As I have said several times, one of my great hopes that most Americans will become physically active enough for good health is the emergence of a vast network of recreational trails, especially those built on abandoned railroad rights of way. Here in suburban Washington, DC, we have a fine example--The Capital Crescent Trail, which stretches along an abandoned B&O Railroad spur from Georgetown in DC to the main East-West railroad tracks in Silver Spring, MD.
It now appears that the Eastern portion of the trail from Bethesda to Silver Spring is in danger of being taken over by a light rail transit line. The Maryland Department of Transportation wants to build this light rail line to relieve congestion on the beltway and other local roads and also make it easier to use transit to go from Silver Spring to Bethesda. Currently, transit riders between these two points must go into downtown DC and then out again on Metro's U-Shaped Red Line.
The State says it will use the space for both the trail and the transit line. However, at a gathering today sponsored by neighborhood groups who oppose the trail, I learned that my suspicion that this is an infeasible, environmentally-dangerous proposal is well-founded. As a frequent user, I opposed this joint transit-trail use proposal because I felt there would not be sufficient room for a two-track transit line and a trail of adequate width for all types of users (bikers, walkers, runners, mothers and fathers pushing strollers) moving in both directions. That initial belief proved correct as part of the trail is only 66 feet wide.
However, as the organizers of today's event clearly showed there are numerous other more complex problems with the proposal:
1. Numerous tall trees, some 100 years old, shade the trail and thereby make exercise on it more feasible in the heat of Washington summers and provide habitat for resident and migratory birds. All these trees would have to be cut down, thereby eliminating the shade and wildlife habitat.
2. The existing trail is on a crest of high ground. The south side of the right of way is depressed and would have to be filled in with thousands of tons of earth after the trees are cut down. The State would then face the challenge of preventing storm runoff into adjacent residences.
3. The trail now passes through a tunnel under Wisconsin Avenue and under the Air Rights Building. This separates trail users from motorized traffic above and no doubt prevents car-pedestrian and car-biker accidents. The State proposes that the trail and transit line pass through the tunnel. They propose to depress the existing grade of the tunnel to allow enough height for the transit trains to pass through and to put the trail in an enclosed, capsule-like space above the train part of the tunnel. It is not clear that there will be enough space for this given the current height of the tunnel without major structural work. In addition, for bikers, walkers and other trail users to reach their top tier of the tunnel, long ramps with grades gradual enough to meet ADA standards would have to be built on either side.
4. The small green area called Woodmont Plaza at the Bethesda end of the tunnel would be almost entirely taken up with an end turnaround point for the transit trains.
5. It is not certain that a bridge for the transit line would be built over Connecticut Avenue. If not, trains frequently crossing that busy street would tie up auto traffic even more than the B&O coal trains used to do.
6. Although at the Bethesda end of the transit line, a new entrance to the Metro Red LIne would be built for a convenient transfer, those who wished to transfer to Metrobuses at Bethesda would have to walk three blocks. The fare for either category of transfer riders would be high. What level of gas prices and time saving would be needed to justify using the transit line instead of a private car? There are no answers.
Hats off to Pam Browning who organized today's event via email and to Sam Schwartz who patiently and clearly explained the defects in the state's proposal to attending politicians and media personnel and to me and others nearby.
I was disappointed that neither the Coalition for the Capital Crescent Trail nor the Rails to Trails Conservancy were present or at least they did not make their presence known. However, the large attendance showed that people in Bethesda and Chevy Chase really do care. That was encouraging. Politicians, we'll be watching, listening, and showing our support for our local gem!
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Sunday, May 25, 2008
My First Game at Washington Nationals Park
In all the years that Washington didn't have a major league baseball team, the lack of a true hometown team left me with a certain empty feeling. Having grown up in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, for the first 44 years of my life until 1983, I was a devoted Boston Red Sox fan. I had moved to DC to pursue a career with Uncle Sam in '64, but kept up with the Sox until the Orioles took the World Series in '83. Then with DC still lacking a team, I figured my roots here in the mid-Atlantic were strong enough to switch to the Orioles, so I did, and the Orioles never got to the World Series after that. Even worse, they had 10 losing seasons from '98-'07. Finally in '05, the Expos came to Washington and were renamed the Nationals. Since then, despite the Nats being way down in their division except when they were briefly in contention in the '06 season, I don't feel that emptiness any more.
So I just had to get out for a game at their beautiful new ballpark before more of the season passed, and my wife and I went on Saturday night. I congratulate the Nats and the city for doing just about everything right to make going to a game at the park a nice experience.
We took the team's and city's recommendation to go via Metro, and the trip was easy despite a good size crowd. On the way, we had seats on both trains and had a short walk from the Metro to our seats. Next time we'll take the escalators from street level; walking up the ramps had us puffing a little, although it probably did us good. Total trip from our door in Bethesda to our seats at the park was about 1 hour 20 minutes. We easily could have spent that much time driving and parking and then getting to our seats, especially on a week night when we would be driving to the park against traffic during the rush hour. We had to stand on the more crowded trains part of the way home, but the trip home by car I believe would have been longer. The Metro staff were very good in their management of the crowd.
Ordering tickets on line was easy and the price for what turned out to be good seats was comparable to what we would pay for most live theater performances in and around DC I felt a little intimidated by the seven minute time limit for completing my ticket order. I am sure this would fluster even more someone even less computer savvy than I or someone who still has a dial up Internet connection. I was glad to be able to print out the tickets at home to avoid standing in line at a will-call window, which has not been a good experience in the past. However, I don't see why the NATs put on a $1.75 extra charge for doing that. After all, by printing tickets ourselves, we are saving them labor and paper costs.
Our seats gave us an unobstructed view of the entire field of play, and we could easily see every replay and information about the players on the giant TV screen. Those sitting in center field couldn't easily see the TV screen in back of them, but they could see a smaller electronic scoreboard along the third base line.
The Nats have taken steps to make their new park pro-environment. As a non-smoker, I appreciate their restricting smoking to certain designated areas. I well remember the clouds of smoke one could see against the lights at a night game at Fenway. I noticed a garden on the roof of one of the vending stands and wondered what was planted. I have also read in the press that the lights are the most energy efficient of any in baseball.
I thought the food and drink prices were high. $7.50 for a beer and $4 for a bag of peanuts seem excessive. My wife and I had chicken sandwiches, which had lettuce and tomato on them--fairly nutritious for ball park food, but my sandwich bun was cold and became soggy.
Still, it was a nice evening even though my new hometown team did not come out on top.
So I just had to get out for a game at their beautiful new ballpark before more of the season passed, and my wife and I went on Saturday night. I congratulate the Nats and the city for doing just about everything right to make going to a game at the park a nice experience.
We took the team's and city's recommendation to go via Metro, and the trip was easy despite a good size crowd. On the way, we had seats on both trains and had a short walk from the Metro to our seats. Next time we'll take the escalators from street level; walking up the ramps had us puffing a little, although it probably did us good. Total trip from our door in Bethesda to our seats at the park was about 1 hour 20 minutes. We easily could have spent that much time driving and parking and then getting to our seats, especially on a week night when we would be driving to the park against traffic during the rush hour. We had to stand on the more crowded trains part of the way home, but the trip home by car I believe would have been longer. The Metro staff were very good in their management of the crowd.
Ordering tickets on line was easy and the price for what turned out to be good seats was comparable to what we would pay for most live theater performances in and around DC I felt a little intimidated by the seven minute time limit for completing my ticket order. I am sure this would fluster even more someone even less computer savvy than I or someone who still has a dial up Internet connection. I was glad to be able to print out the tickets at home to avoid standing in line at a will-call window, which has not been a good experience in the past. However, I don't see why the NATs put on a $1.75 extra charge for doing that. After all, by printing tickets ourselves, we are saving them labor and paper costs.
Our seats gave us an unobstructed view of the entire field of play, and we could easily see every replay and information about the players on the giant TV screen. Those sitting in center field couldn't easily see the TV screen in back of them, but they could see a smaller electronic scoreboard along the third base line.
The Nats have taken steps to make their new park pro-environment. As a non-smoker, I appreciate their restricting smoking to certain designated areas. I well remember the clouds of smoke one could see against the lights at a night game at Fenway. I noticed a garden on the roof of one of the vending stands and wondered what was planted. I have also read in the press that the lights are the most energy efficient of any in baseball.
I thought the food and drink prices were high. $7.50 for a beer and $4 for a bag of peanuts seem excessive. My wife and I had chicken sandwiches, which had lettuce and tomato on them--fairly nutritious for ball park food, but my sandwich bun was cold and became soggy.
Still, it was a nice evening even though my new hometown team did not come out on top.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
A Wonderful Sportswomanlike Gesture
This article from the April 30 New York Times A Sporting Gesture Touches 'Em All touched me when I read it. A Western Oregon softball player Sara Tucholsky had never hit a home run before her team's game against Central Washington. However, she was unable to round the bases on her own because her knee buckled after she passed first base, so in a magnificent sporting gesture two opposing players carried her around the bases and gently lowered her so she could touch each base.
Had Sara not been carried around the bases, her team would have scored only two runs instead of three and she would have been credited only with a single.
What an example in this age of win at any cost!
Had Sara not been carried around the bases, her team would have scored only two runs instead of three and she would have been credited only with a single.
What an example in this age of win at any cost!
Monday, May 19, 2008
ACL Injuries in Children and Youth
An article in the February 18, 2008, New York Times by excellent health and fitness reporter Gina Kolata,A Big Time Injury Striking Little Players' Knees and another one in the Times for May 18 by Michael Sokolove The Uneven Playing Field deal with the rise in ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injuries in child and youth athletes. Formerly, ACL tears were thought to occur only in professional athletes. Not so any more in our age of highly intense, competitive youth sports! Both articles point to the intense specialization and near year-round competition in a single sport among elite youth athletes as a cause. Moreover, girls sustain these injuries far more commonly than boys. The articles are sending us a message that we ought to be concerned about the future of the athletes who sustain these injuries. Will they be able to exercise enough to be fit at mid-life or will they be hobbling on "trick knees" while telling their children and grandchildren of their past athletic glories? Sokolove, who has a book, Warrior Girls, coming out in June on the "macho" culture of girls' sports is particularly alarmed about the attitude that girls must tough out and play through athletic injuries to avoid losing the hard-won gains made in women's sports as a result of enforcement of Title IX. The articles stress how serious ACL injuries are and how much more difficult they are to treat in children and youth who have not stopped growing than in adults. Both also hold out hope that new training methods and surgical techniques will help prevent these injuries and make them easier to treat. Let's hope that coaches, especially girls basketball and soccer coaches, are quick to adapt the new training methods and the new surgical techniques are successful.
Still better, why not let youth sports be less competitive, more inclusive and more fun and leave playing through pain to professional athletes? And, why not let youth take at least one season off per year to rest or try another sport that stresses different muscle groups as groups like MomsTeam and the American Academy of Pediatrics keep recommending.
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