In a ground-breaking move, the District is joining Paris, Barcelona and Stockholm in implementing an urban bike-sharing system. SmartBike DC is the first bike-sharing program of its kind in the entire country, and it’s coming to a bike stand near you this April.

Essentially, the SmartBike program is an automated bike sharing system that works in the same manner as ZipCar or FlexCar where one becomes a member via phone or internet and pays an annual upfront fee of $39. A membership card can then be used to release a bike from one of 10 different kiosks. Bikes can then be rented for a period up to three hours, and in the initial phase, rental will be free, but it will likely increase to $1 to $2 per hour down the road. After use, bikes can then be returned to any of the 10 kiosks. Locations include Logan Circle, Gallery Place, Mt. Vernon Square, Dupont Circle, U Street, Shaw, Foggy Bottom, Metro Center, and McPherson Square.

The program is an initiative of the District Department of Transportation (DDOT), made possible through its bus shelter-advertising program. DDOT has entered into a unique contract with Clear Channel Outdoors, an international outdoor advertising company (yes, related to that Clear Channel), which developed the SmartBike Program. “This is an interesting contract. We are not paying Clear Channel anything for the contract, they are paying us,” says Jim Sebastian, DDOT’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Program Manager

In exchange for being allowed to advertise in the 500 or so sleek new bus shelters currently popping up around the District, Clear Channel is also paying for the implementation of the SmartBike program with a portion of the revenue earned from advertising in the bus shelters.

The motivation behind the program is to provide clean and convenient transportation options for District residents and visitors and to help relieve congestion, says Sebastian.

The locations for the kiosks were selected based on population density of residents, employees, and visitors in greater Downtown. During this initial phase, locations must be close together to create a network of rentals and drop offs between locations.

The shared-bike system in Paris has grown to 20,000 shared bikes in less than a year; the District’s bike sharing program is relatively small with 110 bikes in the initial phase. Currently the hours of availability are 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., which may be disappointing for those excited to use bike sharing during hours when public transportation is not running.

It may take a little while to determine what the ideal system for the District’s bike sharing should be, notes Eric Gilliland, Executive Director of the Washington Area Bicyclists Association.

“Starting with a smaller fleet and limited hours probably makes sense, but I think we should be open to the idea of expanding the number of locations and hours,” says Gilliland.

If the trend with bike sharing in European cities is any example, it will catch on quickly as a good transit option.

For it to be as effective a transit option as possible, Paul DeMaio of the DC-based bike sharing consultancy group MetroBike LLC says there should be more bikes, stations that are closer together, and less time allowed for free use. “Allowing three hours of free use for each check-out is generous, but it will limit the turnover of the bikes and therefore limit the number of customers using the bikes. With a shorter free period, such as 30 minutes, the bikes would be used for the trip and returned to a station more quickly.”

But for the time being, there is a lot of potential that exists with the debut of bike sharing in the District.

“We are just extremely excited and proud that this is going to be the first system of its kind in the country,” says Gilliland. “DC is really ahead of the curve on this one.”

For more information go to www.smartbikedc.com

Historic District Designation Poses Many Questions for Shaw
by Natasha Abbas

Even as the number of historic districts across the city continues to increase, the process of historic district zoning doesn’t seem to get any less complicated.

Members of the East Central Civic Association (ECCA) in Shaw recently organized a community discussion to address the issue of historic district zoning at their February 4th monthly meeting. The discussion focused around the Historic Preservation Office’s interest in expanding the U Street historic district and the question of historic district designation for Wiltberger Street and the 600 block of S Street NW.

One of the oldest neighborhood associations in the District, the ECCA historically included the area from N Street up to Rhode Island Avenue and from New Jersey Avenue to 7th Street, NW but has recently extended its boundaries to Florida Avenue. The meeting took place at Third Baptist Church, with approximately 40 community members in attendance. Speakers included Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans, representatives from the Mayor’s Office, the Office of Planning’s Historic Preservation Office (HPO) and Manna DC, as well as ECCA President Mahdi Leroy J Thorpe, Jr.

According to Thorpe, most Wiltberger Street residents have been aware that their neighborhood is being considered for historic district designation, however many of the residents on the 600 block of S Street had not been contacted by the HPO. Thorpe says the discussion was organized to include all community members in the neighborhood dialogue around historic district zoning. “We wanted those people to be notified and educated about the process and it was a good thing because they had not received any info from the DC HPO,” Thorpe told DC North.

If designated a historic district, the area would be subject to historic preservation regulations that restrict the types of modifications that can be made to housing stock. Annie Hill, a 47- year Shaw resident who attended the meeting, said residents expressed concerns about the cost of keeping property up to historic district regulations and were also worried about the loss of decision-making authority about home improvements. “I think most people who are against it feel they would lose their individuality as far as their property,” says Hill. “Not everyone can afford to keep their property as in tune as what the historic preservation office would require.”

Based on feedback from the residents in attendance, Thorpe says the ECCA will support the historic district designation of Wiltberger Street, but is opposed to the historic district designation of the 600 block of S Street.

However, some area residents say they were prevented from giving their input on the issue. Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Kevin Chapple, representing 2C02, was turned away from attending the meeting, and two other area residents were issued bar notices from the MPD when attempting to attend. Chapple said he was attempting to attend the meeting at the request of his constituents who reside on Wiltberger Street.

The historic district question has brought to light disagreement over neighborhood association boundaries and guidelines. According to Commissioner Chapple and Martin Moulton, a resident who was barred, Wiltberger Street falls outside the service area of the ECCA, and the HPO should have made the presentation to the ANC instead. They contend that Thorpe, who formerly served on the ANC and now serves as the executive assistant to the ANC Chair Doris Brooks, insisted that the HPO present the issue to the ECCA first.

Thorpe told DC North that the areas under consideration for a historic district do indeed fall within new ECCA boundaries. “Contrary to what people believe, we have expanded our ECCA boundaries to go north as far as Florida Avenue. They are definitely in our boundaries.”

Asked about the reasons for barring community members from attending the meeting, Thorpe explained that meeting and membership guidelines had been repeatedly broken at past meetings, by creating constant disruptions that disrespected the organization and other meeting attendees.

“It is a historic African American Civic Association open to all community members that live in the boundaries.” Anyone is welcome to join regardless of race, says Thorpe, adding, “but they do have to respect the organization and the place that they have the meetings.”

“When you have people who come and disrupt the meetings it is a little bit disheartening,” says Annie Hill. “It’s not fair to the people that go there to the meetings to hear what is going on…”

According to Chapple, if that is the case, then city officials should not attend the ECCA meetings either. “If members of the community can not attend then essentially it is a private club and if that is the case then the Mayor’s office, Councilmember Evans’ office, members of the MPD should not be there to brief the community on what is going on if the community is not invited.”

Councilmember Evans’ office did not return calls for comment.

The historic district zoning issue must now go before the ANC, though it is not on the March meeting agenda according to the ANC website. Once HPO finalizes the proposed boundaries and determines whether it recommends including the 600 block of S Street, the proposal will go before the historic district preservation review board.

Annie Hill has been in the neighborhood long enough to remember the Howard Theatre in its original glory, but says she has her reservations about the effects of historic district designation. “At the end of the day who reaps the most benefit; is it the homeowner who can barely afford to make it with the types of property taxes that keep going up and the mortgages that keep going up?” wonders Hill.