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There are several photos of bad bike parking situations (along with some good old fashion agit-prop from my very own cycling team) here:
http://www.racingunion.org/CommentView,guid,7063c31d-f447-452c-8af6-d7bc51df03ee.aspx

and here:

http://www.racingunion.org/PermaLink,guid,74aae1ae-8128-44c6-ba02-137c4efc0df9.aspx

Just thought I'd share.

Here's some nice racks... we're looking into them for Montgomery County...
http://www.timberform.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=content.display&pageID=108

I like the dignified Green Bollard Cyloops.

What's wrong with parking meters or street signs? There are so many poorly designed bike racks, I'd take a simple post any day. There's almost always one when you need it (except in Georgetown) and they don't clutter the sidewalk.

Well, in the case cited here, I think in fact the bike would be removed if it was locked to a street sign, although this particular case isn't so much a problem in the city.

However, I would disagree with your suggestion that, with posts, there's almost always one available and they don't clutter the sidewalk. I remember, for instance, back in August I was trying to find a place to lock my bike in Adams Morgan - all the posts within sight were already plenty full of locked bikes and, given how narrow the sidewalks are there, they most certainly do clutter the sidewalks. Add to that the fact that many of the posts are in flower beds and tree boxes and you combine the matter with another issue that was recently discussed here.

So, sure posts work in a lot of areas -- maybe even most. But I think where there's a lot of cases where that's just not good enough.

I guess a lot of this is also about attitude - if you have a business and you install a bike rack, you're communicating something positive.

I would say there are several things wrong with parking meters and street signs. First thing that comes to mind is, I can hear in the back of my mind my Dad saying over and over again "For every job there is one exactly right tool." This usually followed him catching us using a wrench as a hammer or trying to screw in a phillips screw with a flat screwdriver. But also:
1) Parking Meters are on their way out. They're being replaced with the multi-spot kiosk style meters. In some case the post are converted to bike parking and that's great. But others are being removed and it's not just here in DC but Nationwide.
2) Parking meters are hard to lock to. I have the short U-lock and I usually have to get all A-Team on it to lock my bike up.
3) Street signs aren't that secure. I have heard stories (urban legends?) of people removing the sign on top and lifting the bike up the sign to steal it.
4) Neither of these allow for one to easily lock the bike in two places. An well designed bike rack does (obviously, I'm against poorly designed ones).

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