On Wednesday, April 20 from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m., District Department of Transportation (DDOT) Interim Director Terry Bellamy and Scott Kubly, Director of DDOT’s Progressive Transportation Services Administration (which is managing streetcar implementation), will appear at a public meeting to update the community on progress toward completion of the first operational segment of the H Street-Benning Road streetcar line and other streetcar activities.  There will be an opportunity for community members to ask questions.

The meeting is being hosted by Advisory Neighborhood Commissions 5B, 6A and 6C.  It will be held at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, which is located at 1333 H Street NE.  This location is accessible by Metrobus routes X2 and X9 and Capital Bikeshare (stations at 13th and H Streets NE and Bladensburg and Benning Roads NE).

We encourage you to attend this meeting to help continue to demonstrate strong citizen support for D.C.’s streetcar system.  Please help spread the word about this meeting via email, blogs, Facebook, Twitter or by printing and posting a copy of this flyer.

On Friday, Mayor Vincent Gray released his first budget, and there is good news for the future of streetcars in D.C.  His capital budget includes $99.3 million toward construction of streetcar lines in four corridors over the next five fiscal years (FY2012-17).  This is unexpected good news in an otherwise bleak year for D.C.’s budget.

The cover of the capital budget document also includes a photo of a streetcar, and the budget narrative includes a compelling rationale for why streetcars will be a good investment for the District’s future:

“The DC Streetcar system will enhance mobility for city residents, accommodate continued growth in population and employment, greatly improve access to jobs, connect neighborhoods and activity centers, and support sustainable economic growth for the District of Columbia.”

It goes on to state:

“The streetcar will also stimulate more intense mixed-use developement along streetcar corridors, consistent with the city’s Comprehensive Plan. The system will serve as a catalyst for encouraging a pattern of high-quality, transit-oriented development and strengthening neighborhoods across the city.”

Clearly, this is only a downpayment on D.C.’s planned 37-mile streetcar system.  The D.C. government will need to continue to seek federal funding and financial contributions from the business community.  But this budget demonstrates a commitment to moving forward.  And it goes a long way towards erasing Mayor Gray’s streetcar funding nightmare last year and signaling to streetcar advocates that he’s a supporter too.

After’s Mayor Gray’s transition team recently issued a report – which stated that D.C.’s “three trolleys that were purchased cannot be used because they do not meet federal ADA requirements” — I wrote a message to Mayor Gray submitted via his “Ask the Mayor” webform on February 18.  In it, I asked the mayor to explain why his transition team stated that D.C.’s three streetcars are not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and, if the statement was inaccurate, I urged him to direct his transition team to immediately correct the misstatement.

Eleven days later, on March 1, a special assistant to the mayor finally responded to my inquiry with an e-mail that did not answer my questions.  Instead, he referred me to the District Department of Transportation’s Interim Director Terry Bellamy to answer the question — even though he would not have been involved in preparing the transition team report.  Bellamy responded to my message in less than one hour by stating that D.C.’s three streetcar vehicles are in fact ADA-compliant.

Now that DDOT has confirmed what most of us suspected — that his transition team was wrong on this point — Mayor Gray should set the record straight that D.C. can use the streetcars the District already owns.  His transition team co-chairs Cellerino Bernardino and Thomas Downs should still answer for the misstatement in their report.  This also calls into question whether there are other inaccuracies in their report.

On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported on the release of Mayor Vincent Gray’s transition team report on transportation and infrastructure, which is highly critical of how the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) implemented the streetcar initiative in previous mayoral administrations.  The report, which was authored by Cellerino Bernardino and Thomas Downs, charges that DDOT has “skirted accountability and mismanaged the the transportation capital program, violating District law.”  It goes on to criticize DDOT for undertaking “high-profile projects” like streetcars “without adequate planning or funding[.]”

The report betrays the authors’ ignorance of the history of streetcar planning on H Street and Benning Road NE when it states that “trolley tracks have been installed on H Street NE without provision for electric power, a storage/maintenance facility, or a way for the trolleys to turn around.”  This ignores the fact that it was the community, led by five Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, that asked the city to install streetcar tracks as part of the Great Streets streetscape renovation already planned for H Street and Benning Road NE.  This was during the administration of former Mayor Anthony Williams.  As part of the construction on H Street and Benning Road, DDOT has been incorporating infrastructure for poles to hold overhead wires that will provide the electric power for streetcars.  While it is true that DDOT had to play catch up to identify a storage and maintenance facility and turnarounds at either end of the H Street-Benning Road line, the transition team seems oblivious of the fact that DDOT presented its solutions to these issues to the community in April 2010 and to the D.C. Council in October 2010.

The kicker is that the transition team’s report states without any elaboration that “[t]he three trolleys that were purchased cannot be used because they do not meet federal ADA requirements.”  That is a dubious statement given that the same Skoda-Inekon streetcars are already in use in cities like Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington.  Recently departed DDOT Director Gabe Klein responded to the Gray transition team report in an Examiner article on Monday calling the report’s accusations “wholly inaccurate” and stating that the accusation that D.C.’s streetcar vehicles are not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act “absolutely false.”

Mayor Gray and his transition team must set the record straight.  If these three streetcar vehicles cannot be used — which would delay the opening of the H Street-Benning Road streetcar line beyond 2012 – then Mayor Gray should give the public a complete explanation as to why his team believes that is the case.  If this statement is inaccurate then Mayor Gray should direct his transition team to correct the report immediately.

Yesterday, the Committee of 100 on the Federal City, which opposes overhead wires to power streetcars, released a lengthy report titled “Building a World-Class Streetcar System for a World-Class City,” which provides the group’s assessment of the likely routes and makes other recommendations (not surprisingly that D.C.’s streetcar system should use an overhead wire-free propulsion system.)

A City Paper article about the report notes that the authors “drove every one of the system’s 37 miles, and analyzed each component route with respect to historic and economic designations, land use, building design, transit availability, parking, and of course, overhead wires.”  It is telling that the authors conducted a “windshield survey” (as the methodology section of the report describes it) of the routes rather than taking the bus, riding bikes or walking.

Despite the auto-centric perspective through which the information was gathered, the report makes a positive contribution to the public dialogue about D.C.’s planned streetcar system.  It is certainly progress to have the Committee of 100 publicly supporting a “World-Class Streetcar System.”  Only last year, Committee of 100 chair George Clark testified at a D.C. Council hearing in opposition to streetcars, citing a number of reasons besides overhead wires, and he made thinly veiled threats about suing the city to block streetcar implementation.

In stark contrast to that position, yesterday’s report concludes that “[o]verall, the 37-miles of proposed routes make sense and should boost investor confidence in many areas of the city that need new centers of economic life.”  It recommends further study and changes to several routes, including in the Anacostia, Capitol Hill and Takoma neighborhoods and at the junction of the H Street-Benning Road line with Union Station.  The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) is already in dialogue with the Anacostia community to re-examine the route of the planned streetcar extension there, which is a positive step.

The report is peppered with negative references to overhead wires, and it calls on DDOT to commission another assessment of wireless propulsion technologies (such an assessment was conducted last year although the authors seem to believe wireless technologies have made greater progress than the assessment found.)

Streetcar lines are known for their ability to spur economic development, and transit thrives on greater density, but the report hints at the Committee of 100′s nervousness about increasing density.  The report states that “[c]ommunities adjacent to streetcar corridors should not be rezoned to achieve inappropriate increased density or threatened with large-scale development the Comprehensive Plan” although it notes that in “selective cases” rezoning may be warranted.  What level of density is inappropriate is likely to be in the eye of the beholder.

The report makes an important point that the city should use public policy to ensure that low-income residents are not displaced from their neighborhoods when streetcar lines are constructed and property values likely increase.

It’s hard to argue with several of the report’s recommendations, including that DDOT should: (1) develop a streetcar business, financial and governance plan and an equipment and facilities master plan; (2) comply with the National Environmental Policy Act; and (3) engage the public in substantive dialogue in a systematic and ongoing manner.

Left to right: Lance Brown, Brad Green, Councilmember Sekou Biddle and Jason Broehm.

Councilmember Sekou Biddle (D-At Large) dropped in on the Sierra Club’s streetcar happy hour at SOVA on Thursday.  He spoke positively about streetcars, echoing comments he made the day before in a live chat on Greater Greater Washington (see 1:57 to 2:00 of the chat).

On Thursday, January 26 between 6:00 and 8:00 pm, the Sierra Club’s Washington, D.C. Chapter will hold a streetcar happy hour at SOVA (1359 H Street NE).  Join fellow streetcar supporters for a drink, toast recent successes, and informally discuss what we need to do to keep streetcars “on track” (yes, it’s an almost unavoidable pun given the history of streetcars in D.C.)

Last Tuesday, the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) — together with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) — held a public meeting at Savoy Elementary School in Anacostia to kick off the public process for Phase 2 of the Anacostia Streetcar Environmental Assessment and Historic Preservation Study.  The assessment and study are required under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in order for D.C. to be eligible for federal transportation funds for the extension of the initial segment of the 0.75-mile streetcar line that is under construction between Barry Farm and the Anacostia Metrorail station along Firth Sterling Avenue.

The proposed Phase 2 would extend the streetcar line from the Anacostia Metrorail station through Anacostia to the 11th Street Bridge.  According to the DC Streetcar System Plan approved by the D.C. Council late last year, in a later phase of the project, the streetcar line would be extended across “the Anacostia River to the developing Navy Yard/ Near Southeast activity center and Capitol Hill.”

Although the DC Streetcar System Plan shows the route for the Phase 2 extension following Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., which many community members apparently believe is too narrow for streetcars, DDOT officials stated that this route is not set in stone, and they expressed an interest in listening to community input for suggestions of a better route.

Following introductory remarks, DDOT and its contractors led breakout discussions with community members and others in attendance at eight or nine tables to gather input on general issues about the many changes that will affect the Anacostia community, what residents would like to see in their community, and what they think about streetcars.

While DDOT officials appear optimistic that the Anacostia community will embrace streetcars and find an acceptable route for the Phase 2 extension, I did not leave the meeting feeling nearly as optimistic.  Both at my table during the breakout session and in the final portion of the meeting during which each table reported out the comments and views expressed during the breakout discussions, I heard loud opposition to streetcars.  Some feared that streetcars on Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive would eliminate parking spaces or hinder traffic flow.  Others feared the arrival of streetcars would lead to the elimination of existing bus routes that serve the community.  It’s hard to know for certain if this was a vocal minority or a true representation of the majority view in the community.  Although some community members spoke in support of streetcars, at least at this meeting of 100 or so people (many DDOT staff and contractors), they appeared to be the minority.  I believe that the opposition to streetcars in Anacostia is partly due to the fact that since the project was first unveiled, the community has received conflicting information about the project and whether it would be routed on Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive or on the nearby CSX rail line.

One thing gives me hope.  I heard from a number of community members — including streetcar opponents — that they want more businesses to come to their community, and streetcar lines are well known for their ability to attract new businesses in other cities.  If DDOT can make the case to the Anacostia community that a streetcar line through the heart of their community can help attract the kind of new businesses — like sit down restaurants, retail and other amenities — that residents desperately want, then there may still be hope.  It would be ironic if the Anacostia community were to prevent this streetcar line from coming to its community and lose out on the opportunity for economic progress that the line could help attract.

A City Paper reporter attended the meeting and published an article about it, and it looked like a local TV news crew was there, but most of the media seemed to take a pass on the meeting.

This week, the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) unveilled a new website and Twitter feed for the DC Streetcar to provide D.C. residents with regular updates about DDOT’s progress building out the 37-mile streetcar system.

The Washington Post’s D.C. Wire blog reported yesterday that Gabe Klein, who recently resigned as director of the District Department of Transportation (DDOT), is considering running in the April 26 special election to fill the at-large D.C. Council seat recently vacated by Kwame Brown when he was sworn in as Council Chairman.  In a chaotic process on January 6, the D.C. Democratic State Committee (comprised of 80 Democratic insiders), selected Sekou Biddle, an education expert from Ward 4, to fill the at-large Council seat until D.C. voters have the opportunity to elect a replacement in the special election.

Klein was a very progressive DDOT director, who was responsible for reinvigorating D.C.’s lagging streetcar planning and implementation efforts.  He also focused on promoting a range of options to get around D.C. easily without a car such as expanding Circulator bus service, establishing the popular Capital Bikeshare program, and designating new bike lanes, including innovative approaches like the 15th Street bike lane that is separated from traffic by parked cars.

Klein’s entry into the Council race could excite and energize voters across the District who share his vision for a more livable city.