caught unawares?

by SJE on Nov 9, 2010 9:53 am

@SJE: What counts as "increased numbers" for CaBi (with 1,000 bikes) might not count as increased numbers for the much larger Metro.

by Dan Miller on Nov 9, 2010 10:15 am

I can see it now:

"Welcome to the National Mall - America's Front Yard

Sponsored by Coca-Cola"

by wd on Nov 9, 2010 10:24 am

CaBi v WMATA: yes the scale is different. But did CaBi know something that Metro did not? If so, why?

by SJE on Nov 9, 2010 10:39 am

You know, these people objecting to the Metro blocking the view at Dulles could be viewed as allies in getting the preferred station location next to the terminal. They can pony up half a billion dollars, right?

by Steven Yates on Nov 9, 2010 10:57 am

Two things,
1. Lawns are wasteful, there is no reason besides vanity to keep your lawn looking like it could be used as turf for a baseball stadium. The EPA should be developing programs getting people to do different things with their lawns ranging from local food gardens in your front and back yard and just planting natural grasses and not mowing every weekend.

2. One of the things I like about the Benning road bridge is the orange line trains that sometimes come across, I think it looks very cinematic to have a train sweeping down its rails over the road. I invite the historical society to check it out and then realize that having the same trains do that at dulles could produce the same effect.

by Canaan on Nov 9, 2010 11:16 am

The claim that the EPA is attacking lawns seems false. From the article:

"We cannot envision anybody telling homeowners to tear up their lawns or replant our lawns with something," said J. Charles Fox, the EPA's bay cleanup czar.

I like that GGW collects interesting references from around the web. But I think it is a disservice when, to make them more interesting, they are "spiced up" beyond what the facts support.

by David desJardins on Nov 9, 2010 11:27 am

Hey people we discuses the options at Dulles Airport in these postings:

MWAA considers moving Dulles Airport Metro stop
by Matt Johnson Â• August 11, 2010 1:40 pm
A split-level Dulles Metro stop would be best
by John Cambron Â• August 26, 2010 1:02 pm

I came to the conclusion that the best close to the terminal option would be something similar to this:

May be the folks at MWAA are listening to us.

by Sand Box John on Nov 9, 2010 11:36 am

@DavidD: Having seen how EPA operates, I highly doubt their statement that they can't see telling people what they can grow on their property. EPA's M.O. is all about incremental regulatory authority. A decade ago, no one envisioned EPA potentially instituting a carbon tax-like regulation; yet today, it's not so far-fetched.

by Fritz on Nov 9, 2010 11:52 am

@Fritz:
That isn't really true. People started dangling the idea of EPA regulating GHGs through the Clean Air Act around when we bailed on Kyoto in the late 90s, and started taking it seriously around the time McCain-Lieberman failed. The Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act end up being a catch-all for all sorts of things because they are broadly-written pieces of legislation and because Congress so frequently refuses to act on critical issues. In the case of GHG regulations, if they are implemented under CAA authority, it will only happen because it was mandated by a court ruling and Congress failed to provide an alternative legislative solution. The EPA is not some evil empire that wants to control your behavior.

by Nate on Nov 9, 2010 12:15 pm

@John,

Did that engineering drawing you've posted come from your hand/mind, or is it from an official document showing proposals?

If the latter, can you link to it?

by Joey on Nov 9, 2010 1:05 pm

@John

Out of curiosity, do you work with WMATA/MWAA?

Personally, I thought that modeling the train platforms after a scaled-down version of the terminal building was pretty inspired.

by andrew on Nov 9, 2010 1:12 pm

@Fritz: Maybe you think the UN black helicopters are going to come and take away your incandescent bulbs, too. I can't prove they won't. My point was only that the description of the article posted by GGW doesn't match what the article actually says.

By the way, I wish you were right about the EPA introducing comprehensive regulation of greenhouse gases. That's exactly what they are *supposed to do* under the Clean Air Act. Unfortunately, politics dictate that instead the US is going to do nothing until climate change becomes catastrophic and the solutions are all in China. :-(

by David desJardins on Nov 9, 2010 1:29 pm

On the hit and run case, Huffington Post has a good follow-up which includes this from the DA.

"District Attorney Mark Hurlbert told HuffPost on Monday afternoon that news reports about the prosecution have been inaccurate. "We charged him with a felony, first of all," he said.

What's happening is that prosecutors offered Erzinger a plea bargain for restitution and two misdemeanors potentially carrying two years of jail time. What the victim wants, Hurlbert said, is for Erzinger to plead guilty to the felony of leaving the scene of accident, causing serious bodily injury. Under that deal, judgment would be deferred and the felony would be cleared from his record after a few years of good behavior. The misdemeanors, though, would stay on Erzinger's record permanently.

"This is the right plea bargain given the facts of the case, the defendant's prior criminal history and his willingness to take responsibility," Hurlbert said. "We feel this is far more punitive than the felony deferred."

Hurlbert did not offer details on the restitution, except to say it would be "significant."

"As far as employment, in any case where there is significant restitution we certainly take that into account....but it is not the overriding concern. In this case it was not the overriding concern," Hurlbert said. He added that he'd received mixed signals about how a felony or misdemeanor rap would affect Erzinger's ability to do his job."

by David C on Nov 9, 2010 2:32 pm

EPA won't do anything directly, it will be indirect.

For example, regulating fertilizers or advocating for stricter usage controls.

Encouraging adoption of taxation/fees policies that discourage lawns or encourage other vegetation.

There's nothing really wrong with lawns--it's the fertilizers that are the problem. Lawns are a lot better than hardscape, which might be the alternative.

by ah on Nov 9, 2010 4:24 pm

As far as I'm concerned, as long as a company keeps the Mall in better shape than the NPS/NCPC does, they can put their ads up anywhere they want. The Mall is an embarrassment these days.

by OX4 on Nov 9, 2010 4:33 pm

@Joey
I ripped it from Volume V, Chapter 4 Dulles Airport, page 6 of the Dulles Corridor metrorail Project Final Environmental Impact Statement.
I took a screen grab of page 6 and loaded it into the CAD program I use and edited it and added the platforms and trains.
Here is the link to Volume V, Chapter 4 Dulles Airport (3.29 MB PDF file).

The drawing of the alignment is overlaid over a screen grab from google maps using the same CAD program.

@andrew
No to both. My drawings are based on WMATA construction drawing that I acquired back in the 1970s.

WhatÂ’s very interesting in the Washington Post story is what written in the fourth paragraph. It says that WMAA is considering an option that was not in the Phase 2 information packet (2.83 MB PDF file). The fourth option places the station on the surface in front of the terminal building. The description in the Washington Post story lacks details as to how it would interface with main terminal building. This is what I think has gotten the historic preservation folk panties in a wad.

Note: The version of the Phase 2 information packet at http://www.dullesmetro.com " target="new window">dullesmetro.com is an update version of the original.

by Sand Box John on Nov 9, 2010 10:25 pm

@John,

I think your suggestion is genius. I sort of liked it before, but thought it was too "cute" in how you proposed putting each track on a different level, with the only connections to the terminal being via crosswalks across the auto lanes.

If you've considered the right-of-way, and there's enough horizontal clearance for two tracks and the necessary platforms (with room for lots of suitcases) on the single level currently used for arrivals, this seems like an unbeatable option. Why even dig at all?

Arrivals would get moved down to the commercial level, and everything would be dandy.

I assume this would use an island platform, accessed via escalators from the interior of the current "commercial" level, with fare control on the actual platform, at the top of such escalators.

by Joey on Nov 9, 2010 10:40 pm

@Joey
Both tracks are served by an island platform with escalators elevators and stairs descending to a fare collection mezzanine below. The track nearest the terminal (inbound track N1) also has a platform and fare collection area on the terminal side that will allow the boarding of train traveling in the direction of Washington without the need to assend to the platform via escalators or elevators.

by Sand Box John on Nov 10, 2010 1:00 am