Drano showers

I was in Washington DC March 9th through the 13th to attend the National Bike Summit. The Summit itself could have been better organized but I suppose one could say that conferences I've helped put together could have been better organized. The best part of any conference is generally the kibitzing with other attendees between sessions, at meals, and of course at the beer bar!

One of the most interesting breakouts I attended was one about an initiative from Sweden called Vision Zero. It has been implemented in the US in LA, San Fran, Seattle, Portland, NY, and Chicago. In Sweden it is a collaborative plan by government and business leaders to reduce fatalities inside a city's (could be a State or County) infrastructure.
The Salt Lake County Mayor is interested in the concept and I have pulled some information to share with him. Visit:www.visionzeroinitiative.com/  

A part of the trip to DC was to visit the Hill, as conference attendees, and talk with our delegation trying to garner support for funding of TAP and Vision Zero. Having worked on the Hill in the Senate, during a time when Congress was not mired down in partisan crap, I knew how to approach staffers. The chances of actually speaking to a Member is poor unless you have considerable stroke, influence, and of course money. Our delegation staffers were friendly as only members of the Utah Big Business Bureau (religion) can be.

Being in DC brought back memories of living in the area when I worked as a Senate staff (environmental staffer to Bennett), worked at CEQ, and in the Department of the Interior.  Most of my blended family of seven children experienced DC in ways that most families can't. I had recollections of visiting museums, seeing the cherry trees in full bloom, going to civil war sites, peering from the octagonal window in the capital that looks down the mall at the Washington Monument (this is not in the regular tour package), and being inside the Jefferson memorial late at night when it was struck by lightning.

You can't just walk into the Capital to look at the art work anymore. It is in lock down. You have to be a part of a tour group!  Paranoia and capitalism have conspired to take away access by citizens to the symbol of, one could argue, the most powerful building in the world.

Every American should visit the capital and be in the gallery of the Senate or House when they are in session. The capital will inspire you,sitting in the gallery will probably bore you to death, but it will change your perspective of government in action!

But being in DC also brought back memories of late night deal-making (I was successful in getting Bennett to support a wilderness bill for Utah that later got him pooped on by the rest of the Utah delegation), and the sliminess of dealing with the influence peddlers (lobbyists). When I left DC after my Hill job I had serious power withdrawal! No one person should have that kind of power.

So, remembering my own experience in navigating on the hill and the Interior Dept, and how that memory made me feel, this March, I came home and took an hour long metaphorical shower in Drano!