Thursday, Oct 2, 2008 Washcycle
1. Several states have a 'safe-passing distance' law requiring vehicles overtaking a bicyclist to give them not less than three feet of distance between the motor vehicle and the bicycle. Would you support such a law in the District?
Yes, of course. This issue is one of the reasons I am afraid to commute by bicycle.
2. New York City recently closed 7 miles of downtown streets on select summer weekends to car traffic, emulating similar experiments in Paris, London and Bogota and drawing an estimated 100,000 participants. Would you support a similar experiment in downtown DC?
Excellent precedent for DC! Many cities in Europe are car free in their historic districts.
3. SmartBike has already shown some success, but it needs to expand if it is going to really change the way people think about transit. How would you pay for such an expansion?
Rather than raising fees for SmartBike use, we need to generate more revenue to meet essential needs which include reducing air pollution from motor vehicle use. This is an environmental justice issue, with major implications to our residents' health, especially our children. Our present FY2009 District budget is woefully inadequate to meet these needs. Sources of additional revenue include:
1) Making our individual/family tax structure both fair and progressive, e.g., raise the DC income tax rate for the top 5% and lower it for the working class majority, just as Obama has pledged to do with the federal tax structure.
2) Cut corporate welfare, including earmarks and items hidden in our opaque special funds budget.
3) Use District-owned buildings to do District business instead of renting private space costing about $110 million/year.
and last but not least,
4) Start planning now for a DC congestion charge for motor vehicle commuters traveling into our central business district during work days, with revenue going to reducing the cost of mass transit and making it more convenient (especially clean bus service).
More details and documentation can be found on my campaign website: davidschwartzman.com
4. The closest velodrome to the District is in central Pennsylvania. Would you support the creation of a velodrome on land that may become available at the present RFK site?
Yes, I look forward to using it myself. This creation would encourage our youth to bicycle more, again addressing a major health issue arising from the lack of exercise (e.g., childhood obesity).
5. Idaho has a law referred to as the Idaho stop. It recognizes that bicycles are different from motor vehicles and allows bicyclists to treat red lights as stop signs and stop signs as yield signs. Would you support such a law for Washington, DC.
Yes. Implementing this law in DC would actually reduce the presently illegal and dangerous practice of bicyclists running red lights. However, motorists must be better educated to respect bicycle use.
6. Often bike lanes are blocked by delivery vehicles (UPS, FedEx) with no reasonable or legal way to park while they make their delivery. What would you do to address this problem?
One idea is to provide a delivery vehicle only parking space for businesses.
