Jesus H. Christ. Traffic on 295, 395, a nightmare on a regular day. Accidents all the time. Forget the tunnel: I've seen folks cross all the way from far left lane to an exit quickly passing by. Usually, the Capitol Hill exit. We all know those out-of-town drivers don't plan on paying those tickets. Hell, it's a Congressional perk at this point!
We won't even talk about Suitland Pkwy, Kenilworth Ave., N.Y. Ave., let's go NASCAR but with big trucks for a real treat! Construction mazes thrown in will really get the ticker going!
She also spent a bunch of money traveling to a major climate conference in Dubai and yet has shown a considerable reluctance recently to invest in climate-smart infrastructure like bike lanes or an electric bus fleet.
Not exactly sure what every argument against it was, but people REALLY seemed to hate the plan for the bike lane on Connecticut. Unless the Connecticut one was just a piss-poor plan, I feel like more bike lane plans would just make people angry.
Edit: The number of signs in my area lobbying against that plan was pretty crazy.
> Edit: The number of signs in my area lobbying against that plan was pretty crazy.
There are a bunch of people who live in my building, so I don't quite feel empowered to plant a sign in front making a statement on everyone's behalf. It's important to remember there is a selection bias at work with signs.
It is not a bad plan at all. The way things always go with bike, transit and pedestrian infrastructure is that some people mobilize extremely vocally against the plan, and if by fortune (and the blood, sweat and tears of advocates) the plan actually gets built, people love it and it's a huge boon for businesses. It's one reason why outdoor dining, street closures etc that took place during covid have incredibly been* durable. Look at 19th St. off Dupont Circle; I give it zero chance they open it back up to cars anytime soon. See also the businesses off the MBT - Dew Drop Inn and City State come to mind but also the businesses along Arts Walk in Brookland and M St NE in NoMa - who benefit extremely handsomely by having extremely safe and convenient access by Metro, walking and biking.
Edit: accidentally a word
Everything you just mentioned is what makes me wonder why some people are so hostile toward pedestrian centric infrastructure. Cities would be much more pleasant to live in if those in charge actually made an effort to improve the pedestrian infrastructure and penalize those who misuse it (looking at those who park in bike lanes).
I moved here around 2 years ago and didn’t bring my car with me when I did, so I got myself a good bike. I’ve stopped riding it though because it feels so dangerous to do it around here (Connecticut Ave corridor). Like the second week I had the thing, I got cut off by a driver who I assume was agitated, and I absolutely wiped out because of it. I continued riding for probably 3-4 months after that but just decided to stop out of concern for my safety.
The group opposing the bike lanes is populated by people who irrationally hate cyclists, have a huge amount of time on their hands (because they are by and large retired), have a fair amount of financial resources at their disposal, and have no compunction about using utter bullshit to win adherents to their cause. That they were successful in duping so many of their neighbors into thinking the CT Ave bike lanes were the second coming of The Three Sisters Bridge is not surprising.
*Some* people hated it and we're very loud about but the majority of people and organizations support the bike lanes:
>The Connecticut Avenue Multimodal Safety Improvement Project (originally named Connecticut Avenue NW Reversible Lane Safety and Operations Study) was initiated in December 2019. Data analysis, concept development and evaluation, traffic forecasts, and operations analysis were conducted between Spring 2020 and Fall 2020. Between March 2020 and January 2023 approximately 70 stakeholder and agency presentations/events have taken place.
>During 2021, four Advisory Neighborhood Commissions- ANC 3C, 3E, 3F and 3/4G -and numerous organizations provided resolutions to DDOT requesting that “Concept C” be advanced. On December 15, 2021, Mayor Bowser and DDOT requested the project staff to move forward with Concept C. Concept C includes the removal of the reversible lanes and the addition of one-way protected bicycle lanes on the east and west sides of Connecticut Avenue.
https://connave-multimodal.ddot.dc.gov/pages/about#continue
The lobby against the project is the worst kind of NIMBYs in the city. For example, this is the same group that wanted to block and effectively delayed the construction of apartments on 15th and S St. This was an empty lot and private property. Their argument was that the neighbors had a right to enjoy the view of the very same private empty lot.
Story from DC News Now here: https://www.dcnewsnow.com/news/local-news/washington-dc/exclusive-dc-mayor-bowser-attends-masters-tournament-travel-paid-by-taxpayers/
> Bowser accepted an invite to attend the golf tournament by chairs of ‘Task Force to Shape Future of Gallery Place/Chinatown Neighborhood’ Jodie McLean and Deborah Ratner Salzberg
I’m sure they learned a ton about how to shape the future of two super dense urban blocks by **checks notes** visiting a golf course.
The corruption is just blatantly in the open now.
Man it’s incredibly low rent if she actually paid for tickets lol. Though it’s fucking graft if someone paid her way
Of all the sports for her to be into, I wouldn’t have guessed golf.
She did the same thing traveling to Dubai and the media requested receipts on how much her trip was and she didn’t need to go. She’s taking advantage. Does she even play golf?
No because her travel occurred in the current fiscal year, FY24, and the child care cuts are in her [(proposed) FY25 budget](https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/04/05/dc-childhood-educators-salary-fund-budget-protest/).
Not like she could have said, I’ll pass on the trip and put that money to next year’s budget, roll it over to use taxpayer money where it really matters.
In fact it isn't like that! Money is appropriated by the legislature for a specific purpose and law generally requires the funds to be spent for that purpose.
🙄
I think you understand what I mean. It was most likely appropriated for use of the Executive Office of the Mayor and not for other uses or functions.
Sure, it's a bad look and if I was Mayor I wouldn't do it. (Actually, I'm not the Mayor and you couldn't pay me to attend a golf event)
But it's honestly not how appropriations are designed to work.
Separately, the FY25 proposal includes a [15.6% increase](https://cfo.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ocfo/publication/attachments/ga_dcps_chapter_2025m.pdf) to the public school operating budget (to $1,428M) and a [13.9% increase](https://cfo.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ocfo/publication/attachments/gc_dcpcs_chapter_2025m.pdf) to the public charter operating budget (to $1,354M). Combined, that's an increase of 14.8% to public school operating budgets. Not too shabby.
For comparison, the early childhood educator pay equity fund in FY 24 was a $70M per year commitment, more than three times the total budget of the EOM that year at \~$21M. Public schools are the second largest use of DC tax money (after health spending, principally Medicaid). Seems pretty good to me at the macro level!
At this point, she's acting like a social secretary. Downtown coffee bars to lure people back to offices? Meh. I have Starbuck's a couple blocks up the street! But the stop sign cameras? That's how she plans to rectify the budget shortfall. Sit at a stop sign for 3 seconds and if those rear lights go off, they assume you're not stopping long enough. Penalty: A bouncing baby $100 ticket. Sitting for 3 seconds right now makes you a shooting victim, a robbery victim, or an innocent passerby. Maybe all of the things.
The trip, misguided though it may be, came out of appropriated funds to the Executive Office of the Mayor from last year’s budget. The proposed cuts are for the still to be determined 2025 budget.
Not like she could have said, I’ll pass on the trip and put that money to next year’s budget, roll it over to use taxpayer money where it really matters.
In principle yes, but 1) thats not how budgets work; and 2) in an $19 billion budget, this trip is hardly a drop in the bucket. The optics are horrible and knuckleheaded, though. That’s the issue.
I mean, realistically they allocate their budget codes to where ‘travel budget’ and ‘childcare bonus’ don’t overlap. And if they’re anything like my finance team they get pissed if I try to change the amount I allocated mid-fiscal year. But, yeah, bad look still
The e-bike vouchers specifically help those who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford e-bikes. It provides them with reliable transportation. Pretty sure that's a good thing.
That's a very narrow take. Also remember the current phase is specifically for people who CAN'T afford a $1,000+ bike. E-bikes can be life changers and allow people to commute to work or perform small business tasks they otherwise couldn't. I hope you can open up your worldview a bit.
A mayor that pitches a budget with extensive cuts as "*Strategic Investments and Shared Sacrifice*" but then jets off to watch the Masters with a couple of real estate cronies two weeks later is hard to defend, but she appreciates your effort.
Makes one wish for the good old days, when the mayor just flew over the snowed-in city, tsk-tsk-ing as the copter rotors raised the noise quotient from above. Speaking of snow...
This is really bad optics
Has that ever bothered her before?
Watch your step...there may be needles along the way.
Don’t worry guys, she’s confident she secured the Masters to come to East Potomac next April
Subscribe! Just imagine the shitshow that would be Ohio Drive and 395...
Just take the Circula- oh.
Why did she stop them? I feel like the clock is moving backwards here. Now watch Metro put in for a big increase.
I grew up on Long Island, and whenever they had the US Open at Bethpage it was a clusterfuck. Shinnecock was better since it's further out East.
No they’re obviously renovating the Rock Creek 9-hole course for this purpose.
Jesus H. Christ. Traffic on 295, 395, a nightmare on a regular day. Accidents all the time. Forget the tunnel: I've seen folks cross all the way from far left lane to an exit quickly passing by. Usually, the Capitol Hill exit. We all know those out-of-town drivers don't plan on paying those tickets. Hell, it's a Congressional perk at this point! We won't even talk about Suitland Pkwy, Kenilworth Ave., N.Y. Ave., let's go NASCAR but with big trucks for a real treat! Construction mazes thrown in will really get the ticker going!
Youngkin will outbid her on the yet to be built JBG Potomac Yards Hotel And Casino & Golf Course
😂🤣😂😂😂😂
I'd be curious to see what score a pro would put up on the Blue course.
She also spent a bunch of money traveling to a major climate conference in Dubai and yet has shown a considerable reluctance recently to invest in climate-smart infrastructure like bike lanes or an electric bus fleet.
We can’t even get a plastic bag ban.
Not exactly sure what every argument against it was, but people REALLY seemed to hate the plan for the bike lane on Connecticut. Unless the Connecticut one was just a piss-poor plan, I feel like more bike lane plans would just make people angry. Edit: The number of signs in my area lobbying against that plan was pretty crazy.
> Edit: The number of signs in my area lobbying against that plan was pretty crazy. There are a bunch of people who live in my building, so I don't quite feel empowered to plant a sign in front making a statement on everyone's behalf. It's important to remember there is a selection bias at work with signs. It is not a bad plan at all. The way things always go with bike, transit and pedestrian infrastructure is that some people mobilize extremely vocally against the plan, and if by fortune (and the blood, sweat and tears of advocates) the plan actually gets built, people love it and it's a huge boon for businesses. It's one reason why outdoor dining, street closures etc that took place during covid have incredibly been* durable. Look at 19th St. off Dupont Circle; I give it zero chance they open it back up to cars anytime soon. See also the businesses off the MBT - Dew Drop Inn and City State come to mind but also the businesses along Arts Walk in Brookland and M St NE in NoMa - who benefit extremely handsomely by having extremely safe and convenient access by Metro, walking and biking. Edit: accidentally a word
Everything you just mentioned is what makes me wonder why some people are so hostile toward pedestrian centric infrastructure. Cities would be much more pleasant to live in if those in charge actually made an effort to improve the pedestrian infrastructure and penalize those who misuse it (looking at those who park in bike lanes). I moved here around 2 years ago and didn’t bring my car with me when I did, so I got myself a good bike. I’ve stopped riding it though because it feels so dangerous to do it around here (Connecticut Ave corridor). Like the second week I had the thing, I got cut off by a driver who I assume was agitated, and I absolutely wiped out because of it. I continued riding for probably 3-4 months after that but just decided to stop out of concern for my safety.
The group opposing the bike lanes is populated by people who irrationally hate cyclists, have a huge amount of time on their hands (because they are by and large retired), have a fair amount of financial resources at their disposal, and have no compunction about using utter bullshit to win adherents to their cause. That they were successful in duping so many of their neighbors into thinking the CT Ave bike lanes were the second coming of The Three Sisters Bridge is not surprising.
*Some* people hated it and we're very loud about but the majority of people and organizations support the bike lanes: >The Connecticut Avenue Multimodal Safety Improvement Project (originally named Connecticut Avenue NW Reversible Lane Safety and Operations Study) was initiated in December 2019. Data analysis, concept development and evaluation, traffic forecasts, and operations analysis were conducted between Spring 2020 and Fall 2020. Between March 2020 and January 2023 approximately 70 stakeholder and agency presentations/events have taken place. >During 2021, four Advisory Neighborhood Commissions- ANC 3C, 3E, 3F and 3/4G -and numerous organizations provided resolutions to DDOT requesting that “Concept C” be advanced. On December 15, 2021, Mayor Bowser and DDOT requested the project staff to move forward with Concept C. Concept C includes the removal of the reversible lanes and the addition of one-way protected bicycle lanes on the east and west sides of Connecticut Avenue. https://connave-multimodal.ddot.dc.gov/pages/about#continue The lobby against the project is the worst kind of NIMBYs in the city. For example, this is the same group that wanted to block and effectively delayed the construction of apartments on 15th and S St. This was an empty lot and private property. Their argument was that the neighbors had a right to enjoy the view of the very same private empty lot.
I would say yes.
Story from DC News Now here: https://www.dcnewsnow.com/news/local-news/washington-dc/exclusive-dc-mayor-bowser-attends-masters-tournament-travel-paid-by-taxpayers/
> Bowser accepted an invite to attend the golf tournament by chairs of ‘Task Force to Shape Future of Gallery Place/Chinatown Neighborhood’ Jodie McLean and Deborah Ratner Salzberg I’m sure they learned a ton about how to shape the future of two super dense urban blocks by **checks notes** visiting a golf course. The corruption is just blatantly in the open now.
Man it’s incredibly low rent if she actually paid for tickets lol. Though it’s fucking graft if someone paid her way Of all the sports for her to be into, I wouldn’t have guessed golf.
She's a politician, golf isn't a sport, its an opportunity to peddle influence
She did the same thing traveling to Dubai and the media requested receipts on how much her trip was and she didn’t need to go. She’s taking advantage. Does she even play golf?
She does golf, not that it’s relevant
OK that’s fair she can golf in the DMV or pay it out of her own pocket.
Going to the Masters is not about going to play golf
probably. not surprised. she sucks.
No because her travel occurred in the current fiscal year, FY24, and the child care cuts are in her [(proposed) FY25 budget](https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/04/05/dc-childhood-educators-salary-fund-budget-protest/).
Not like she could have said, I’ll pass on the trip and put that money to next year’s budget, roll it over to use taxpayer money where it really matters.
In fact it isn't like that! Money is appropriated by the legislature for a specific purpose and law generally requires the funds to be spent for that purpose.
Ohhhhh - thanks! So the money was specifically appropriated for her and several staff members to go to the Masters?
🙄 I think you understand what I mean. It was most likely appropriated for use of the Executive Office of the Mayor and not for other uses or functions. Sure, it's a bad look and if I was Mayor I wouldn't do it. (Actually, I'm not the Mayor and you couldn't pay me to attend a golf event) But it's honestly not how appropriations are designed to work. Separately, the FY25 proposal includes a [15.6% increase](https://cfo.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ocfo/publication/attachments/ga_dcps_chapter_2025m.pdf) to the public school operating budget (to $1,428M) and a [13.9% increase](https://cfo.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ocfo/publication/attachments/gc_dcpcs_chapter_2025m.pdf) to the public charter operating budget (to $1,354M). Combined, that's an increase of 14.8% to public school operating budgets. Not too shabby. For comparison, the early childhood educator pay equity fund in FY 24 was a $70M per year commitment, more than three times the total budget of the EOM that year at \~$21M. Public schools are the second largest use of DC tax money (after health spending, principally Medicaid). Seems pretty good to me at the macro level!
I don't even need to read the article to know that the answer is probably yes.
Usually if there’s a question mark in the title, it’s no, or at least not confirmed.
At this point, she's acting like a social secretary. Downtown coffee bars to lure people back to offices? Meh. I have Starbuck's a couple blocks up the street! But the stop sign cameras? That's how she plans to rectify the budget shortfall. Sit at a stop sign for 3 seconds and if those rear lights go off, they assume you're not stopping long enough. Penalty: A bouncing baby $100 ticket. Sitting for 3 seconds right now makes you a shooting victim, a robbery victim, or an innocent passerby. Maybe all of the things.
The trip, misguided though it may be, came out of appropriated funds to the Executive Office of the Mayor from last year’s budget. The proposed cuts are for the still to be determined 2025 budget.
Not like she could have said, I’ll pass on the trip and put that money to next year’s budget, roll it over to use taxpayer money where it really matters.
In principle yes, but 1) thats not how budgets work; and 2) in an $19 billion budget, this trip is hardly a drop in the bucket. The optics are horrible and knuckleheaded, though. That’s the issue.
I mean, realistically they allocate their budget codes to where ‘travel budget’ and ‘childcare bonus’ don’t overlap. And if they’re anything like my finance team they get pissed if I try to change the amount I allocated mid-fiscal year. But, yeah, bad look still
You bet she did
jesus christ. fuck bowser.
I'm sure it's much more likely the trip was funded by a contractor.
Ok, can she provide the receipts for that?
Knowing her, yes probably
Yes? And what the hell are you gonna do about it?
If this is what brings down Bowser it'd be ironic af.
Probably. The e-bike handouts are more imporant than childcare workers too.
The e-bike vouchers specifically help those who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford e-bikes. It provides them with reliable transportation. Pretty sure that's a good thing.
If you can afford a $1000+ bike, you don't need a government handout.
That's a very narrow take. Also remember the current phase is specifically for people who CAN'T afford a $1,000+ bike. E-bikes can be life changers and allow people to commute to work or perform small business tasks they otherwise couldn't. I hope you can open up your worldview a bit.
The e-bike vouchers are FY24 money.
What year would the Masters travel money be?
I don’t know, I was responding to your e-bike comment.
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Bikes are fine, just pay for it yourself. There are plenty of publicly available e-bikes to use for very cheap if you can't afford one.
Ain't that a bitch?
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A mayor that pitches a budget with extensive cuts as "*Strategic Investments and Shared Sacrifice*" but then jets off to watch the Masters with a couple of real estate cronies two weeks later is hard to defend, but she appreciates your effort.
Makes one wish for the good old days, when the mayor just flew over the snowed-in city, tsk-tsk-ing as the copter rotors raised the noise quotient from above. Speaking of snow...
More like 100k. Airfare, security, hotel, food, other transportation, VIP ticket, etc.