Competing meetings: bicycles vs. streetcars -- you decide

From email:

Community Forum on Streetcars

Date & time: Thursday March 18, 2010 doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Presentation will begin at 7:20.
Place: at St. Peter’s Parish Hall, 2nd and C Streets, SE (in church basement)

The subject will be DC’s proposed 37-mile streetcar system including routes and technology that might allow the system to operate with few, if any, overhead wires. Two experts will discuss streetcars and how they would relate to our city.

Jeff Boothe is Executive Director of the Community Streetcar Coalition, Vice Chair and founding Board Member of Reconnecting America, and an attorney who represents cities and transit authorities seeking to construct streetcar systems.

Meg Maguire is a Trustee of the Committee of 100 on the Federal City, Chair of their Transportation Committee, and Past-President of Scenic America.

Monte Edwards will moderate and share information about the recent streetcar technology conference.

Sponsored by the Capitol Hill Restoration Society
The event is free and the public is encouraged to attend.


DDOT to Unveil Plans for Innovative Bike Lanes in the Central Business District
Public Meeting Scheduled for Thursday, March 18

(Washington, D.C.) The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) is developing innovative new bike infrastructure in the greater downtown area, to accommodate increased bicycling in the city, and to prepare for the expansion of the bikesharing program. To see the latest plans, DDOT and the Downtown and Golden Triangle Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) invite the public to attend a meeting on Thursday, March 18, at the Heritage Center of the United States Navy Memorial.

Because of the high demand for curb space, including a large number of buses and delivery trucks, DDOT has looked to other cities such as New York and Montreal for designs which both protect cyclists and accommodate other downtown activity. Based on what we found, DDOT has developed creative proposals for new bike lanes on the following streets:

· Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
· I Street, NW
· L Street, NW
· 15th Street, NW
· 9th Street, NW

More detailed plans for each street will be discussed at the meeting.

When: Thursday, March 18, 6 pm - 8 pm
Where: The Heritage Center of the United States Navy Memorial
701 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

The Heritage Center is located above the Archives/Navy Memorial Metrorail Station on the Green and Yellow lines. Also, bicycle parking will be provided for the meeting.