Thanks for this Article. I think that Planners are using #'s to skew the realism of our City. I could be wrong but if you read the excerpt below, it could be misleading.
"During the decade when the District grew by 30,000, the number of cars registered in the city remained flat. More than a quarter of adult city residents don't own a car, federal data show. Nationally, a recent study found, people younger than 35 are driving 23 percent fewer miles a year than they did in 2001".
The fact that the numbers of cars registered remained flat doesn't mean that less cars are in the city. Cars being registered being flat also means that out of the 30,000 new residents, the number of cars being registered per year didn't really show as an increase in regards to registration - not that a large % of cars weren't registered by these new residents.
Also, since the last half of 2007, people were losing their jobs here in the District and elsewhere, so less cars were being bought for current district residents and/or their children and some were being repossessed - so registration of the 30,000 could have been very big % but was offset by fewer cars being registered by existing residents. I think that we need to see the variables in the study - or I would tend to believe that the article is flawed in the direction it is leading us to believe the curve is moving towards in regards to "drastic change" in vehicle ownership and the exact reasoning behind this. This could be propaganda to validate all that is occurring regarding the anti-car movement and for support for the Trolley expenditure!! It wouldn't be the first time!
Also, I am sure that some of these 30,000 actually registered vehicles and I must believe that some drive those "zip" cars as well as rent cars. I agree however that many of these new residents probably are moving and working near metro stations. But, I only see plans to reduce road space/parking with street cars and bike lanes in areas that most metro locations and buses already supply service to.So why not continue to provide transportation with Cheaper Electric Buses?
Now, what about the residents who already live here? Now, we are back to catering to mostly Whites who have move into the City over the last decade. Are the ones who have vehicles being penalized because we live where we do or want the ability to drive?
And as I think about it, bikes may need to be registered and fees need to be assessed on them if we are going to give up all that space to Bike Lanes. We pay fees to drive on the street and so should they. Also, we need a way to identify dangerous riders and just in case of accidents occurring because of them dashing in and out of vehicles. Anyways, how come bikes get a free pass on streets that they often ride in excess of the speed limit? They should have identification so that the cameras could take their picture as well and that they should be getting tickets from police as well. Can we pursue giving out tickets for them running the stop sign or riding through intersections when the light is red? Or riding between parked cars and vehicles clearly in their own lane? How about Insurance coverage? They could cause a lot of damage to a child or adult or to another mode of travel.
I can't wait to see all the bikes coming from Costco with 32" TV's in their basket or boxes of food or cases of beer or bulk toilet paper!! THAT WILL BE FUUUUUNY!!!
Rob Ramson
On Tue, May 29, 2012 at 8:48 PM, <WKPW3@aol.com> wrote:
D.C.'s walkable neighborhoods have a lot to offer, but at a price
By Ashley Halsey III, Published: May 27The Washington Post
You'd like a market within walking distance? A choice of restaurants, a dry cleaner, a hardware store and some interesting shops in the blocks near your house?To find that urban nirvana in Washington, be ready to spend some serious cash.
GalleryA new Brookings study puts the city's neighborhoods under a microscope and finds that the most walkable parts of town, where amenities are readily available, are those where the most educated and best-paid people live.
By contrast, in the neighborhoods Brookings deemed least walkable, average household income is about half as much and residents are more than twice as likely to be unemployed.
Georgetown rates at the top of the walkability scale. The New York Avenue corridor sits at the bottom.
The Brookings study, which relies on a complex formula to calculate walkability, underscores a regional and national trend that has been evident in other studies and reports.
For many Americans who have the financial luxury of choosing to live where they wish, the suburbia that beckoned their parents has lost some of its allure. The District, like many U.S. cities, grew in the first decade of this century, adding about 30,000 newcomers.
As the downside of suburban living — longer daily commutes on congested highways — began to grow, so did the desire of people to repopulate places closer to the job, where driving isn't a daily requisite.
During the decade when the District grew by 30,000, the number of cars registered in the city remained flat. More than a quarter of adult city residents don't own a car, federal data show. Nationally, a recent study found, people younger than 35 are driving 23 percent fewer miles a year than they did in 2001.
"I think you're seeing changing demographics locally and across the country," said Stewart Schwartz of the Coalition for Smarter Growth. "You're seeing more and more young people who don't want to drive, lower income people who benefit from mass transit, and empty nesters who don't need the big house in the suburbs."
Fewer miles, fewer cars, fewer licensed drivers; all of that points to more people living in places where they can use mass transit or walk. While in some cases that has meant gentrification of older urban neighborhoods, in others it has resulted in development of new communities built around the concept of walkability: National Harbor in Prince George's, Annapolis Town Centre at Parole, King Farm Village Center in Montgomery and the Carlyle District in Alexandria.
"Planners and engineers are seeing and acting on the desire for walkable, livable communities," Schwartz said. "This is a major regional traffic solution."
A key finding of the Brookings report is that the more walkable a neighborhood is, the higher the value of its office and retail space, and the more income from residential rentals and sales.
National Harbor rivaled Georgetown in walkability in the Brookings report, earning the highest ranking. Joining New York Avenue at the other end of the walkability spectrum were the Naylor Road neighborhood in Southwest Washington and Landover Road in Prince George's.
There was a stark economic difference between those communities the report defined as offering the best amenities within walking distance and those that had the fewest. The average household income in the highest -ranked neighborhoods was $103,000, more than $20,000 above the regional average. In the neighborhoods judged least walkable it was $53,000, or $28,000 below the regional average.
In top-ranked neighborhoods, nearly 28 percent of residents had a graduate degree. In the lowest-ranked areas, 11 percent had one, and the largest proportion of residents — 22 percent — ended their education with a high school diploma.
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R. Ramson
3744 12th Street, N.E.,
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202-438-5988
"We must become the change we want to see" - Mohandas Gandhi-
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