Category: Advocacy

Bikes & Trains – to School!

Fabulous Bike to School Day!

Thank you to Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Jose Banda and Alki Elementary teacher Terry Kegel for leading giant bike trains to Alki!  More kids at Schmitz Park. Reports from your school?  Lots of nice coverage in the West Seattle Blog.  Here’s a photo from WSBC’s Kathy Dunn, who met the south train at Mee-Kwa-Mooks and promoted the Bike Rodeo that we’ll be doing for kids at Alki Summer Streets on May 18.   With with safe routes and good bike parking, we can make every school day Bike and Walk to School Day. Better for young students’ health, fitness, safety, attention span in the classroom, and for our neighborhoods. Alki Bike To School Day 2014

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 …

Seattle Neighborhood Greenways

The Delridge Greenways let us ride from the Alki Trail to White Center on safe, quiet, beautiful streets.  We have more Greenway routes waiting to be built!  Seattle Neighborhood Greenways connects groups like ours, coordinating and supporting our efforts for bike routes that work for all ages and abilities, with equity.

Please consider a gift to Seattle Neighborhood Greenways on May 6, Give Big DayDSC01296

May 1 Policy Ride and Bike Happy Hour

We rode today from Occidental Plaza to the Schooner Exact with Cascade Bicycle Club on a Policy Ride and Bike Happy Hour! And some of us going to DIY Bikes wheel truing workshop.

Thank you to Dongho Chang, Seattle Chief Traffic Engineer for riding with us,

and Brock Howell, Emily Kathrein, Robin Randels, Thomas Goldstein, and Jeff Aken from Cascade for doing this, and to Bob Anderton, David Geoffrion, Bob Winship, Kathy Dunn, Lars Halstrom, and others from WSBC, AJ Verdugo from WS,  and Michael Hirschenhorn from Queen Anne and Seattle Neighborhood Greenways for participating.  We enjoyed meeting new people from West Seattle and beyond. Don BrubeckDSC01465 DSC01475 DSC01488

Marginal Way Policy Ride > Bike Happy Hour

ALMOST in West Seattle – let’s celebrate a year of safe riding and steady progress on East Marginal Way, raise a glass to Lance David’s memory, and talk about what is to come.  Schooner Exact is at 3901 First Avenue South. Ride co-led by Cascade Bicycle Club and West Seattle Bike Connections

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No bus? Ride with us!

Until the Washington State legislature, King County or Seattle government figure out what to do to provide the bus service we need, some of us can ride bikes to get places and free up seats on the buses that are still running, and free up space on the roads for those who must drive. Bicycle transportation increases roadway bandwidth without increasing roadway width. Kind of like energy conservation by increasing efficiency — getting more out of the existing capacity.

We are here to help that happen, and to make it safe, attractive and convenient for as many people as possible.DSC01296 Here’s a great north-south route in West Seattle: 21st Ave SW on Puget Ridge and Pigeon Point, connecting us to White Center at the south via Myrtle/16th, and connecting to West Duwamish Trail, Alki Trail and the low level bridge to SODO and downtown at the north, via Andover/22nd. No traffic jams, low traffic, peaceful and easy grades. Croft Place here connects to the 26th Ave SW Greenway.

Bikenomics – How Bicycling Can Save the Economy

Who’s street is it?  Are bike riders just freeloaders on roads paid for by car drivers?  What about parking? Are bike riders either elitists or DUIclists?

snv33567_lgSome of us are buying and passing around Elly Blue’s new book — preaching to the choir, but she has good stories and lots of good data to back it up. Talking points for bike advocates, based on values of community, social justice, public health, economics, and fun. Kathy read it on the bus coming back from meeting the author in Tacoma. I read it on a five hour plane ride. Elly inscribed it, “Dedicated to the good work and great energy of West Seattle Bike Connections. Keep on pedaling, we are winning!”  Recommended!  e-book or paperback from Microcosm Publishing

Don

 

We Need Volunteers!

Help us help the community!
Help us help the community!

Do you like bikes?  Do you like riding bikes in, around, and through West Seattle?  Maybe not?  Do you think there could be better infrastructure in place?  We do too!  And we need you to help us out.

Our parent organization (Sustainable West Seattle) is having a volunteer orientation and appreciation event on Saturday, May 3rd 2014 at CrossFit West Seattle (4200 SW Admiral Way).  Orientation for new volunteers will be from 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM, with an appreciation party from 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM.

More details can be found here…
http://www.sustainablewestseattle.org/2014/04/ty/

Please come if you have any interest in helping West Seattle Bike Connections be better advocates for safe bike facilities.  Or stop by if you want to check out any of the other Sustainable West Seattle projects.  Hope to see you there!

 

Bike Share is Coming!

But not to West Seattle.  Boo!  Here’s another example of how West Seattle is treated like the ugly red-headed step-child of Seattle – no “viable” bike share station locations.  Of course they’re going to be sprinkled all over central and northern Seattle.  But southern and western Seattle?  We just get no love.

So we don't have a "viable" bike share station location in all of West Seattle?
So we don’t have a “viable” bike share station location in all of West Seattle?

So here’s your chance to let them know we want a bike share station.  Wouldn’t it be awesome to have one right at the Water Taxi?  And how about at Alki Beach?  Alki Trail is flat and segregated from automobiles.  Of course, there’s plenty of other possible “viable” locations around the southwest area of Seattle…but they need to know where!

Go to this website and enter your inputs.  No registration required.  We’d love your help and we’d love to see West Seattle included as a “viable” part of this city.