Forget $1/gallon. It should be converted to tax/$, and then increased by 50%. I'd like to see an absolute gas tax of 25-40%. By indexing the tax per dollar spent, the government won't get the extreme loss of revenue that happens every time a spike in prices generates a drop in consumption.

But what if they are part-time vehicular cyclists?

There are some of us who are admittedly "part-time" bicycle riders, but speaking for myself, I ride to work year-round, and to run errands when I have < 50 lbs of stuff to carry (and I can fit it in the crate on my rack), and I only drive occasionally. In fact, I would more classify myself as a "part-time driver"--should I go participate in motor vehicle policy discussions? Or would I not count there either? I would almost think that those who regularly both ride AND drive have a more complete perspective on what it is like to share the road.

Yes. I rode it a couple days in March, it was manageable for me without bike lanes as a fairly confident cyclist. Traffic is fairly slow, not too dense. All the architecture is monumental, which may slow people down a bit.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=800+nw+pennsylvania+ave+washington+dc&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=46.005754,117.861328&ie=UTF8&ll=38.893254,-77.021906&spn=0.011106,0.028775&t=h&z=16&iwloc=A&layer=c&cbll=38.893201,-77.021732&panoid=XRK0AkGODrxmdf_9v2Kybg&cbp=12,109.68,,0,-4.66

The big plus is that its a diagonal that connects lots of destinations. So with reasonable bike facilities, it would shorten the distance between many destinations.

Ted Buehler

Sharing the truth when something about it is known, is helpful. Taking advantage of a report on someone's...that would be Mr. Blumenauer, just so you with your complex, as opposed to simple mind will understand it's not a strawman being talked about here,...efforts to do something positive, only to wax on about about everything he's doing wrong to the complete exclusion of things he's doing right doesn't seem very positive or helpful.

Another reason I substituted 'some people' instead of your name is that in comment #5; You opened the comment with: "As Mr. Maus states in this article, Earl does a few good things and cares about the symbol of bikes on Penn Ave." But, that seems to have been so you could immediately launch into negative stuff that's not related to what Blumenauer's bike as transportation efforts.

Picio, I agree with you here:

"Joe Rowe (#11) - Good point about funding, but frankly if it comes down to bike lanes vs. a women's shelter, my vote is for the shelter." picio

Paul Tay (#7) - Not going to happen, nor should it. As the symbolic and iconic route of Washington DC, Pennsylvania Ave should support ALL the travel modes, including cars. The main thing right now is accommodating the modes that are not being properly served.

Ted Buehler (#9) - Have you been to D.C.? It's not flat, except in the monument area and parts of NE. The rest of the District is full of rolling hills, especially around the embassies. If you don't routinely ride over the western hills here, or to the tops of Tabor, Rocky Butte, and Mount Scott, then a ride through D.C. is possibly hillier than Portland, and in many cases the hills are steeper.

For those who haven't been to D.C., you should see it at least once - amazing city, many unique locations, and many things to laugh at if you don't take things as seriously as D.C. does.

Joe Rowe (#11) - Good point about funding, but frankly if it comes down to bike lanes vs. a women's shelter, my vote is for the shelter.

Of course, my vote is also to stop the policies that we've enacted which require us to spend so much on "defense".

Earl's doing a great job on bikes, especially holding the weasels accountable. I really encourage him and his staff to continue their efforts, they are a huge value and inspiration to the community. OTOH, with regards to single-payer, Earl is silent, and with CRC, Earl *is* the weasel. I really hope that Earl starts taking a more active stance towards looking at what's appropriate in terms of the CRC, or whether it's needed at all.

Here's the simple formula for the simple minded.

a) Change "joe" or anyone into "some people"

b) follow it up with an exaggeration of a valid argument of someone who has a different opinion.

Earl's rose room talk in PDX was about creating bike promotional projects, a National Bike plan, and more money for safe routes to schools.

I'll repeat my message so you don't keep using "some people". No matter what Earl's 3 good little goals, it's his lack of action that means we have very little funding to implement public projects.

With so little funding all the good little projects must compete with each other, which means a women's shelter and bike lanes are at odds with each other.

It's like a dad who buys a birthday cake, but due to his lack of locking up the house in a neighborhood filled with thieves, the kids must fight with each other each night so they don't go hungry the other 364 days.

Don't look at the birthday cake a dad gives you, look at his lack of action on his key duties.

Earl has never put "checks and balances" anywhere on his priority list. We're bankrupt financially due to his inaction.

ps: Earl and his staff know me. Most often I show up to events and say and do nothing. I feel those events are for people who've never seen Earl or for the public to listen. In this forum my words don't hog air time or silence any opinion. I'm giving the bigger picture not found in most reporting. Can't stand the truth, don't read it.

Earl - how about pouring those funds into your hometown of Portland? Isn't that why we elected you to Congress? Want America to notice? How about a major city in the Northwest with a thriving economy, happy and fit citizens, with 20% mode share coming from bikes? That would show other municipalities what can be acheived.

Bike lanes on Pensylvania Ave.? Nice for the tourists that want to stop every block to snap photos but horrible for the commuters that might actually use them.

Some people seem to think they should never pass up an opportunity to be mad at their elected reps, even when the reps are working to do something right.

Though certainly not perfect, Blumenauer's at least is trying to do something constructive for a nation highly dependent on oil resources, whose citizens often, due to the narrowly focused transportation infrastructure we spent the last century building, are obliged to rely on a personal motor vehicle to travel somewhere.

Negotiating a nine lane road on a bike sounds like a formidable challenge. Is the traffic on Pennsy something that people on bikes could seriously manage even with bike lanes? There's nothing worse than a showpiece that isn't very functional.

More politicians thinking and riding bikes, helping to expand and improve new and existing bike infrastructure is a welcome sign. Vance, you don't need to worry...it's unlikely the car is completely going away, nor will it be ignored as far as future spending on motor vehicle infrastructure is concerned.

Washington has made good progress in the last few years. Bike lanes on Pennsylvania Ave would be a great step forward. The street has space for them, and without them the city isn't going to take any great leaps forward for bikes.

To achieve this effort will probably take a national campaign with bicyclists from around the country writing their elected officials. It can't be done locally, as DC has no representation in the Senate and only one seat in the house.

Great stuff, Blumenauer, keep it up!
Ted Buehler