RSS FeedTomorrow: DDOT to Host Public Meeting for Downtown Bike Lanes
Today we have a guest writer, Lafayette Poet, to whom we passed the pen. Welcome!
Whether you support a new protected bike lane in Penn Quarter, are against it, or just don’t know, consider attending the District Department of Transportation’s second public meeting on the matter taking place this Saturday, February 6. The meeting will include an open house, a presentation, and a chance to discuss the project and offer public testimony.
The project proposes building a North/South bike lane between Florida and Constitution Avenue, somewhere between 4th and 9th Streets NW. After a research phase, five options are now being discussed, including no build.
The last meeting, in October 2015, became very contentious. Those in favor asserted the life-or-death nature of the situation for cyclists and how a lane could increase property values. Those against said their constitutional right of religious freedom would be infringed if diagonal parking on Sundays – which some church members from Maryland and Virginia use – were taken away. With no easy answer and a frustrated crowd, DDOT said it would arrange for a second meeting.
Now that the time has come, we hope to see you there, taking a stand for your neighborhood – whichever side you’re on, and for whatever reason.
Date: Saturday, February 6, 2016
Time: 12pm to 4pm (presentation at 1pm)
Location: KIPP DC WILL Academy, Auditorium
Address: 421 P St NW
More information: www.dccycletrack.com
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Comments
@shawington — Agreed on the lack of self-identifying downtown residents and low-income workers speaking up. Maybe a couple of each? I’m not sure this meeting was advertised locally outside of PQLiving. My building didn’t mention it, for example, and nothing from the Penn Quarter Neighborhood Association. I guess normally new bike lanes wouldn’t be a big deal, it’s just that this has turned into such a larger discussion. You seem confident that the bike lanes will happen. I’m really hoping!
I was disappointed by the lack of our ANC’s commissioners. I hope they show up to the next meeting. (I emailed Commissioner Higgins to ask him to attend the next meeting, whenever it may be.)
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This meeting was far more civilized than the previous one; everyone who signed up to speak spoke — and it concluded early well before 4pm. Though the 5th, 6th and/or 9th St protected bike lanes will invariably go through PennQtr, there were not many self identifying downtown (Chinatown/PennQtr) residents/workers testifying. Also absent were the voices of low-income Latino and other workers who often commute and need safe transit options outside of WMATA operating hours.