To the Editor:
Bravo and congratulations to the Alexandria City Council for rapidly installing the King Street hill bike lanes. The time between a small group of activists pushing for the lanes, council approval, and the spreading of green paint with white markings was incredibly fast. Some people complain that government is unresponsive and gets nothing done. Nonsense. Our City Council is a national model for spending money we don’t have on problems that don’t exist. I’ve lived in the city for 36 years. I don’t recall ever seeing many bike riders on the King Street hill. I haven’t seen any since the bike lanes were installed. Granted, I’m encumbered by having to work to pay taxes, and therefore can’t devote full-time to monitoring bike ridership, but based on the lack of weekend usage the bike lanes are worthless. I appreciate that this project only wasted what I estimate to be several thousand dollars. I figure the council is embarrassed by that small amount, but surely plans to make up for it with the lower King Street flood wall — cost “TBD,” or the Metro stop at Potomac Yards, cost to be excessive. I hope the council members don’t run their own finances like they run the city’s — because if they do, a trip to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court on S. Washington Street is in their future.
Edward M. Templeman