Summer '19 🚊
“Your FAILURE to mention bicycles ANYWHERE in your presentation shows that you care more about cars and parking spaces than you do people.”
This bold and cutting statement by RL during the Connecticut Ave Streetscape and Deck-Over public meeting drew cheers and a round of applause from the audience acting as the final nail in the coffin for DDOT, RK&K, and ZGF representatives. Last night, I had the opportunity to interact with community members (I think community members) during this public meeting and I am left with a few lingering questions and thoughts, while also taking away many lessons.
Questions. Who was at the meeting last night? Sure, there were about 75 people at the meeting, but I don’t know who they were. Did everyone belong to a community organization in Ward 2? Were people community members/neighbors themselves? Were people just DC cyclists with their own agenda? If so for any of these, my next important question is: who wasn’t in the room? Not people of color that is for sure. Now, this may accurately represent the actual demographics of Connecticut Ave but of the 75ish people present, six were black (five of who were on the project team!). Are the responses we received accurately based on the constituents and neighbors of this ward? I think one way to learn more about who is in the room is to ask- where at the start of the meeting itself or on the sign-in sheet. This could look like a column that asks who the person is affiliated with or give them some options. I understand that not everyone in the affected area can make it to the meeting, it is just I wouldn’t want to miss an important voice. This makes me wonder if this set-up is the best way to engage with the community. It is not only important to know that people come to these meetings but who they are. Everyone (most) are stakeholders in some regard.
Thoughts. The crowd (doesn’t necessarily mean the community of the affected area, but it could) wanted bike considerations. Any consideration and implementation of bicycle infrastructure would have been welcomed but nothing was offered. This angered the crowd leading to comments like the one stated at the top of this post. It was actually pretty awesome to see all the passion and demand for a desire in this community. This is sort of what I pictured community involvement to look like as an engineer – there is a desire in the community, a plan is proposed, the community provides details, engineers refine those details, repeat while moving forward towards a final design, then make it happen. I am interested in seeing the next steps. How does DDOT react? How do we as the contractors react to these demands? Do we have any significant roles?
Other thought I had was that these projects take SO LONG to happen. The idea for upgrading Connecticut Ave started a decade ago! The preliminary ideas and set up occurred in 2013. The first public meeting was 2018. Construction won’t start until 2021 and it won’t be complete until 2024. That is insane. A whole fourteen years for one street? I understand there are plenty of teams working on this and many stakeholders involved, each playing they’re own role, so this can take a while to coordinate.
Lessons. Throughout this meeting, I had the chance to not only learn about how the community cares about projects in their neighborhood, but also connect with several people. So far this internship, I have been bolder when reaching out to others and finding the best way to connect with them. During this public meeting, I met two people, VD and RL who not only discussed their passions with me, but also provided plenty of advice. Today, on my return to the office (a whole 10 hours since the meeting), I was able to form another meaningful relationship with a co-worker in the office because of my forward approach. Relationships are everything especially in this line of work.
“Everyone is technically qualified, but not everyone has the same connections”- CG.
I believe if I approach my professional life with this mindset, I can really make a difference wherever I go.