Lunch links: Frequent opponents getting along

by David Alpert • March 29, 2011 12:06 pm

Photo by jiva on Flickr.

C100 pro-input, pro-fun: Committee of 100 head George Clark responds to the Alma Gates/"Redistricting Game" flap by insisting the organization supports public input and also "like[s] to have fun." (Housing Complex)

AAA and WABA agree on negligent driving: WABA and AAA may not agree on how much federal funding should go to bicycling, but they both support a Maryland bill to make the punishment more than a mere traffic ticket for recklessly driving and killing someone. Senators Jamie Raskin (Montgomery) and Victor Ramirez (Prince George's) are undecided and may represent the key votes. (WABA)

School's test scores suspect: One DC school's rise in test scores could be the result of tampering with test results. The DC State Board of Education will hold a hearing to examine this shocking allegation. (USA Today)

Folks who want to hear from you: Arlington wants suggested locations for new "Bikes May Use Full Lane" signs. (BikeArlington) ... Dr. Gridlock wants readers' experiences with the new 15th Street traffic patterns (Post) ... WABA wants stories of people who were in a crash while walking or biking and couldn't collect damages from insurers.

Gray speaks on DC: The mayor delivered his first State of the District speech yesterday, hours after the Council held a hearing on the administration's hiring practices. (Post, City Paper) ... The focus on job creation bored some attendees. (Examiner)

Anacostia used to have a streetcar: Anacostia residents might be unsure about the streetcar, but it's nothing new—Anacostia had a streetcar running right down MLK Avenue in years gone by. (And Now, Anacostia)

Bikeshare trip length varies over the day: A grad student in London created an animation of Barclays Cycle Hire usage by trip length over the course of the day, thanks to Transport for London's release of data for 1.4 million trips. (Spatial Analysis)

Safer intercity buses more expensive: A rash of accidents on discount intercity buses has raised calls for better safety oversight. Union officials say higher driver pay would also increase safety. Either solution likely leads to pricier trips. (Transportation Nation)

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15 comments

Tags: 15th Street, 15th Street bike lane, AAA, Anacostia, anti neighbors, Arlington, bike sharing, bus safety, contributory negligence, crash charges, data openness, DC, east of the river, economic development, education, history, intercity buses, Jamie Raskin, links, London, Maryland, Maryland legislature, public involvement, redistricting, signs, streetcars, Victor Ramirez, Vincent Gray, WABA

David Alpert is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Greater Greater Washington. He has had a lifelong interest in great cities and great communities. He worked as a Product Manager for Google for six years and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He loves the area which is, in many ways, greater than those others, and wants to see it become even greater.

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Wiki has a better map of those old streetcars

DC street railways

I see many lines across the Mall. Could that mean that back in the day, there were (gasp!) electrical wires across the National Mall? Please tell me it is so!

by Jasper on Mar 29, 2011 12:35 pm

The BikeArlington site wouldn't let me register to suggest locations for the "bikes may take whole lane" signs. It alleged I was a spammer. Oh well.

by Joey on Mar 29, 2011 12:37 pm

"Could that mean that back in the day, there were (gasp!) electrical wires across the National Mall?"

Probably not. It was before my time, but I'm pretty sure that trackage would have used the "plow" method for drawing power from a conduit under the street.

by intermodal commuter on Mar 29, 2011 12:57 pm

The Anacostia streetcar discussions are interesting.

If the majority of residents don't want a streetcar, does that mean anything for DDOT's plans? Or does DDOT just ignore residents' wishes because they know best?

I'm pretty sure I know what the consensus response will be...

by Fritz on Mar 29, 2011 1:02 pm

"... thanks to Transport for London's release of data for 1.4 million trips."
y
When oh when will Capital Bikeshare do the datashare thing for its trip data? Is it going to be necessary to file a FOIA request with its sponsoring agencies?

by cabi addict on Mar 29, 2011 1:04 pm

The allegations regarding the DCPS test scores are anything but shocking. Disappointing, yes, but not shocking. This is the inevitable end result of placing all of this emphasis on test scores.

by TimK on Mar 29, 2011 1:21 pm

Man, C100 really does have an image issue, and their spokeswoman should know better than to make public statements about her organization's issue area as a private citizen.

by OctaviusIII on Mar 29, 2011 2:04 pm

@Octavisulli, That wasn't the spokeswoman making that statment. That was a member speaking as a Ward 3 Activist. And all she said was ' don't count on David's handling of this via his taking the results of this tool to the Councilmembers for you to get your say. Call Cheh and ask to serve on the redistricting committee if the outcome is important to you." Personally, I'm not sure if even serving on the redistricting committee for the Ward redistricting is going to make a difference. What everyone, including Alma and David, seems to be missing is that this redistricting process has zilch to do with service delivery (of city services) in Washington, and all to do with the elected Councilmembers protecting (and expanding) their political bases. PERIOD.

by Lance on Mar 29, 2011 3:22 pm

@Lance.
And Councilmembers protecting themselves from angry ex-Ward 6-ers who now have Ward 8 parking passes good for 6 square blocks.

by Thaps on Mar 29, 2011 5:37 pm

Along the same lines as my previous comment. Can someone point me to a link or story about the history of the zoned parking passes?
Does it help the police? What would be the problems with a single DC parking pass or lesser arbitrary breakdown (i.e. SE, SW, NE, NW)?

by Thaps on Mar 29, 2011 5:48 pm

Considering the fact that bikes may always use the full lane by law, these signs are a really, really bad idea. Drivers will assume that wherever there's no sign, a bike is not allowed to be in the lane.

by OX4 on Mar 29, 2011 10:00 pm

@Thaps, The DC parking sticker program started with Georgetown getting the Council to institute the program to protect its parking from students. (A student could get a parking pass, but only if they met all the residency requirements ... which most students don't. I remember not being able to get a pass because I wasn't yet a DC resident.) It later spread as the downtown neighborhoods used it to keep their streets from becoming parking lots for commuters from outside of downtown. Hence why I'd suspect that the Ward/Zone system was essential ... i.e., not all commuters to downtown are from outside of DC. Having a city-wide system would defeat this purpose of the program. And actually, the last time this program was heavily discussed (shortly after the redistricting for the 2000 Census), the proposal being bantered around was for smaller zones ... i.e., making it harder for people to use the zone exception to the 2 hr limit for anything other than for parking near one's home. This actually makes sense since the program's main goal is to 'reserve' parking for people near their homes.

by Lance on Mar 30, 2011 6:26 am

@ Lance: A student could get a parking pass, but only if they met all the residency requirements ... which most students don't. I remember not being able to get a pass because I wasn't yet a DC resident.

You also need DC tags on your car to get a parking permit. This leads to the silly situation where DC property owners and residents who don't own their car can not get a parking permit for their car.

by Jasper on Mar 30, 2011 2:15 pm

To clarify: I know a number of DC resident property owners who drive their parents' car.

by Jasper on Mar 30, 2011 2:16 pm

@Jasper'To clarify: I know a number of DC resident property owners who drive their parents' car. '

Just wondering, is there anything that would keep a parent from registering a car in DC if that is where it is being 'garaged'? I know people who live in DC but because they have a summer place in Delaware register their cars there ... I'm guessing to save on insurance costs. Since the student has an address in DC that can be used for registering the car, it would seem the parents could register the car here ... AND get a parking sticker.

by Lance on Apr 2, 2011 10:21 am