For those of you who were re-elected to office, you will recall my deep concern with all of the changes imposed upon Mosby Woods, from street renamings, to conversion of our neighborhood street to a neighborway, to an asinine proposal to construct a roundabout at the entrance to our neighborhood on a road which terminates in our neighborhood, to installing signs and reflective posts all up and down Fair Woods Parkway. These efforts were done in an attempt to facilitate bicycle traffic from the George Snyder Trail through our neighborhood to the other key points including the Vienna metro station. All along, we were told how important the neighborway was to the trail network, to bicyclists, and to overall connectivity.
Now, there is an effort within our neighborhood to stop the construction of the George Snyder Trail west of Fair Woods Parkway.
I am opposed to this.
To cancel construction of the trail connection between Eaton and Fair Woods would be completely contrary to every argument the City made in advancing the Neighborway.
I understand some residents may prefer extending the sidewalk along Fairfax Boulevard to allow for bicyclists. In reviewing City Code, section 98-15, bicycles are prohibited from traveling on sidewalks in the City. In fact, it was this argument that was made by the City when it painted markings all along Fair Woods Parkway to designate shared roadway between bicyclists and drivers. How, then, can the City now even begin to contemplate designating the sidewalk along a major thoroughfare for bicycle use?
The City moved forward with removing trees to allow for stream restoration and trail improvements east of Fair Woods Parkway, which is surrounded by condos and further to the east, townhomes. Certainly, a City that loudly advocates for equity and renamed streets in our neighborhood explicitly for this purpose would not now abandon its allegiance to equity and fairness to the less advantaged by completely changing up its stance regarding trail connectivity. Certainly, the Council will not apply different decision criteria west of Fair Woods Parkway which is surrounded by single family homes.
My home has street markings in front of it for shared used of the roadway with bicyclists and I see signs exiting my neighborhood pointing to the George Snyder Trail at its crossing with Fair Woods Parkway. The arrows point west as well as east.
I am looking forward to using the trail which has been fiercely defended and advocated by the City for years. To abandon the project now and push it to a sidewalk on a heavily trafficked road and in direct violation of City Code would be an incredible statement of how the City and its elected officials simply use whatever argument is convenient to use at any given point in time, and how superficial was its street renamings and proclamations of honoring equity.
If the City truly values fairness, it will provide access to ALL in the City for its trails, and it will impact ALL equally in constructing them.
Build the trail as proposed with a path connecting from Eaton through the woods and linking up with Fair Woods Parkway. Don’t push people onto a busy boulevard because single family homeowners don’t want a trail in their backyard.
In the words of the former U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone, “We all do better when we all do better.”
