It seems like people have figured out a way to dump stuff into the Chesapeake Bay and get away with it. Apparently all they have to do is call whatever they are dumping a "habitat" or an "artificial reef" and everyone is ready to give them the Al Gore Award for environmental sensitivity. Last year the contractors at the Wilson Bridge dumped 50,000 tons of concrete into various locations in the Bay. This concrete was actually envied by the watermen on the Bay who saw it as a way of bringing back some of the breeding grounds for fish and other organisms vital to the ecosystem there. OK, I get it. Concrete is like stones or rocks. Other than some of the reinforcing bars inside it it's not likely to rust or corrode and create its own problems. Still, it's like Tom Sawyer getting the other kids to paint the fence.
I'm not sure I buy into the latest versions of "artificial reefs" but everybody seems to be happy with them, including the fish. Last Friday, 44 New York City subway cars were dumped into the bay about 21 miles off the coast of Ocean City, Maryland. These dirty, rusty looking beasts are little more than junk and yet they are seen as a way of revitalizing several species of fish and even Maryland's sport fishing industry. Unlike concrete, these old subway cars would seem more prone to rusting and fouling the very waters they hope to save. It has apparently worked up in Delaware where a 600-car reef, according to Reuters, has increased the local fish population by 400 times (not percentage, but 400X). The interesting thing is that this new reef is in a place way out in the ocean called Jackspot which is where a lot of people used to go in search of big marlin and other game fish. Oh yeah, New York had to spend about $8,000 to clean all the oils, lubricants and other potentially harmful stuff off the cars before they could be dumped into the bay. Even still it just seems weird to me to have all these things being dumped into the bay when, for so many years, groups have been fighting against such action.
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It's good to see that the District is going to try to come up with a plan to reduce the number of pedestrians struck and killed in the city. It's too bad that, once again, it waited until the problem got so bad. There is, and has been for many years, a serious problem in the District and it's only when it becomes serious (last year the number of pedestrians killed reached a five-year high) that something gets done. If some of the measures to be proposed had been implemented in the 61 targeted intersections maybe those people would not have died.
There is no solution for everything. I see people trying to run across the street in front of speeding cars and buses every day in the city. These people are putting their lives at risk in order to save the 30 or so seconds it would take to wait for the light to turn green. Unless the District can come up with a solution to impatience then the battle will continue to be lost. But there are a number of things that can be done to alert drivers in advance to intersections where there are pedestrians; to get them to slow down and stay alert. There is also much that needs to be done to get pedestrians to act properly; to not take risks and to realize the dangers that are inherent in using the same streets and cars, trucks and buses. No one should have to die just because they choose to walk but they also have to take some responsibility.
Steve Eldridge is a long-time reporter, observer and commentator on the Washington region's transportation issues. You can contact him directly by writing to: Steve@SprawlandCrawl.com. Unless otherwise requested, letters or portions of letters can be used within future columns. Letter writers will be identified by their first name and city/neighborhood.
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