More fundamentally, it shouldn't be necessary. But Mayor Bowser's proposed Fiscal Year 2024 budget chooses not to fund proposed public bathrooms.

If legislative competence were a requirement for statehood, we'd revoke a lot of statehoods.

They're pretty nice. I like biking down that way before work when they're blooming. The trick is to go by bike, and to focus on East Potomac Park (Hains Point) where fewer people are.

I have not been in that area recently. If the signs are as confusing as you claim, it may be worth it to contest it. However, another commenter says that the camera and lower limit are clearly marked, so it's up to you whether you truly think you didn't have appropriate warning.

For what it's worth, going 41 in a 25 zone is potentially very dangerous. "The average risk of severe injury for a pedestrian struck by a vehicle reaches 10% at an impact speed of 16 mph, 25% at 23 mph, 50% at 31 mph, 75% at 39 mph, and 90% at 46 mph. The average risk of death for a pedestrian reaches 10% at an impact speed of 23 mph, 25% at 32 mph, 50% at 42 mph, 75% at 50 mph, and 90% at 58 mph." (source).

It sounds like OP is asking about retrieving WMATA bus footage. WMATA may not be covered under DC's FOIA.

Check your lease. If there is no information there, it may be wise to check with the landlord before using it.

I love DC. It is not perfect and I complain on the internet about the ways it is not perfect. But I love it in its imperfection.

Hope they expand the booting/impounding team. I'm in favor of enforcing parking restrictions, but this also seems like a ripe opportunity to get dangerously used cars off of our streets.

Are there other transit options that might work for your situation?

Illegally parked cars can block crosswalks, block fire hydrants, park people into their driveways, block sidewalks (not a huge problem for me but if I used a wheelchair or pushed a stroller it would be), limit drivers' visibility of pedestrians, and can create other safety issues. In many cases an illegally parked car isn't dangerous, you're right - but in many cases it is.

Seems like a good measure. I hope the Council pairs it with a way to make fines (or other penalties) meaningful again.

Car owners are (usually) not evil. Car dependency is evil. We should design our city so that everyone can get around safely without a car. This will definitely require expansion of public transit reach and frequency, and expansion of safe sidewalks and safe bike lanes. In some cases this may require reducing the convenience of driving, an activity which the city and the country currently heavily subsidizes.

Unfortunately drivers also clog up the roads for people taking other more efficient mode of transportation like buses.

The Height Act is a Federal law, and since we are not a state we have no way to get rid of it. Changing the Height Act is completely out of the control of the DC Council.

In the meantime, I'm alright with the Council trying parallel approaches to reduce our housing shortage.

I strongly suspect that DC could meet most of its housing needs by eliminating SFH zoning, without even touching the Height Act. I haven't run the numbers and I could be wrong here, but I strongly suspect it.

If it's a nice day, yeah. Depends on what you define as "nice" and "crowded," of course.

On a nice day Malcolm X Park is often crowded.

Most of the tools you're describing already exist, it's just that the Mayor has not made them a priority.

DC has underfunded the booting and towing crew for years. During the first year or so of the pandemic they all but entirely refused to do their jobs, until (now-outgoing) CM Cheh got on their cases. Still, as of last year, their capacity to boot was only 50 cars per day (!) which is basically the same as zero.

Several Council Members noted that the Mayor's proposed budget kept the same funding for the booting/towing crew as in previous years, which is obviously insufficient for the problem. I recall that several Council Members proposed better funding for the booting/towing crew, but I don't recall whether they succeeded.

I'm glad you're OK, and so sorry that two drivers almost injured or killed you, especially in such a short timespan.

The Department of For-Hire Vehicles regulates taxis. You may want to contact them directly. See https://dfhv.dc.gov/ .

In the longer term what we need is safer infrastructure, such as e.g. raised crosswalks, virtually everywhere in the city. You can put in a 311 service request ticket to have the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) do a Traffic Safety Investigation (TSI) at a specific intersection, like the two you were almost hit at.

You can also follow up with your Council Member's staff, and with the ANC of that area.

Sure, but we could do this with a carrot and stick model. Carrot of lower Metrorail prices, funded by the stick of congestion pricing for those who insist on driving into DC.

You're right, but I don't think that type of change is within the WMATA board's abilities.

As a DC resident, my instinct is that I'm not all that interested in paying $3 to go my 3 miles to work when my colleague rides an hour in from Reston for the same $3. My colleague is getting a very different level of service than I am for the same price.

Maybe I'd be interested if we also had a congestion tax on out-of-District cars. We could then use the revenue from that to subsidize the long-distance metro fares. But that idea is beyond WMATA's mandate.

I guess I'm in the minority but I actually think the current fare structure - where each pair of stations has its own cost - is fine. Not great, but not so terrible that it's worth all the hassle.

Poison in them and even on them. I would guess that some of the rats get covered with the poison, so even if it weren't for the biting, even catching them could risk the dog's health.

Potentially a silly question, but given that we know airborne pathogens are around and here to stay, wouldn't a strong ventilation system be something to prioritize?