Gordon Chaffin is a freelance journalist who focuses on infrastructure and traffic news and insights for Street Justice. You can support independent journalism by subscribing to Gordon’s Street Justice newsletter: He’s offering a 20% discount to THIH readers. See more information below. –Maria Helena Carey
Meager Safety Promises for Bethesda Street Safety
On Saturday, August 17th, DC-Area street safety advocates placed a Ghost Bike on Old Georgetown Road north of the intersection with Beech Drive, where a motorist ran over and killed 17-year-old bicyclist Jake Cassell. The group also remembered the life of Jennifer DiMauro, 31. A motorist hit and killed DiMauro on Tuckerman Lane, where the the Georgetown Trolley Trail intersects. The advocates then held a short rally for safer streets. [Full Story]
Deliveries Harm Safety, Break Law in Edgewood, DC
Riding home this afternoon after my last dog walk, I came upon FedEx and USPS trucks parked in the no-parking zone and bike lane at the top of the 600 block of Monroe Street NE. This happens every single day, as mail and packages get delivered to the Cornerstone building of Bozzuto’s 4-building Monroe Street Market luxury apartment development. The Cornerstone office is 100 meters away from that no-parking zone and deliveries park there, illegally and causing unsafe road conditions, instead of using the building’s loading dock on 7th Street NE next to Chipotle.
This phenomenon has been a problem for at least as long as I’ve lived in Edgewood — from 2015 — and there has not been serious intervention. I asked the Monroe Street Market management in 2018 to ask deliveries to move out of the zone. Maybe they did, but the illegal, unsafe, parking continued. Over the summer, I reported the DC parking enforcement even told the FedEx driver they can use that pavement for parking as long as it’s a quick trip. [Full Story]
Notes from July’s DC Bike Advisory Meeting
On July 10th, I dropped audio recording devices at several meetings. I’m just now catching up with all my recordings.This week, I edited and listened to the DC Bike Advisory Council meeting: … DDOT’s Jim Sebastian explained the agency’s Alabama Avenue work in Ward 7 and 8. He said that they implemented a five-block demonstration of the agency’s full safety study of four miles along Alabama. They followed the designs suggested in the 2017 study and properly notified the ANCs and hosted a few pop-up meet & greets. DDOT received almost no response from ANCs until the implementation occurred and residents complained loudly. Led by that citizen backlash from residents who felt like they hadn’t been included, ANC members thereto unresponsive and Ward 8 Councilmember White raised Hell and convinced DDOT to remove 2 blocks of a bike lane within that 5-block demonstration. … Jeff Johnson emphasized that it’s key to communicate street changes as safety changes, not (just) bike lane additions at the expense of parking for downtrodden, struggling residents. Ward 8 residents attending the BAC, Gregg Adams and Jay Stewart, committed to attend DDOT’s July 27th open house on Ward 8 safety changes (they did, I saw them). And, after a summer of listening to Ward 8 residents, the BAC committed to move with comments on safety changes to Alabama Avenue. [Full Story]
Process Questions about Anacostia ANC Committees
As I reported last week, ANC 8A (Anacostia) nominated citizens for four of six new committees the body is standing up: Education, Economic Development, Public Safety, and Public Outreach. ANC 8A did not have nominees from each Single Member District for their new Transportation and ABRA committees. Different ANCs follow different rules for their committees and some ANCs don’t have committees at all — my home 5E doesnt and 8A hasn’t until this month. If more than one resident asks to be nominated for the same committee, it sounds like the an ANC 8A Commissioner can chose whichever one they prefer for undisclosed reasons. It’s not even disclosed which residents asked to be nominated; their names would only be available through FOIA request. ANC 8A is already ignoring a FOIA request from me on a different subject. [Full Story]
This is a daily newsletter produced by Gordon Chaffin, a journalist in Washington DC. I cover transportation & urban planning in DC, MD, & VA to explain what’s happening in the street and why. Reports delivered every weekday afternoon for paid subscribers and Sunday mornings for free subscribers. Sign up for free. Please support my local journalism with $5/mo or $50/yr. The Hill is Home readers can subscribe to Street Justice for a 20% discount.