Cars in the City

Dear Car Lovers and Haters:

Cars are one of your most popular topics in themail, but they are some of your least favorite things. I'm thankful for cars, especially when I think how much cleaner, quieter, and especially better smelling cities became when cars replaced horses as the primary means of urban transportation. Private cars give drivers real personal freedom and independence, which is why even the most convenient public transportation system can never replace them. But cars are also terrific annoyances, particularly when there are more of them then there are parking spaces, and they are terrible dangers, especially when the only driving education most drivers get is from the car chases in Bullitt and The French Connection.

When I was a teenager growing up in the suburbs where I couldn't get anywhere without a car, I wanted desperately to get to the inner city where I'd never need a car. Since the primary rule of life is irony, now that I live in the inner city I find that I need a car in order to get to the suburbs. We've gone through three decades of urban policy aimed at making owning a car increasingly inconvenient and expensive, in order to discourage private cars and encourage mass transportation, trying to eliminate what Anne Heute, below, calls “the hegemony of the car.” So far, that policy has succeeded in multiplying the problems of owning cars, without decreasing car ownership at all. So let's face it: bicycles and buses are not going to replace cars, and pedestrians and cars are going to coexist in cities for the foreseeable future. Until cars are replaced with teleportation, what can we do in Washington to make city driving safer and parking easier?

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com

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Evening Rush Hour Gridlock
Bill Starrels, Georgetown, mortgagecorp@hotmail.com

Recently I had to go from Georgetown to the 1500 block of I street, NW, to deliver some papers at rush hour. Rush hour traffic is bad enough. What is still unbelievable to me is the number of selfish drivers who leave their cars parked in clearly marked “No Parking or Standing 4-6:30 PM” spaces. Only one car can disrupt the flow of traffic. Any other major American or Canadian city I have lived or visited in recent memory seems able to tow these violators. If one gets his or her car towed, the word spreads fast. Short of towing, tickets (if they are written) have little effect. Booting is worse, because it leaves the offending car blocking the lane for an indefinite period of time.

I have heard that DC has bought more tow trucks. Something has to give. It is unconscionable that this situation goes on day after day. In Georgetown, in preparation for the late night utility work we have effectively towed cars. It is not rocket science. It is time something is done.

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Sledding and Cars
Anne Heutte, heuttea@earthlink.net

My initial response [to the introduction to the last issue of themail] is not an answer to what [Gary Imhoff] wrote, but a response to what I think is the enduring problem of this city: how shall we take back our neighborhoods and all that is so precious in them? I have no great answers, just a dogged sense that life is where you are, in the few blocks where you live, come and go every day, and that no government is in charge of that.

I live on Newton Street, NE, at the bottom of the hill that was once the best sled-coasting place around here, and we had tons of kids and adults, before global warming, who used to come on our street and have a gorgeous time, Barriers to cars would appear, cars would have to accommodate, and it was a good time for all. I can remember serious sledders, adults, in the wee hours of the a.m., sliding, going up, coming down again. Then, something happened, I don't know what. I got furious at the destruction of a wonderful thing. I want that world back, even without snow, and all I can think of is, take over your neighborhood, any way you can. Forget being nice, polite. It is your turf.

I even had the dream that the short streets here, between Newton and the Franciscan Monastery, never mind the details, could be turned into small parks for trees, people, picnic tables, tennis, etc. Cars don’t need all of those short blocks. The hegemony of the car — it's gotta go. Getting people unglued from thinking that there are wonderful others who will do the work, aye, there's the rub.

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Red Lights
John Whiteside, john@Logancircle.net

James Treworgey argues that with 750 deaths per year, running red lights is a relatively small problem. Unfortunately, counting deaths doesn't give an accurate estimate of the actual extent of the problem. How about injuries? How about damage to vehicles? How about traffic slowdowns caused when everyone is afraid to proceed through green lights, because of the red light runners coming through the intersection? How about the general degradation of the city environment for pedestrians and motorists dodging red light runners? How about the effect of that kind of general lawlessness on society in general?

When I learned to drive, I almost never saw anyone run a red light (Connecticut, early 80s). The day I made the first payment on my first new car, someone ran a red light and did $3000 of damage to it -- and had I entered the intersection a moment earlier I'd probably have been killed (Boston, 1990). Flash to DC and Tysons Corner (my home and my workplace), 2001 — people blatantly run through lights well after they've turned red. A sign that society's going down the tubes? You decide.

As far the cost of cameras versus cruises — show me some numbers, James. And cameras have the benefit of collecting the money from the violators. I don't care if they are DC residents or not — anything short of a suspended license is pretty soft, in my opinion.

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More on Red Light Cameras
Bill Adler, billonline@adlerbooks.com

First, I want to thank Mr. Treworgy for mentioning the Red Means Stop web site, http://www.redmeansstop.com, in his reply to my post about red light cameras. But when he cites the statistic of 750 deaths a year from red light runners, and uses that to trivialize the problem, he chose to omit out the information that was in the next sentence on the website: Red light runners also cause 260,000 accidents and $7 billion a year in damage, lost wages, and insurance costs a year.

Being a pedestrian in Washington is risky business. The District of Columbia has twice the pedestrian fatality rate as the national average, from all causes, according to the Department of Transportation. Pedestrians account for a third of all motor vehicle related deaths in Washington, DC. It's also just plain scary and difficult to cross a street when cars are zipping through the red, especially for children, senior citizens and handicapped people. Red light running is hardly a “small problem,” as Mr. Treworgy maintains.

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Even More on Red Light Cameras
John Wheeler, zippytrash@att.net

In the 11/21 issue of themail, James Treworgy implied that the DC government is paying $44 million for red light cameras. He states that based on the total people killed in the U.S. as a result of red light running, only 1.25 persons per year in the DC are killed. Here's the full quote from which Mr. Treworgy took his statistic: “In the United States, over 20 percent of all traffic accidents are caused by drivers running red lights. Year after year, red light runners kill over 750 people, and result in 260,000 accidents. They cause an estimated 7 billion dollars in property damage, medical bills, lost productivity and insurance hikes. And unfortunately, red light running is on the increase.” I think that's a fairly compelling argument for the cameras. And the DC Government is not paying for the cameras. DC and the contractor share in the revenue produced by tickets. (I do think that DC's contract with Lockheed Martin is something to look into.) Mr. Treworgy's argument that solving homicides is the typical argument made against police time spent enforcing traffic laws. However, he should be happy because the red light cameras frees up the police to solve homicides, or whatever.

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Wisconsin Avenue Giant
Patty Hahn, (remove at for real address), cat.zero@starpower.net

Forgive me if there's been a discussion already about this; if so, I wasn't reading themail at the time. Is it true there's a group trying to block expansion of our neighborhood Giant at Wisconsin and Newark, and that the claim is it's an historic property? This must be satire; it can't be for real.

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Happy Turkey Day
Steve Chaggaris, mcsteve@pressroom.com

[In reply to Mark Sutton, themail, November 21] Why do anti-meat activists feel they have to try to guilt/scare folks into not eating meat? Do you seriously think that relaying anecdotes about fat turkeys will persuade Americans to stop eating turkey on Thanksgiving? Good luck! A lot of us well-rounded (food-wise, not girth-wise) eaters will continue eating the foods we do, regardless of the electronic, printed or verbal pressure from non-meat eaters.

I eat turkey, chicken, and beef and I'm proud of it. As well, it's good to hear of your pride in "eschewing meat, fowl, and fish for twenty years." I have many friends who do the same as you and are also proud of it. And do you know why those non-meat-eaters are my friends? Because they don't tell me I'm wrong or uninformed or a jerk because I enjoy eating cows, chicken, bison, or even ostrich. Nor do they tell me that I'm somehow enlightened or fabulously intelligent when I enjoy a dish of freshly steamed vegetables (broccoli, spinach and asparagus preferred). Happy Thanksgiving.

[Mr. Chaggaris and Mr. Sutton had a further private exchange about vegetarianism before agreeing that the subject was really off-topic for themail — unless, of course, anyone has any suggestions for vegetarian restaurants that everybody could enjoy. — Gary Imhoff]

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Responses to Two Postings
Esther Cohen, richard.steacy@gte.net

[In reply to Nick Keenan's posting on maternity wards] I delivered 9 1/2 years ago at George Washington University; do they no longer handle obstetrics? What about Columbia Hospital? Sibley? The Hospital Center? I'm stunned to learn that these don't have maternity wards.

[In response to David Sobelsohn on Restaurant Week] I thought I was alone in thinking that $20.01 was pretty high for lunch. So, no sir, you're not alone.

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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS

Community Forum/Speak Out: Is Your Neighborhood Prepared for an Emergency?
Sam Jordan, sjordan@communitychange.org

Health Care Now, DC's largest health care consumer advocacy organization, is convening a community information forum on Wednesday, November 28, at 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Greater Mount Calvary Holy Church, 610 Rhode Island Avenue, NE (Rhode Island Metro Station). The forum's keynoter, Dr. Margaret Barron, MD, Chief of Emergency Medicine at Providence Hospital, will describe the elements of an effective emergency preparedness system.

This forum is absolutely necessary in light of the continuing anthrax alert and lingering doubts by many that an effective emergency plan has been devised or communicated to community groups. Our people need to know how to protect themselves and their families. The average person is feeling neglected and ignored. Representatives of DC's hospitals, Departments of Emergency Management and Emergency Health and Medical Services will be joined by Fire and Police personnel in providing answers to questions from community members, many of whom live within blocks of the Brentwood Postal facility. Complaints that they have received little communication from city or federal officials have been numerous. Speakers will include Agnes Chase, Convenor, Health Care Now; Dr. Margaret Barron, MD, Chief, Emergency Medicine, Providence Hospital; Robert Malson, President, DC Hospital Association, Chair COG's Bioterrorism Taskforce; Barbara Childs-Pair, Deputy Director, DC Emergency Management Administration; Sherry Adams, RN, Executive Director, DC Office of Emergency Health and Medical Services; Roger Hooper, East Coast EMS, Director, DC Emergency Medical Rapid Response Team.

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CLASSIFIEDS — RECOMMENDATIONS

A Spectacular Opportunity to Recycle
Charlie Wellander, ah52j2e3@mailshell.com

Used eyeglasses are collected by Lions and other volunteers and are recycled at one of nine Lions Eyeglass Recycling Centers throughout the world. The used eyeglasses are cleaned, repaired and classified by prescription. The eyeglasses are then distributed to those in need by Lions volunteers and other organizations hosting optical missions in developing countries. Individuals may donate their used eyeglasses year-round to their local Lions club via collection boxes located at various community offices and businesses, offices of members of the American Optometric Association, Goodwill Industries stores and LensCrafters stores. All types of eyeglasses and sunglasses, prescription and nonprescription, are acceptable. For more information, see http://www.lionsclubs.org/English/FRCenters.html. Local contact info: Lions Eyeglass Recycling Center of Northern Virginia, 703-241-7004, E-mail lercva@lnetmail.att.net, Web site: http://www.pwcweb.com/d24alions/recycl.html (also has an address that glasses may be mailed to).

In fiscal year 2000-01, the Lions Eyeglass Recycling Centers reported a collection of approximately 5 million pairs of eyeglasses, distributing to more than 2.5 million people in developing nations. Recycled eyeglasses are typically distributed outside of the United States due to legal constraints concerning the dispersal of prescriptive devices.

[Thanks also to Sara Cormeny, sara@paperlantern.com, who sent references to the same web sites. — Gary Imhoff]

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