Nick Sementelli
@NSementelli
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Digital Strategist. DC Urbanist. AS Roma. Nats. @Ward5forAll advocate. @ggwash board member. Writing at
Joined October 2010
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Who's going to tell him the $7 price was an unprofitable loss strategy to get people hooked on cheap rides and convince city leaders like himself to defund competing transit so ridehail companies could then jack prices with their monopoly.
"When I used to catch Uber, it was $7. Not I can't find anything from Ward 8 that's less than $22. Now we're going to add more to get downtown?" says White. "We're setting ourselves to be Detroit if we're not careful."
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I am begging people whose primary argument against more housing is still that "DC built some housing and prices didn't fall" to please, for the love of God, get familiar with the concept of a denominator.
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The first DC mayoral candidate who runs on expanding pool season a month in each direction will see an immediate 5% bump.
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New rule: all public comments and opinions on bus lanes, Metro funding, fare evasion or other WMATA-related policies must be accompanied by the opinion-havers latest WMATAWrapped.
It's time for your mass transit year-in-review. Were you a wizard of the rails?🚄 A baroness of bus service? 🚍 An emissions reductions rockstar? 🌟 Get
#YourMetroReport
stats 📊 and see how they stack up to others. 🔍 Visit .
#wmata
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We don't need cars on Pennsylvania Ave NW, and if we can open this street to people, we can create a marquee space worthy of some of the great cities around the globe.
My latest post in my
@ggwash
series on reducing car usage in DC.
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Really hoping this vehicle counter wire on Harry Thomas Way NE isn't
@DDOTDC
's as it's a full foot off the ground in the bike lane and acting as a well camouflaged trip wire
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Kind of hoping we're entering a tipping point where DC residents start realizing that when every street is on the "neighbors have been begging for traffic calming for years" list, the problem and solution are both far bigger than street by street interventions.
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Everyone who grandstands about fare evasion has never shared a Netflix password, right?
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Remind me which entity is responsible for clearing the
@wmata
Rhode Island Ave pedestrian bridge? This is an incline and incredibly dangerous.
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At this point in DC's climate and Vision Zero crisis, any capital project on an arterial that does not reduce the number of car lanes is a failure. Full stop.
Either acknowledge the goal of reducing car trips or don't waste our money.
The K Street Transitway I was excited about looked like this, not that. Two protected bike lanes and four-five car lanes.
Not six-seven car lanes and zero bike lanes.
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Well this is pretty infuriating that the trip wire that took me out yesterday was reported a full day before and apparently not treated with any urgency
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Fare evasion is a budgetary blip and is just means-tested free transit anyway.
Everyone who wants to waste time on this instead of real problems is outing themselves as completely unserious.
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This tragedy happened on the very street where a handful of neighbors are actively trying to get DDOT to pause the installation of long-planned (and delayed) traffic calming measures b/c of parking concerns.
"Why can't we pause for more meetings?" they have asked.
This is why.
A 22-year-old man hit by an SUV while riding a scooter to a meeting in D.C. is in a medically-induced coma, and his family is asking for the public's help to find the hit-and-run driver involved.
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Defund it. Council shouldn't spend money on safety improvements that don't make the street meaningfully safer and don't reduce car trips.
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"I used some towels but the floor was still wet"
"We bought some tapas but we still left hungry"
"Taylor added shows but the tickets still sold out"
Why does housing break people's brains so hard.
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Yes, Andrea, tell me all about protecting your black neighborhood from sidewalks.
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The Caps sold out 588 straight games from 2009 to 2023. This "inconvenience" to suburban drivers didn't actually hurt Ted's bottom line.
But the millions of pedestrians who benefited from a safer, less car-first downtown apparently don't count if you can find any upset drivers
Here's the full quote.
Apparently Ted felt "squeezed in" by Daikaya's outdoor patio because it "made [6th St] one lane" (it did not) and "People can't park. People can't make u-turns. We can't get the trucks in."
Truly incredible stuff.
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"Gotta make room for all the cars I'm sure will be invented in a century"
-Pierre L'Enfant, famously
@wvistheduck
Bikes don’t belong on the roads in DC. It’s a commuter city. People need to drive. We can’t lose driving and parking lanes for bicycles. Cities like Munich were designed for bikes and pedestrians, DC was not unfortunately.
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This is the route I bike to work on.
I will think about this person every time I cross this intersection now. The same way I think of Dave on Florida, Armando on Michigan, Jim on Massachusetts, Allie on Irving and dozens more.
Just In: A man riding a bike died after he was hit by a dump truck at Rhode Island Avenue and Seventh Street NW in D.C.’s Shaw neighborhood. Streets were closed in the area.
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"Protected bike lanes are the same thing as destructive urban renewal highways" is a new galaxy-brain take from the neighborhood listserv.
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Great. Now cancel the whole project and redeploy the state funding to save and expand Metro instead
‼️USDOT has rejected Maryland's application for a $2.4 billion grant for the project to widen I-495/I270‼️
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The line today for
@GearinUpDC
's Saturday sale was, no joke, at least 50 people deep.
The demand is real, folks. Are we gonna build the protected infrastructure to match?
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Saying a city is "full" doesn't lock in place the actual residents. It just fixes the houses. The people still move in and out, and all you've done is ensure the ins are wealthier than the outs.
makes me legitimately angry that anyone could think this place is “maxed out.” it’s basically just justification for accepting the status quo of rising prices and displacement
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If the city wants to talk about fare evasion, let's talk about the unpaid traffic citations drivers are racking up as they put our kids lives in danger every day.
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That's $578.56 out of the pocket of every Virginian so that a billionaire can sell even more luxury box tickets to his lobbyist buddies.
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Stigmatizing Uber/Lyft as "they who shall not be named" when transit is available for the same trip is very good and a welcome change from the last decade of transit leaders credibly buying their last-mile bullshit
@wmata
Silver Line 🚇 home from
@Dulles_Airport
for the win! A good crowd even @ 10pm on a Sunday. For fun I checked, $55 for that other option.
#wmata
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Somehow no one is out here saying the only solution to food desserts is to put a moratorium on new grocery stores until we have a citywide food co-op program.
People seem to understand the both/and of more supply+subsidies to full market gaps just fine for that basic need!
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People who hate the Wharf should be thrilled it draws all the folks who like it and keeps them out of other "cooler" neighborhoods.
It's actually good for cities to have different things for different people
The number of people who claim to hate Navy Yard and The Wharf is only surpassed by the number of people who pack the restaurants and bars on a nice day.
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Can we get a center line bollard on the trail ramp at Edgewood/8th NE and the Franklin underpass?
@DDOTDC
@MichaelAlvino
These Maryland drivers seemed to not give af last night, including one who drove up as I was walking down in the half-space left leaving me no room.
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The real fight in DC is between a small group of squeaky wheels who believe a transactional, retail politics with numerous veto points is the highest form of local government, and those who would like to see the city actually solve big problems in the collective interest.
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Well, well, well. Look who's not doing their part
Great news, everyone: an update to the best chart in DC housing just dropped
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The parking in question has 27 metered Kiss&Ride spots intended use for 15 minutes or less use. A study done in March showed 6 PEOPLE THE ENTIRE MONTH used the parking this way. Everyone else used it as personal car storage from 4+ hours to overnight and almost all without paying
Here at the Brookland WMATA station for the development of land around the bus and kiss-and-ride facility and unsurprisingly already hearing loud muttering about losing parking spaces. Expecting those cars and SUVs are all registered to vote.
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He's not claiming this is a more accessible location for fans.
And he's not claiming he can't make gobs of money in DC.
All that's left is that he thinks he can make BIGGER gobs of money on the backs of Virginia taxpayers.
But it hurts his feelings when you point that out
An update from me on the proposed Entertainment District in Alexandria. I appreciate the excitement and passion our fans have shown since the announcement. With this transformational opportunity, we believe the entire DMV will be enriched and strengthened.
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Just dedicate 200 more spots in the existing arena garage to staff, raise the price on the rest of the spots, and watch as more attendees magically discover the incredible deal that is Metro
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Watching NPS twist itself in nots to avoid saying the absolutely obvious "don't drive here today" is one of the clearest representations of how car culture has completely broken our brains.
“There are a lot of parking options north of the Tidal Basin” is an great way to continue encouraging gridlock.
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K St was always a grand bargain. Residents got a safer street + better transit, downtown landowners/Bowser got "economic development" (beautification/loudly throwing money around)
They stripped our half of the deal out and are mad we don't want to pay for their half anymore?
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Sir, this is a highway.
The future of downtown, includes enhancing our public space. Here is a great look of the K Street Transitway with improved curbside access and enhanced cafe space on sidewalks.
#DCsComeback
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Me: Help! I'm running late and need to get from NE to Nats Park in 30 minutes and don't want to pay $40 for a rideshare.
@bikeshare
e-bike and the MBT: We got you
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This family size width--big enough to ride side by side, needs to be the future standard size. Cities installing narrow lanes now are going to need to come back and upgrade as ridership surges.
Impressive network of separated bicycle lanes under way in downtown Atlanta. Granite curb separation MLK Jr Dr SW.
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I'll add this is also true of many city residents who believe they are entitled to a suburb WITHIN the city. Low-density, low-sharing of resources (schools, parking, etc), physical separation from low-income neighbors, but immediate proximity to city benefits.
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Mayor Bowser accidentally creating a pedestrian plaza success story only to turn it into a glorified median after she got her photo op is basically everything you need to know about this administration's approach to street design.
As one ANC Commissioner,
@William_Herbig
, put it, "We’re not serving anyone well here.”
Many ANC commissioners urged DDOT to make BLM Plaza a pedestrian space first, instead of a narrow pedestrian space surrounded by two lanes of traffic.
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Hello from Belgium! I'm back on my bullshit exploring European cities that are ahead of DC on reducing the deaths and emissions that come from car trips and excited to share some of the things that are inspiring me.
First up, a collection of a few things in Brussels.
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Sounds like 22% of all street space should be dedicated for bike infrastructure.
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Your annual reminder that the chaos hundreds of parents attempting to drive to the same school building at the same time every day can only truly be fixed by a lot of those parents feeling safe with their kids bussing, biking or walking.
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Before
#HPRB
right now, new construction on an empty lot in the U St historic district. HPO Staff found designs NOT compatible b/c it's taller than neighboring rowhomes. When people talk about historic districs de facto downzoning, this is an example.
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Genuinely curious if the crowd clamoring for harsher sentencing for crimes in DC is willing to endorse stronger action to keep people like this from driving cars
Upon further review of the D.C. courts database, Walker pleaded guilty to DUI three times (arrests in 2015, 2018, and 2020), and in 2010 was charged with operating a car without a permit.
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Can I scream this?
DC continues to fail to make real progress on climate and vision zero because our leaders are largely unwilling to present health+safety vs. convenience as the binary choice it is.
Safe streets infra is sold as an "add-on" to the status quo, not a replacement
"Part of winning people over is explaining that both things aren’t possible, and that one choice overwhelmingly favors better quality of life.”
Milan's
@AriannaCensi
speaking on cars in cities to
@aitorehm
this week.
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All lanes are parking lanes if you would be mildly inconvenienced by parking somewhere else
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Did you know that
@DDOTDC
's goal response time for pothole repair is 3 days, but for sidewalk repairs it's 1 year?
It's time for Sidewalk Palooza!
Help us document the pedestrian safety needs in our neighborhoods and get DDOT to even out their priorities
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The crime brain virus will not stop until every neighborhood is stripped bare and turned into a high-security fortress.
White says the neighborhood is unsafe, and residents are worried that once the trees become mature they will be big enough to provide cover to criminals and also block light.
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Big thanks to
@dcdutchiedude
and the
@DDOTDC
team for fulfilling my request for bike racks outside the Dupont Circle CVS!
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Ward 2 and 3 are the obvious problems, but Ward 5's lack of transit accessibility stands out like a sore thumb. High frequency, prioritized bus service on RIA, NY, Bladensburg, South Dakota and more are a must, as is extending the protected bike lane network all the way out.
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WMATA's pending budget shortfall is $500 million.
For the entire regional public transit system.
This is...2.5 miles of road.
Happening now,
@GovernorVA
at groundbreaking for new Express Lane project in Northern Va. 2 new lanes are being built between the Dulles Toll Road and the Legion Bridge. 2 and a half miles and $660 million.
@nbcwashington
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What a sad, insecure little man
@TedLeonsis
is. An offer of half a billion dollars in taxpayer money for his multi-billion dollar toys still isn't enough if he's not Mommy's favorite too.
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It's here!! New
@bikeshare
station at the corner of N. Capitol and R St NE on the border of
#EckingtonDC
and
#BloomingdaleDC
. Big thank you to
@DDOTDC
and the 150+ neighbors who signed the petition supporting this!
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We're out here debating the radical proposal to ban right on red while Paris just straight up banned outside traffic in the center of the city.
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First sign on the protected bike lane extension on Florida Ave NE into Dave Thomas Circle!
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The pedestrian hit by a driver last night at 2:30 am at North Capitol and Florida has died. That makes the 9th death in 5 years on this street.
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This is, frankly, embarrassing. DC has some amazing candidates for true, pedestrianized streets. It doesn't take super-vision to see the potential.
Look out for a couple
@ggwash
posts from me on exactly this topic in the coming month!
When I pointed out that Washington, DC lacks the impressive pedestrianized spaces of Brussels,
@MurielBowser
's chief of staff pointed me in the direction of the K Street transitway project. Yikes. U.S. cities need mayors who dream bigger.
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My latest piece on DC's historic preservation process scrutinizes a recent decision of the board to grant some historic protection to a parking lot in Chevy Chase that everyone agrees is not historic.
If that sounds fishy, it's because it is.
DC’s Historic Preservation Review Board protected a non-historic parking lot in Chevy Chase – seemingly leaning into the desire (of some) to use historic preservation to override zoning and prevent development:
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Nah bro, it's the $5 billion dollars
DCers can sound off on Ted Leonsis, but don’t lose sight of the staggering failures by
@MayorBowser
& DC Council that let it get to this point. Losing the Wizards and Caps could devastate the economy downtown. And for what? Per WaPo, an inability to address crime and a refusal to
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DDOT staff openly admitting they aren't willing to consider good, safer designs because they are afraid a a couple people may not like it has been a theme this week I'm incredibly over.
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The Mt. Vernon Square historic district is a Triangle and the Mount Vernon Triangle historic district is a square.
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We have a basic choice to make. Ward 5 can be a community where kids can safely ride their bikes or it can be one where drivers rule the road. It can't be both.
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If 11 people died in the same public park, WE WOULD FIX THE DAMN PARK.
in less than a two mile section of Georgia Avenue, 11 people have died in the past few years, and each one could have been prevented
#VisionZero
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One of these things would take 15 years and billions and the other we could do tomorrow fo free.
hot take, admo's bar scene is on the decline and can only be saved by either pedestrianization or a metro station.
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We could have an employee spend like 1 week just booting the biggest, most predictable offenders, take the entire rest of the year off, and still pay for themselves.
This tag is associated with 124 citations in by Washington DC authorities costing $22,635.00 2/2
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Good evening to everyone except this asshole who apparently decided the extra 20 feet to the free street parking was just too big a burden to bear.
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Everyone who told me I would enjoy Madrid's dense, walkable, pedestrianized core was obviously 100% correct.
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I got inspired for my new post about pedestrianizing Pennsylvania Ave after some recent travel in Europe. Here's a thread of some of the cool stuff I saw and read up on that I was excited to highlight in the piece!
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Like "re-time the lights" and "add some speed bumps to my block" are not the panaceas people seem to believe. The common denominator here is 2-ton vehicles going faster than 20mph. That's pretty much every street in the entire city.
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#BloomingdaleDC
spent 5 yrs trying to get these safety improvements. Then
@DDOTDC
delayed another year to protect 2 parking spots on your blocks. To say this after 1 week(!) of implementation with 0 evidence the posts are related to the crash is reckless and irresponsible.
Traffic Calming? Before the accident, cars are rolling through the stop signs. The curb extensions are not working! Please take them out!
@DDOTDC
@ScottRobertsDC
@BloomingdaleCA
@BloomingdaleDC
@NSementelli
@GordonAChaffin
Video of the accident @ 49 secs:
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My series on how to help DC actually hit its climate and Vision Zero goals by reducing car trips continues with another review of long-term Metrorail expansion (and why it should happen in DC, Arlington and Alexandria).
Opinion: WMATA will need new Metrorail lines and stations that fill gaps in the existing network, combined with great service, to make the Washington region transit-first, writes
@NSementelli
. Part 9 in a series:
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Protection works. I can 100% guarantee you that without these posts both of these trucks would be unloading in the bike lane.
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One of the many benefits of moving traffic enforcement out of police jurisdiction is that some of the most flagrant violators might start facing consequences.
A police officer’s car with illegal license plate cover, Illegally parked next to the First District substation
@charlesallen
@
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I'm sorry my rights are inconvenient for your plans of perpetual minority rule.
.
@MarthaMcSally
asserts this as a repercussion of a Democratic Senate:
"They're going to make D.C. & Puerto Rico a state & get 4 new Democrat Senators. We'd never get the Senate back again. And look, this is just the implications of this seat, the implications of this vote."
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Maybe we should start selling road diets and traffic diverters as crime-fighting infrastructure to prevent quick getaways from crime scenes.
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5 years old. Riding her bike. I don't know how to handle this right now. I really don't.
The
#Ward5
public safety meeting with DC Police Chief Robert Contee ended early & tragically. 💔 to hear Chief Contee tell
@ZacharyforWard5
about a 5 year old girl hit at 14th & Irving NE while out riding her bike. Officers had to leave, understandably, immediately.
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We get one opportunity to remake this street for the next generation. If we "compromise" to preserve car traffic because we can't bear to ask drivers to go around a 1.7m dead end street that's also one of the most iconic destinations in the country, wtf.
A plan to revitalize a section of Pennsylvania Avenue NW is taking a step forward as D.C. and federal agencies commit to an overhaul of the downtown Washington route that links the U.S. Capitol and the White House.
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I didn't know Jim, but given this touching tribute, we had a lot in common and would have gotten along well.
I can't shake his final tweet about the possibility of this exact thing happening.
It's a tweet so many of us have sent. They aren't jokes. They are cries for help.
Rest in peace Jim Pagels. Jim was a lot of things—a flowering economist, a first-class writer, and a passionate urbanist. But to me, he was a really dear friend. Love and miss you man.
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This kind of cross-cutting ring linking population, employment and commerical centers directly to each other instead of forcing everything through a downtown spoke is the kind of change that can supercharge a system and unlock modeshare on new kinds of non-commute trips
It's Sunday evening, so I'm crayoning an 18-mile automated DC circle line hitting Georgetown, Adams Morgan, Edgewood, Ivy City, H Street, Capital Hill, Anacostia, Buzzard Point & use Blue Line from Pentagon-Rosslyn. Also: Georgetown, Howard, Trinity, Gallaudet Unis + 2 hospitals.
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@dylanmatt
It's impossible they have not been presented this right?
The only explanation here is that they deeply believe/have internalized GOP msgs that direct cash transfers are some kind of addictive cheat code that will destroy democracy if they don't tie themselves to the mast first
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Everyone can seriously go fuck themselves. What is this bullshit.
🚨🚨🚨 AP reports Biden plans to NOT veto GOP-led overturn of D.C. criminal code reform. It had drawn unexpected support from numerous Dems. Big news for D.C.
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.
@DDOTDC
confirms:
1. Fl Ave NE will now have split 1-way protected bike lanes
2. Those lanes will extend to Eckington Place through Dave Thomas Circle intersection
3. The sidewalk underneath the train tracks will be widened.
Big wins for safety!!
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Just had a Maryland driver gun it about 45 to pass me on a bike on the two lane 7th St. When I pulled up next to him 5 seconds later at the red light and asked him to drive more safely, he threatened me and started opening his door to physically come out until the light changed.
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Did not expect to hear the Dave Thomas Circle traffic engineer actually bust out the "cars in traffic emit more pollution so we need to keep them moving for everyone's health" argument today.
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I went to the waterfront this weekend bc I was in Georgetown anyway. It was fine. But compared to Wharf and Navy Yard it has no advantages. Less accessible with far less total/diversity of commercial.
Or….hear me out….people are much more excited to go to the wharf or navy yard than the Georgetown waterfront for reasons that are pretty easy to imagine.
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If Leonsis were a rational businessman, he'd have used his leverage with Youngkin to ensure the long term survival of Metro before tying his future to a stadium at the end of the line.
But who needs accessibility when vanity is on the line.
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The latest in my
@ggwash
series on traffic violence in DC is out!
Most fatalities and injuries are happening on just a handful of deadly arterials. If we are serious about Vision Zero, we have to start with these streets.
I have a plan:
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Damnit. My neighborhood continues to be flooded with self-storage facilities in places we could have transformative housing projects.
Shortly after it bought the property in 2017, Douglas Development suggested boutique office would be an appropriate use for the historic Stone Straw building in Brookland. It now has other plans.
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If an arena deal is such a slam dunk investment for public dollars, then it should be an equal slam dunk for private ones and an owner should have no concerns about funding it entirely out of his/her own pockets.
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Call: GLORY TO THE BICYCLE
Response: MAY THE LANES STAY FREE
is actually dope and I will begin using it
Meanwhile, on the Adams Morgan list, a handful of residents (mostly Dupont residents) are still losing their minds about the possibility of a Columbia Rd. protected bike lane.
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The rare traffic enforcement on Franklin NE!
We could have a protected bike lane road diet here. But this block has threatened a riot if you dare touch their handful of rush-hour-restricted street parking spots. Despite each having a MIN of 2 off street spots (I counted).
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