WSBC Meeting Tues Dec 2

Monthly meeting, Tuesday December 2

6:30 to 8:00 pm

Homestreet Bank,  SW Alaska St at 41st Ave SW

Open meeting – you are invited and welcome to plan activities and meet others who are working to make it easy and safe to use a bike to get around West Seattle and beyond.

We need volunteers for:

  • advocacy to city agencies
  • participation and presentations for neighborhood associations;
  • writing stories;
  • taking pictures;
  • making maps;
  • graphic design;
  • grant applications for street and trail improvements;
  • representing us with our partners at Seattle Neighborhood Greenways and Sustainable West Seattle;
  • setting organizational tools and accounts,
  • leading or volunteering at events like Alki Summer Streets and Fiestas Patrias;
  • baking cookies for Bike to Work day;
  • working with businesses and schools on bike parking and safe routes to school and Bike Month;
  • helping organize new Greenways groups;
  • welcoming and following up with people who “join us” or “like” us online;
  • organizing or leading social rides around West Seattle;
  • organizing or working at DIY trail maintenance projects;

All these are potential meeting topics, but even if you can’t make an evening meeting, you can offer to volunteer in something that interests you, by email to us directly at westseattlebikeconnections@gmail.com

Vigil Walk for Zeytuna – Columbia City

Some of us participated in a walk and meeting today for second grader Zeytuna Edo, still hospitalized over a month after a hit and run driver hit her in the marked, signalized crosswalk at S Genesee and MLK. We were there supporting her family and neighbors, with Rainier Valley Greenways, Seattle Neighborhood Greenways, Mayor Murray, Councilmember Harrell, Anthony Auriemma, SDOT Director Scott Kubly, Bikeworks, and members of other groups advocating for safe streets. This intersection has lights, crosswalks, safety islands. The community expressed demands for  lower speeds, police enforcement, and drivers who will focus their attention on driving and take responsibility for their actions. DSC05326 DSC05320 DSC05301 DSC05304

35th Ave SW Safety Corridor – time for input

One car crash every 3.4 days for the past 10 years. 40% of the crashes include injuries, many to people trying to cross on foot or on bikes, and five fatalities.

Initial public input meeting on 35th Avenue SW Safety Corridor Project last night: Well attended, well moderated by Jim Curtin, SDOT project manager, who lives on the corridor.
See the WS Blog today for a full illustrated report including the city’s slides.

Send your ideas, comments, questions to jim.curtin@seattle.gov.

Repeat of this input meeting:  Tuesday, October 28th, 3:30-5 pm at Southwest Branch Library on 35th at SW Henderson

It was good to see Kathy Dunn, Sakaru Tsuchiya, Aaron Goss, Joe Szilagyi, Amanda Helmick, Chas Redmond and Cathy Tuttle of Seattle Neighborhood Greenways at the meeting.

Here are some comments from Joe, who lives just off 35th in High Point and rides with his young daughter on board:

“35th ave SW is very dangerous road to bike on.  In fact, it is the only street in West Seattle that I will not bike even one block.  Cars drive very fast and there is no bike lane.  No sharrows.  No safe place to ride.  I am constantly seeing smashed parked cars by the side of the road.

“That being said – 35th Ave SW is bordered by very low volume streets that are a joy to bike on.  For example, if you want to bike from Highpoint to Westwood, you can take 30th or 31st and have a pleasant and safe ride.  We do it all the time.  As much as I’d love for every street to be bike friendly, I wonder if that’s a reasonable goal for 35th.  My thought is let the cars stay on 35th and that way the bikes are able to safely use the side roads.

“Now… pedestrians and bikes will need to cross 35th.  So there are improvements that need to be made.  And 35th needs to be made safer for motorists as well.  So I applaud and support the efforts to make 35th safer.  I just don’t see making 35th ave SW biker friendly as a reasonable goal given the excessive volume of cars.  But I trust the WSBC leadership.  So I’ll be behind whatever approach the group thinks is the best for the community.”

from Don:
We can follow the lead of the Central Area group that is getting greenways built parallel to 23rd Ave before the re-do of 23rd. It helps prevent those quiet residential streets from becoming a short cut for car traffic, and provides a safe place to walk and ride while the road construction happens, and forever after for those who don’t want to ride on busy arterials.

I rode from downtown Tuesday night to my granddaughter’s birthday party in Arbor Heights west of 35th. From Avalon, I rode 36th/37th going there. It’s got some big uphills going south, but it works. Going home I took 34th all the way to Graham, used the sidewalk from Graham to the library, crossed there to 36th, and went back to Alaska on 36th/37th, then over to Alki.  Very pleasant and direct at night. 34th is not as hilly as 36th/37th. 34th is a great connector for three schools, HP Library, HP Community Center, churches,  parks, etc.

Wednesday, i rode from downtown and WS Bridge trail onto the Delridge sidewalk, then down to 26th Ave Greenway, then west to 30th, up the hill (walking my heavy bike up the really steep block of Snake Hill) and up through High Point to Neighborhood House.  Went back on Morgan to 34th and the same way as previous night.  That’s three good routes parallel to 35th that already work really well, and would be better if they had greenway treatment and signals at busy street crossings for rush hour crossing.

Aaron Goss (Aaron’s Bike Repair) was at the meeting. He commutes daily along 35th by bike and is obviously experienced. He likes it because 35th is less hilly, and wants bike lanes and center turn lanes and one regular traffic lane each way.

There’s a repeat of this input meeting next week.3:30-5 pm at Southwest Branch Library on 35th at SW Henderson

Another Public Meeting for White Center Bike Corral

Good turnout of merchants and customers at White Center public meeting on the bike corral 8/26. Thank you to Sili Savusa, Executive Director of White Center Community Development Association, for leadership and Sokha for moderating the lively discussion. Thanks to Theresa and Jason Beaulieu, Lyanne, Joe, Marlowe, Isabel, Charity and family, Matt, Aaron, Gregg, Alex, Billy, Lynn, Don, and others who showed up to support the owners of Proletariat Pizza and Cafe Delia and let the other merchants know why a bike corral will make it easier to be their customers and will add customer parking to the business district on 16th. 

This was a repeat of the required public meeting held at Luso’s on June 17 for the grant that was awarded in March.

SeveralDSC04290 DSC04287 DSC04286 DSC04295 merchants have concerns about losing two car parking spaces, As Joe pointed out, if 12 customers park bikes instead of parking cars, in the same space as two cars, that actually frees up 5 to 10 car parking spaces for others to use.

Merchant concerns, especially from Smoke Town tobacco store and Stan’s Adult Superstore, were loss of car parking; the number of vagrants in the alley that make it feel unsafe for employees to park there; the lack of County enforcement of the 2-hour time limit that results in non-customer all day car parking in many spaces on the block. Some of the all-day parking is by shop owners and employees who choose not to park away from the businesses. Brian, who owns the record store, went out looking this afternoon and sketched two alternative bike rack locations at curb bulbs,

Sili Savusa described next steps to reach a community solution, including sitting down with Theresa and Brian to look at the design that was submitted for the grant that was approved last March (!) and comparing it to the ideas from Brian and others tonight.

All agreed that there are deeper issues of law enforcement, homelessness, crime, lack of Sherriff Department staffing and county neglect of White Center business district that go way beyond the bike parking issue. Elizabeth Gordon invited participants to attend an upcoming North Highline Unincorporated Area Council meeting with the Sherriff’s office to give them the message of what White Center wants to see most to address the issues.

Mon 7/21 Meeting with SDOT – Fauntleroy Boulevard Project

Monday, July 21, 6:30 to 7:45 pm

at West Seattle Branch Library, 2306 42nd Ave. S.W.  (north of Admiral Way and Metropolitan Market)

West Seattle Bike Connections and West Seattle Transportation Coalition are meeting with SDOT representatives to review and provide input to redesign of Fauntleroy Way SW from 35th Ave SW to SW Alaska Street.

Open meeting.
http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/FauntleroyWySWBlvd.htmFauntleroy-Way-Green-Blvd_Color_Cross-Sections_062714

Tuesday, July 1 – WSBC Monthly Meeting

6:30 to 8:00 pm
HomeStreet Bank, 41st Ave SW & SW Alaska St, Seattle WA 98116

Open meeting. You are invited to join us for planning activities and events, including the West Seattle mini-STP, meetings with SDOT on Fauntleroy Way SW, bike corral projects, funding to implement the Bicycle Master Plan in West Seattle, SODO and South Park, and more.

Thank you, HomeStreet Bank, West Seattle Junction!

Help Support a Bike Corral in White Center!

Bike corrals are great for business!
Bike corrals are great for business!

On Tuesday, June 17th*, 6pm at Luso Food and Wine (9614 16th Ave SW) we are meeting with local residents and business owners along 16th Ave to discuss the need for a bike corral in White Center.   We’d like to encourage more families and cyclists to ride into the neighborhood.

The community has been approved money from a grant by King County to have two parking places turned into a bike corral to accommodate bike parking on 16th Avenue.  This is our chance to inform the business owners that we really do want to ride our bikes more and would frequent the area by bike if there was a bike corral.

If you are a cyclist, someone who thinks about using your bike for more errands, a family that thinks about riding to White Center with your family, or you are a family that rides please come join us in support.  White Center is a great place to visit and is becoming better every year.

Let’s bring better bicycle parking to White Center!


* Luso will be open on Tuesday for this meeting even though they are typically closed that day.

WSBC Monthly Meeting – Tuesday June 3

6:30 to 8:00 pm
Homestreet Bank at 41st SW and SW Alaska
open meeting – you are invited and welcome.
Agenda includes planning for summer events and advocacy for West Seattle, SODO and South Park bike facilities and routes.

Meeting agenda and notes can be found here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GYAz2E-rN1bpOKq1hPQFoK9Bn8fldqpxNsNvQwQIh3E/edit?usp=sharing

School Road Safety

West Seattle Blog reported on the School Road Safety Meeting last night at the Southwest Library. Besides their reporter, only  four citizens attended. Three are members of West Seattle Bike Connections: Jay Guettler,  Theresa Beaulieu, and  Craig Rankin.  Theresa and Craig are parents actively involved with safe routes to Denny MS and the K-5 STEM program at Boren.

from Theresa’s notes:

I would like to see more parents, teachers and community members/groups involved. These improvements around schools are going to be great opportunity for change around our culture and how kids get to school. If schools are safe to get to via walking or biking and it is challenging to drive close to schools, then more parents will feel it is safe to allow their kids to ride a bike, scooter, skateboard or walk to school.

One thing that resonated with me that the West Seattle Blog did not cover is that the posted signs and cameras that are going up around schools are for 20 mph, and actually have a leeway before a ticket is issued, even though studies show that at 20 miles per hour, 9 out of 10 pedestrians who are hit by a car will survive,  but the death rate increases dramatically at greater speed.  That study only counts deaths, not major  injuries. 1 fatality for every 10 collisions is too high. All of us at the meeting agreed the cameras should be set to 15, NOT 20 mph, Note was taken.

Two more opportunities to learn and give input:

Tuesday, May 27 at 6 PM to 7:30 PM Northeast Branch Seattle Public Library, 6801 35th Ave NE
Thursday, May 29 at 6 PM to 7:30 PM Garfield Community Center, 2323 E Cherry St

WSBC meeting May 6 at 6:30

WSBC monthly meeting

Tuesday, May 6, 6:30 – 8:00 pm
HomeStreet Bank, SW Alaska St at 41st Ave SW, Seattle WA (map)
For discussion and planning of advocacy, events, activities.
Open meeting – you are invited!
Come find out how to get involved with our Bike to Work Day Commute Station, or the bike rodeo at Alki Summer Streets, or …