Results tagged “sidewalks”

The D.C. Council is taking up a bill this session that would expand parts of the existing citywide smoking ban, including a provision that would allow property owners to legally prohibit smoking within 25 feet of any building entrance, even if that area includes public areas like sidewalks, Michael Neibauer reports today in the Examiner. The idea is to cut down on the number of times city residents are forced to walk through a gauntlet of smokers standing outside office building doors, an experience that's admittedly unpleasant for plenty of folks. But the question then becomes: if every business follows through on such a ban, where are smokers supposed to go? Not to mention: who would be responsible for enforcing this rule? Could individuals end up being ticketed by police for smoking on the sidewalk? There's going to be a lot of details to iron out on this one.

Did you know that Segway riders are banned from riding on sidewalks within the Central Business District? What about that some small fraction of disabled people regularly ride Segways? These are the true and exciting facts that can be learned from this Examiner story today on a little bit of D.C. Council business that went down yesterday. See, it turns out that Miles Groves, the president of the Downtown Neighborhood Association, is a chronic pain sufferer and a Segway rider. Groves uses a Segway to get around the city easier, and was recently given "a polite warning" by a police officer that he wasn't supposed to be riding on the sidewalk. Not included in the Examiner story: the phone call Groves presumably placed to Tommy Wells, champion of alternative transportation. And Wells came to the rescue yesterday, convincing the Council to pass emergency legislation to give disabled Segway riders a pass on being forced to ride in the street.

The D.C. Department of Public Works finally got back to us on our question about what will be done with the 22 brand new ghost bikes that have been placed around the intersection of Connecticut and R Streets NW by activist Legba Carrefour ... kinda. Here's the boilerplate statement we received via email from DPW spokesperson Linda Grant:

"... the DC Department of Public Works is responsible for removing sidewalk memorials, which usually recognize residents who have died unexpectedly, and includes anything from flowers and stuffed animals to empty bottles of alcohol and bicycles. After 30 days, DPW removes all memorial items found at the site. As part of our policy, a sign is posted at the memorial to notify family and friends that they have 30 days to remove any personal effects."

This is a bit of a bogus response. The original Alice Swanson ghost bike was allowed to remain where it was for over a year before DPW removed it, so there are clearly exceptions to this 30 day rule. But what are they, and how are they applied? Not to mention, these 22 ghost bikes could very easily be interpreted as not being memorials to Alice Swanson, but rather protest art pieces to the action of city government in removing the original bike. Could not then DPW use that definition as a pretense to remove the new crop of bikes before 30 days is up?

The Golden Triangle Business Improvement District sent around word to their members today that the District Department of Transportation has informed them of a month-long sidewalk and road repair project on K Street that is set to begin this week.