Washington DC

Vincent C. Gray, Mayor
1350 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC

10/4/14

Dear Mr. Mayor,

My girlfriend and I were visitors of your fair district last month, and we were pleased by many things, some of which being the efficient light rail transit, the wonderful Capitol tour, and the magnificent landmarks and scenery. We were only there for two days, but we crammed in a lot and really enjoyed ourselves. I am, however, writing to you regarding a less than favorable experience we had there. 

On Sunday, September 7th, 2014, our plan was to visit the Holocaust Museum early, catch another site or two and then head on home. This plan was made exceedingly difficult by some sort of bicycle race that was taking place in the city at the time. Now, please bear in mind I am a huge proponent of exercise and physical fitness and whatnot, so I am not displeased with the city holding such an event. It was the manner in which it was held which was problematic.

You see, the Holocaust Museum was effectively cordoned off by streets dedicated to the bicycle race making it virtually inaccessible. We spoke with several of the police and crossing guards who were on the scene, and many of them had no idea how we could actually cross over to this section of town. We finally reached a spot where police were allowing people to cross, but were literally yelling at them to run across at full speed while there were brief spaces between cyclists. I found this to be not only dangerous, but absurd that pedestrians would actually be directed to do so by police. Apparently the officials in charge of this event were not so much concerned about elderly or disabled people needing to transverse the city at this time.

I understand that it is popular for cities to hold events of this nature so that their residents can participate, but at the same time, Washington DC is very much a weekend tourist destination, and to block off some of the attractions for an event like this makes little sense when tourists may have precious little time to see the city. This is especially egregious because there is so much unused green space on the mall which could be used to host races and physical activities. At the very least, some sort of pedestrian access bridge or an actual sensible system of crossing pedestrians would have been highly desirable.

Again, I do not begrudge the city hosting such an event. I just perceive it to have been done with less than sufficient forethought. I trust that if this is not something under your purview, you will forward it to the correct party on my behalf. I am not familiar with the jurisdictional minutia of the area. And I would bookend this by emphasizing that we had a great time otherwise. I just found this particular matter to be displeasing and deserving of some attention.

Thank you so much for your time and attention.

Sincerely,