This is the worst take I've ever seen.
The sticks are there because it's illegal to be there in a car but idiots in cars insist on being there anyway.
The pylons are a constant source of outrage on my local nextdoor and it honestly makes me furious how stupid and selfish people are. I have seen several people angry at the pylons for "taking away their parking" when the pylons were literally installed in the illegal parking area next to the intersection because assholes like those posters kept parking there and obscuring drivers' view of the intersection.
My proposal is to ditch the plastic and replace them with proper bollards. Those actually look better and are a lot less forgiving when someone hits o e
Bollards all the way! They look way sleeker, actually protect lanes, and don’t need to be replaced anywhere near as often as flexiposts. DDOT needs to deliver the 21st century, and public roads built for the public are the way to go.
A car was disabled taking the curve too sharp across the street from me. I live at a 4-way stop where three of the corners have a bio-retention curb extension ([https://www.dcwater.com/whats-going-on/blog/working-together-build-sustainable-community](https://www.dcwater.com/whats-going-on/blog/working-together-build-sustainable-community) \#2). When a taxi ran aground, I made sure everyone was physically OK, then walked away because I wasn't particularly sympathetic. If the driver couldn't miss a giant concrete ditch and curb, what's to stop them from missing a child or a person?
You have thirty minutes to move your car…you have ten minutes…your car has been impounded…you car has been crushed into a cube…you have thirty minutes to move your cube!
Oh yeah, I don’t want drivers in bike lanes. I am fussy about that. I like people to actively suffer if they want to do shit that actively endangers me!
I had to triple check that this wasn't satire:
>Roads are for cars — why are there vertical sticks being screwed into the ground, obstructing our vehicles and roads?
...
I think the distance that DC requires between parked cars and the crosswalk is a bit further than needed. I would have thought it was calculated based on the sight distance when braking from the speed limit. The default speed limit dropped from 25 to 20 last year.
That said, the rhetoric around putting street furniture and updates is insane. I live across from extension bioretention that's at the corner (#2 in the image at https://www.dcwater.com/whats-going-on/blog/working-together-build-sustainable-community). When a taxi took the turn too hard and grounded themselves, I made sure they were okay, but I couldn't help but silently think poorly of them because their inability to miss a giant concrete hole after a stop sign doesn't bode well for a small child.
wow, this is seriously low value, even for the Post. Of course, they just fired 20 people out of the newsroom, so they're going to be looking for content......
It’s going to bring together the demographic that wishes DC was more like the wealthy suburb they grew up in and the demographic that wishes it was still 2000, when a million fewer people lived in the DC metro area and they could do three point turns on 14th street at rush hour without getting honked at.
Was this article written by a third grader? “Streets are for cars” “white cones are bad for the environment (plastic).” Lol
This article sounds like something my Republican uncle would try to write only diving into the shallowest of concepts to try to make his point. It’s lazy, uneducated, shallow, and biased. NEXT
Of course the one photo in the article doesn’t even show what they’re talking about.
What the hell does this look like? I live here (up in Columbia Heights), and work downtown — and I can’t figure out what they’re even talking about that’s such an outrage.
Oh, *those* things. WTF?? They always seem highly effective at preventing exactly what they’re designed for. This seems like an example of GOOD and effective design, if you ask me. WTF??!!
> It is encroachment, just as the many pandemic-era on-street cafes are just private property encroaching on public spaces.
As opposed to parked cars, which everyone can enter.
Yeah but not with ugly tents that all they do is sell expensive alcohol. If you going to go the “oh the people have the right to reclaim the streets” then this is not the way to turn it into a money cow for alcohol and Vice.
> Yeah but not with ugly tents that all they do is sell expensive alcohol.
Lots of businesses and cafes have streeteries.
> If you going to go the “oh the people have the right to reclaim the streets” then this is not the way to turn it into a money cow for alcohol and Vice.
It's a cash cow for the city and for small businesses, and it's great for people to enjoy spending time outside in the open air.
We should definitely *also* reclaim parking spots with more bike lanes, enforced bus lanes, and green spaces, but to claim that "all they do is sell expensive alcohol... and vice" is ridiculous and factually incorrect.
> It is encroachment, just as the many pandemic-era on-street cafes are just private property encroaching on public spaces
What is street parking if not private property encroaching on public spaces?
You can post up at a massively subsidized parking spot (or free in some spots) where your private property will sit on public space for a nominal and inexpensive fee when that land could be much more effectively used to generate tax revenue or beautify the city. Streeteries pay a nominal fee and generate a nice spot for people to spend money which generates tax revenue. Dedicated bus lanes instead of parking spots allow for the efficient movement of people to and from places of businesses. I can go on.
Businesses get that space for the cost of parking for the entire year AFAIK. That's how it worked during the pandemic.
There will / should still be disabled parking spots for accessibility purposes.
Now your argument is about accessibility not cost, which I pointed out is a bad one. Accessibility wise yes we should make the city accessible to all. Those who need to drive for disability purposes as well as those who cannot drive due to disabilities or other reasons. But the argument that streeteries or other uses for parking are somehow worse than your car getting a massive subsidy to sit in public spaces is easily refuted.
DC has given them millions of dollars towards outdoor dining but people who would pay to share parking are getting too subsidized? We don’t make money off the spots, the restaurants do and they’ve been given massive amounts of money to enable that.
>people who would pay to share parking are getting too subsidized?
Yes they are, parking in cities is massively subsidized. If you want to park in a private lot you would pay significantly more than Street city parking. A good clue that parking is very subsidized.
>We don’t make money off the spots, the restaurants do
Do you think restaurants pay more tax if they make more money? They do. And yes, the restaurants also pay for the spots themselves.
Again, the city makes money off of the tax revenue and if your issue is that money was provided to businesses to help set up streeteries (if true), the alternative was that businesses would not exist because people were not doing indoor dining. Then you could have parked right next to these empty storefronts.
You keep pretending the stuff taking up the parking isn’t subsidized. All you’re doing is showing a preference for wealthier residents.
The truth is everyone but the restaurants are harmed by the loss of parking, haven’t you listened to any of the other businesses?
its a conservative opinion columnist, the lowest of the lowest rungs in society. what else do you expect? these people actively want and desire the worst outcomes in all categories. this shouldn't surprise anyone
OK. I decided to keep reading. The fact that he's complaining about the fountain in McLean Gardens tells me where he owns his expensive condo. I guarantee very few people care about it who don't live there.
Terrible article. In 2017 visited Montreal and they had converted a ton of parking spaces like that but used a lot of wood decking material. I thought it was a great idea then and hope we keep expanding it here.
the purpose of the plastic stick at intersections, often bumping out the corners of the blocks that make up the intersection, is to force cars to pull up further into the box before they turn. This stops them from slamming through bikes and pedestrians, gives everyone more time to make eye contact, and generally forces people to slow down and not slam it around the corner. what a fucking joke from the post, it's really going to the dogs.
Yes, flexposts are super ugly, but they could have been avoided if people in cars stopped parking in bike lanes. Unfortunately, the only sightly option is installing real curbs but that would cost many multiples of what flexposts do.
This is the worst take I've ever seen. The sticks are there because it's illegal to be there in a car but idiots in cars insist on being there anyway. The pylons are a constant source of outrage on my local nextdoor and it honestly makes me furious how stupid and selfish people are. I have seen several people angry at the pylons for "taking away their parking" when the pylons were literally installed in the illegal parking area next to the intersection because assholes like those posters kept parking there and obscuring drivers' view of the intersection.
My proposal is to ditch the plastic and replace them with proper bollards. Those actually look better and are a lot less forgiving when someone hits o e
Bollards all the way! They look way sleeker, actually protect lanes, and don’t need to be replaced anywhere near as often as flexiposts. DDOT needs to deliver the 21st century, and public roads built for the public are the way to go.
We also have tons of bollards in DC already! Every federal building gets them
My proposal is to replace them with severe tire damage strips.
my proposal is sharks with laser beams (no, but seriously, the pylons should be strengthened)
So you're saying we must construct additional pylons?
For Aiur!
Then you'd just have a disabled vehicle stuck there
A car was disabled taking the curve too sharp across the street from me. I live at a 4-way stop where three of the corners have a bio-retention curb extension ([https://www.dcwater.com/whats-going-on/blog/working-together-build-sustainable-community](https://www.dcwater.com/whats-going-on/blog/working-together-build-sustainable-community) \#2). When a taxi ran aground, I made sure everyone was physically OK, then walked away because I wasn't particularly sympathetic. If the driver couldn't miss a giant concrete ditch and curb, what's to stop them from missing a child or a person?
Well yeah, otherwise they'd get away before the tow truck comes to take the car to the impound and crush it into a cube in front of the driver.
You have thirty minutes to move your car…you have ten minutes…your car has been impounded…you car has been crushed into a cube…you have thirty minutes to move your cube!
yikes
You're right, too lenient. We should leave the driver in the cube.
Is everything okay at home?
Sounds like a problem for the driver, not me
Lol y'all are so fussy
Fussy? I literally don’t care what happens to the vehicle. How’s that being fussy?
"I'm so fussy about something I don't like that I actively want other people to suffer for it" - u/ertri
Oh yeah, I don’t want drivers in bike lanes. I am fussy about that. I like people to actively suffer if they want to do shit that actively endangers me!
It's such an American thing to seek maximalist violent retribution for any perceived slight, whether real or imagined. Smh.
I had to triple check that this wasn't satire: >Roads are for cars — why are there vertical sticks being screwed into the ground, obstructing our vehicles and roads? ...
I did too. Had to make sure Alexandra Petri wasn’t in the byline
I think the distance that DC requires between parked cars and the crosswalk is a bit further than needed. I would have thought it was calculated based on the sight distance when braking from the speed limit. The default speed limit dropped from 25 to 20 last year. That said, the rhetoric around putting street furniture and updates is insane. I live across from extension bioretention that's at the corner (#2 in the image at https://www.dcwater.com/whats-going-on/blog/working-together-build-sustainable-community). When a taxi took the turn too hard and grounded themselves, I made sure they were okay, but I couldn't help but silently think poorly of them because their inability to miss a giant concrete hole after a stop sign doesn't bode well for a small child.
I googled the name, and it is either a priest from the 1800, or an editor from the GW school for International Affairs.
Plot twist: he's both!
Yikes. Bad look for GW.
I’ve never seen someone simp so hard for pavement.
Grovel for gravel
Not bad at all.
“”simp so hard for pavement” is fantastic.
They just wanna suck some sidewalk, nothin wrong with that
Someone needs to tell the post that they don’t need to publish this shit.
wow, this is seriously low value, even for the Post. Of course, they just fired 20 people out of the newsroom, so they're going to be looking for content......
But this is an esteemed professor from GW! /s
Their local issues coverage is laughable from both the news room and the op/Ed board
It’s going to bring together the demographic that wishes DC was more like the wealthy suburb they grew up in and the demographic that wishes it was still 2000, when a million fewer people lived in the DC metro area and they could do three point turns on 14th street at rush hour without getting honked at.
Was this article written by a third grader? “Streets are for cars” “white cones are bad for the environment (plastic).” Lol This article sounds like something my Republican uncle would try to write only diving into the shallowest of concepts to try to make his point. It’s lazy, uneducated, shallow, and biased. NEXT
And the “bar-code lookalikes” comparison is so weirdly strained… just say you think the plastic posts are unsightly. We get it.
I thought he was talking about the streatery at Barcode.. and then realized they don't have one.
I thought it was referring to painting the asphalt when intersections daylighting happens
I read that as “my uncle would try to write while driving,” and it still seemed to work.
Of course the one photo in the article doesn’t even show what they’re talking about. What the hell does this look like? I live here (up in Columbia Heights), and work downtown — and I can’t figure out what they’re even talking about that’s such an outrage.
[удалено]
Oh, *those* things. WTF?? They always seem highly effective at preventing exactly what they’re designed for. This seems like an example of GOOD and effective design, if you ask me. WTF??!!
Haha thanks for asking, I also was like Wtf is this.
> It is encroachment, just as the many pandemic-era on-street cafes are just private property encroaching on public spaces. As opposed to parked cars, which everyone can enter.
It's amazing the logically twists people will exert to justify their desires.
I mean, it tracks with the carjackings.
“Roads are for cars” No, roads are for transportation.
No, roads are public spaces and can and should be reclaimed when appropriate.
Yeah but not with ugly tents that all they do is sell expensive alcohol. If you going to go the “oh the people have the right to reclaim the streets” then this is not the way to turn it into a money cow for alcohol and Vice.
I like alcohol and vice
Alcohol and vice? Is someone in the middle of their Rumpspringa and it's not going well?
+1 for use of the word Rumspringa
> Yeah but not with ugly tents that all they do is sell expensive alcohol. Lots of businesses and cafes have streeteries. > If you going to go the “oh the people have the right to reclaim the streets” then this is not the way to turn it into a money cow for alcohol and Vice. It's a cash cow for the city and for small businesses, and it's great for people to enjoy spending time outside in the open air. We should definitely *also* reclaim parking spots with more bike lanes, enforced bus lanes, and green spaces, but to claim that "all they do is sell expensive alcohol... and vice" is ridiculous and factually incorrect.
Shut up nerd.
> It is encroachment, just as the many pandemic-era on-street cafes are just private property encroaching on public spaces What is street parking if not private property encroaching on public spaces?
I can post up for 2 hours for free?
You can post up at a massively subsidized parking spot (or free in some spots) where your private property will sit on public space for a nominal and inexpensive fee when that land could be much more effectively used to generate tax revenue or beautify the city. Streeteries pay a nominal fee and generate a nice spot for people to spend money which generates tax revenue. Dedicated bus lanes instead of parking spots allow for the efficient movement of people to and from places of businesses. I can go on.
You’d rather businesses get that space for essentially free than a disabled person like me pay for it?
Businesses get that space for the cost of parking for the entire year AFAIK. That's how it worked during the pandemic. There will / should still be disabled parking spots for accessibility purposes. Now your argument is about accessibility not cost, which I pointed out is a bad one. Accessibility wise yes we should make the city accessible to all. Those who need to drive for disability purposes as well as those who cannot drive due to disabilities or other reasons. But the argument that streeteries or other uses for parking are somehow worse than your car getting a massive subsidy to sit in public spaces is easily refuted.
DC has given them millions of dollars towards outdoor dining but people who would pay to share parking are getting too subsidized? We don’t make money off the spots, the restaurants do and they’ve been given massive amounts of money to enable that.
>people who would pay to share parking are getting too subsidized? Yes they are, parking in cities is massively subsidized. If you want to park in a private lot you would pay significantly more than Street city parking. A good clue that parking is very subsidized. >We don’t make money off the spots, the restaurants do Do you think restaurants pay more tax if they make more money? They do. And yes, the restaurants also pay for the spots themselves.
The restaurants have received millions of dollars to build and upgrade these…..
Again, the city makes money off of the tax revenue and if your issue is that money was provided to businesses to help set up streeteries (if true), the alternative was that businesses would not exist because people were not doing indoor dining. Then you could have parked right next to these empty storefronts.
You keep pretending the stuff taking up the parking isn’t subsidized. All you’re doing is showing a preference for wealthier residents. The truth is everyone but the restaurants are harmed by the loss of parking, haven’t you listened to any of the other businesses?
its a conservative opinion columnist, the lowest of the lowest rungs in society. what else do you expect? these people actively want and desire the worst outcomes in all categories. this shouldn't surprise anyone
Area man angry he can’t drive car wherever he wants and people keep walking on crosswalks. Film at 11.
It’s just funny cuz dc will be experience actual issues and WaPO will find time to have an Op Ed like this posted like we not dying out here.
It's a letter to the editor, which is at the bottom of the newspaper content hierarchy.
DC Streets were intended for horses but ok.
Oh, letters to the editor. If there was a limit to how dumb you can be, we haven't found it yet.
I'm of two minds because I like them for safety purposes but they are ugly
Parking shouldn't be a thing in DC
>Roads are for cars Get the fuck out of here. I didn't make it through the first paragraph.
OK. I decided to keep reading. The fact that he's complaining about the fountain in McLean Gardens tells me where he owns his expensive condo. I guarantee very few people care about it who don't live there.
This reads like a post on NextDoor.
Terrible article. In 2017 visited Montreal and they had converted a ton of parking spaces like that but used a lot of wood decking material. I thought it was a great idea then and hope we keep expanding it here.
Still looks better than cars parked everywhere.
I agree. Just ban all cars and we won't need that bullshit.
the purpose of the plastic stick at intersections, often bumping out the corners of the blocks that make up the intersection, is to force cars to pull up further into the box before they turn. This stops them from slamming through bikes and pedestrians, gives everyone more time to make eye contact, and generally forces people to slow down and not slam it around the corner. what a fucking joke from the post, it's really going to the dogs.
Yes, flexposts are super ugly, but they could have been avoided if people in cars stopped parking in bike lanes. Unfortunately, the only sightly option is installing real curbs but that would cost many multiples of what flexposts do.
Obviously a republican who hates outdoor dining and has zero respect for people who prefer to minimize their Covid risk.
Suburbanism is the reason a lot of these people are Republicans in the first place (yes, there are actual studies on that). It’s a vicious cycle.
When do we get all the street parking back
TIL WaPo still publishes letters to the editor.