Category: Advocacy

Bike corral for West Seattle!

Thank you to DSC01701City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen and SDOT!

The West Seattle Junction is gaining a new amenity for our community. A “bike corral” for on-street bike parking will be coming soon to California Avenue SW at SW Alaska St in the heart of the West Seattle Junction. More customers will have convenient parking without congesting the sidewalks or taking away any car parking or loading zones.

Bikes are good for local business districts.  When we travel by bike, we shop and dine locally, instead of at malls and big boxes.  That is why Junction merchants and West Seattle Bike Connections have been working for this one for the past 18 months.

As Chair of the Transportation Committee, City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen helped navigate the many layers of SDOT to avoid another year of delay. According to Rasmussen’s staff member Anthony Auriemma, SDOT shared the following with the Councilmember:

”We will be issuing a work order to install the bike corral at the location agreed upon by the WS Junction Association and WS Bike Connections on the SE corner on California Ave SW at SW Alaska St.

  • This location is currently no parking anytime, so there is no impact to on-street parking.
  • The corral would prevent right turns on red at this all-way walk so it is a safety improvement.
[right on red is already illegal here]
  • This location is in the heart of the business district.

“The adjacent property is currently under construction and the developer had requested that we delay installation until after the building was completed.  We initially agreed, however, in light of the demand for on-street parking and bicycle parking we are moving forward with the installation. We will be working to develop a policy for temp removals due to construction.

I don’t know the specific date of the installation, but my understanding is that the work order is underway.”

This project has the support of the West Seattle Junction Association, the Junction Neighborhood Association (JuNO), West Seattle Bike Connections and West Seattle Transportation Coalition.   Of at least 25 bike corrals installed by SDOT since 2012, this will be the first in West Seattle.

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!

One bike corral for West Seattle – now!

onstreetbikeparking

 

 

 

 

 

 

BIKE CORRAL COUNT
2012      SEA     8    WS  0
2013      SEA    16   WS  0
2014      SEA    30   WS  0?   (projected.  25 now)

Bikes are good for local business districts.  When we travel by bike, we shop and dine locally, instead of at malls and big boxes.  Bike corrals are good for business. That’s why Seattle is installing bike corrals in local business districts.
Except in West Seattle.

Our West Seattle businesses deserve better treatment!

With the support of the West Seattle Junction Association merchants, we have been working for 18 months to get SDOT to install one bike corral at the busiest block in the Junction. The Junction Neighborhood Association and the West Seattle Transit Coalition have joined us in this effort.  All we are asking for is one bike corral in West Seattle. The only timeline we have from SDOT is sometime in 2015. We are asking our elected representatives for help!

The city’s bike corrals are funded by Bridging the Gap levy, so all of us who rent or own property in Seattle are paying for them. The California Junction has over 600 “free” car parking spaces, paid for by the businesses, built into their overhead cost, and indirectly paid for by all their customers, including all who arrive by foot, bike and bus. We are asking for some benefit for the costs we pay.

Bike corrals park 8 to 12 customers in the same space that parks one or two customers arriving by car. Instead of congesting the sidewalks with bikes, they efficiently use the curb lane. The location we are requesting is not a car parking space. Bike corrals will help increase parking in a neighborhood that is rapidly getting more dense with apartments that have limited car parking.

Delivering More Bike Parking for Seattle

 

White Center Bike Corral – Outreach Meeting

We had six members at the outreach meeting with about the same number of merchants from the 9600 block of 16th Ave SW in White Center just south of Roxbury where Proletariat Pizza and Cafe Delia would like to have a bike corral for customers. Parking for a dozen customers arriving by bike instead of two arriving by car, and a welcome sign of a vibrant and friendly business district.

Good discussion. Ambiguous process.

Thank you to Fatima at Luso Food and Wine for being such a gracious and generous host, opening this evening especially for this meeting. Visit soon for some special Portuguese food and wine!

Theresa Beaulieu of WSBC has successfully obtained grant funding for the rack. Costs to be fronted by the grant recipients, then reimbursed by the County. Approval of merchants first, but no clear definition of how much approval, and no real association to speak for them. Concerns of merchants: loss of car parking. Facts revealed: zero enforcement of 2 hr parking time limit by King County Sheriff has led to all-day car parking by park ‘n ride non-customers and by some shop owners and employees. No wonder there is a perceived parking problem! Most shop owners want enforcement but have no hope of that after years of asking. Some do not yet see that people on bikes are parking on this block to spend money at their businesses, not for recreation. Some do not yet realize that use of bikes for transportation leads people to shop locally in places like White Center instead of skipping past them to auto-friendly malls.

Next: door-to-door outreach to merchants who did not respond to the invitation to this meeting. Request to County for clarity on how much process and approval is enough before just two of many dozens of parking spaces can be dedicated to bike parking for customers instead of car parking, saving the narrow sidewalks for walking and wheelchairs and strollers.

Painfully slow and difficult cultural change from car addiction. Vy Nguyen, staff member from White Center Community Development Association who has been the interface with King County and the business community for this, just lost her job at WCCDA, due to funding cuts, but was with us tonight anyway donating her time. She wants to see this through for the community.  Thank you so much to Vy and all who have put so much effort into this!
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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.

Sat June 7 – Alki Trail Widening Project

This Saturday 9 to 11 along Spokane St east of Harbor Ave/Avalon Way – come with work gloves, long sleeves and clippers. We will trim the blackberries back. Refreshments after at Marination Ma Kai. IMG_8921

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

Bike Rodeo – in the Sunshine!

We had a fun bike rodeo today at Alki Summer Streets – the rain held off and the kids kept coming!  Along with some SPD officers on bikes and Segways, and adult on a crutch scooter. Lots of West Seattleites out playing in the street using all kinds of locomotion without gas motors. Everything from dogs pulling skateboards to big long cargo bike to tall bikes and bare feet.

Thanks to Jay, Theresa, Bob Wi., Madi, Al J, Kathy, Don for a successful car-free event, including hauling to/from, and to all the parents and kids!

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Super hero rider makes it through the course with flying colors!

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SPD Parking Officer doing tight tight turns with extreme focus and concentration, showing how it’s done

and, getting his Certificate of Achievement!

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Al J adjusted every one’s helmet to really fit before riding this challenging and dangerous course, and gave the parents tips

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Visitors from afar! Davey Oil and family riding from Capitol Hill on the way to Vashon Island, getting some well deserved attention for that new electric assist cargo bike from Davey’s own G & O Family Cyclery in Greenwood.

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Madi helped kids decorate their bikes for the Alki Beach Creeps’ bike parade, and created our rodeo poster

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One of our best costumed riders

 

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Later on, at Skid Row, a tall bike starting a run in the skid contest.  Some amazing rain-assisted skids!

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Don and Jay ask, how geeky can you get?  But we did not have to find a car parking space at the beach!

West Seattle Bikes to Work

668 riders from 6 to 9 am at our Commute Station, up 10% from last year!

Sadly, no unicyles this year, but there were tandems to help confuse the counters. Cookies lasted exactly till the last rider at 9,

Thank you to all of you who rode today, and to all of our cookie bakers, to Alki Starbucks for coffee, Nuun for drinks, Cascade Bicycle Club for Bike Month, and once again to Alki Bike and Board and DIY Bikes for mechanical checks and adjustments, to our volunteers Bob Winship, Theresa and Jason Bealieu, Kathy Dunn, Jody Connolly, Sakaru Tuschiya, Jay Guettler, Al Jackson, Don Brubeck for  hauling and hosting, and last but not least, to Council Member Tom Rasmussen, with a WSBC sticker on his helmet, heading for a group ride from the Fremont Bridge.DSC01692   DSC01701 DSC01718 DSC01706DSC01707

Traffic at a Standstill

It was a car and bus parking lot this morning on the high bridge due to a minor collision. Bikes and trucks had to wait for the Alaska Marine Lines train barge to go through, but that was just 5 minutes enjoying the beautiful morning and a little socializing and phone checking. 1,752 bikes counted yesterday, 2nd highest ever. Can we break 2,000 for Bike to Work Day?

DSC01676WS Blog reports lots of hand wringing over the bridge traffic jams at West Seattle Transportation Coalition’s meeting last night. Can we convince enough people that there is a viable alternative that does not cost hundreds of millions of dollars for one new overpass, or billions for new light rail transit?  If 3,000 of us commuted by bike over the low bridge instead of in vehicles over the high bridge, traffic would flow easier, our taxes would be lower, the air would be less polluted, and we would be healthier and happier.