Category: Community Event

May 2 Advocacy Training / Campaign Planning Workshop

Photo of WSBC members looking at route maps at an SDOT open house for neighborhood greenway projects.

Are you interested in making West Seattle a safer place to walk or ride a bike but don’t know where to start? Tuesday evening is your chance to learn how to build community support, work with agencies and elected officials, and make your neighborhood a better place to live.

West Seattle Bike Connections has invited Clara Cantor, Community Organizer with Seattle Neighborhood Greenways, to teach methods for planning your project, finding allies and handling opposition. Our discussion will highlight WSBC’s top priority (an east-west route through southern West Seattle) but what you learn will make you a better advocate for any project you want to see in your neighborhood.

Join us on Tuesday, May 2 at 6:30pm to 8:30 pm

At Neighborhood House: 6400 Sylvan Way SW

Entrance and bike parking are at the northwest corner of the building.

This is our regular monthly meeting time, dedicated this month to this workshop. We welcome and embrace the diversity of experiences and knowledge of everyone in our city, particularly with regard to race, ethnicity, culture, socio-economic background, gender, sexual orientation, age, and physical ability. We invite you to join us!

Large group of cyclists gathered at Spokane Street Bridge for memorial for RobbGroup photo of people waiting to testify to City Council for safety improvements on West Marginal Way SW at Duwamish Longhouse & Cultural CeneterWSBC folks meeting with SDOT traffic engineer and Tony Fragada from Alki Community Council at Harbor Ave/ SW Spokane intersection. WSBC, SDOT and Port of Seattle reps meeting on West Marginal Way SW to discuss potential bike lane. Claudia Mason speaking to bike riders gathered for memorial for Robb Mason at Spokane St Bridge.

Bike Everywhere Day – May 19

West Seattle Bike Connections and friends welcome you once again to Bike Everywhere Day at the west end of the Spokane Low Bridge from 6 to 9 AM. Homemade baked goods, beverages and information on bicycling routes and planned improvements will be available, and local enthusiasts can answer questions about commuting, recreational cycling and other biking issues including the newest campaign we are cooking up. photo of woman riding bike on trail approaching Spokane Street Bridge. Semi truck and high bridge in background.

Cycle History – West Seattle Music Scene

The Southwest Seattle Historical Society and West Seattle Bike Connections are delighted to announce that Cycle History is back for an in-person ride in 2022!
September 18, 2022, 10:00 a.m.
Start from the drive between the north side of West Seattle High School and Hiawatha Community Center.
Come explore West Seattle’s music scene –from jazz to grunge, we’ll have stops to please music lovers, bike enthusiasts, and everyone in between! Musician and West Seattle music historian, Peder Nelson, will tell stories, play clips of music, and introduce a couple of guests from the music community.
This Cycle History ride is an annual project of Southwest Seattle Historical Society and West Seattle Bike Connections. Join us after the ride for the End of the Summer Social at the Log House Museum, 1-3pm.
Ride information and registration here: https://cascade.org/node/79067
This will be a Cascade Bicycle Club free group ride. Please register in advance so we can get going more quickly.

Bike Everywhere Day May 20, 2022

Join West Seattle Bike Connections, SDOT and the Flip Your Trip team from 6-9 AM and again from 4-7 PM where bike trails meet just west of the West Seattle Low Bridge. Satisfy your morning hunger with homemade baked goods and coffee, and tasty treats and bikey beverages at both events. Get advice on safe routes and equipment, including the latest information on construction of the upcoming East Marginal Way S Corridor Improvement Project, and a selfie with Sal the Salmon. Simple bike repairs come courtesy of Westside Bicycles in the morning and Bike Works in the afternoon. Light sets, bandannas, koozies and other swag will be available, and you can sign up for a prize giveaway from local businesses.

If you can volunteer to help for an hour or 9 two between 6 and 9 am, email us at westseattlebikeconnections@gmail.com .

Delridge Parks & Art Ride May 28

Let’s explore parks and public art in Delridge!

Join us for a social ride from Delridge Community Center, May 28 at 9:30 am.  8.6 mile route with hills at leisurely (10-12 mph) pace. We welcome people of all ages, languages, ethnicity, genders, and abilities.

Pre-registration required and limited to 20 riders.  Registration and more detailed ride info here.

This is a Cascade Bicycle Club Free Group Ride co-sponsored by West Seattle Bike Connections and Delridge Community Center.

Delridge Bike Fun May 21!

Come join us for three hours of bike fun May 21 10 am to 1 pm at Delridge Community Center.

We are putting on a bike rodeo with Delridge Community Center staff with skills course and bike decoration for young riders. Bike Works will bring their mobile repair van. Outdoors for All will have adaptive cycles for children and adult riders with disabilities to try. Children’s hospital will have some helmets to give away and helmet fitting. Seattle mounted police may visit on their horses. Free snacks!

Free event. Registration is not required.

We need a couple more rodeo wranglers.  Can you help? Email westseattlebikeconnections@gmail.com

Bike Everywhere Day Celebration Station – Friday May 21

6 to 9 a.m. 5/21/21.
Come visit our Bike Everywhere Day station where the trails meet at the west end of the Spokane Street Bridge!
In partnership with Commute Seattle, WSBC will be joined by Westside Bicycle and Bike Works, who will be providing bike checks and simple repairs. We’ll have information on bicycling routes, giveaways (including a bike from Bike Works!) and a selfie booth to snap a #FlipYourTrip photo with Sal the Salmon, courtesy of SDOT. Volunteers will be on hand to answer your local cycling questions–from commuting to just getting started. We look forward to seeing you!
Check out Cascades Bicycle Club’s map for other celebration stations and Bike Month activities. https://cascade.org/rides-and…/bike-everywhere-month-2021
Four people standing and chatting, one with bike, at our Bike Everywhere Day Celebration Station. People with bikes meeting in early morning at our Bike Everywhere Day Celebration Station table and tent. Councilmember Lorena Gonzales with e-bike at our Bike Everywhere Day Celebration Station.

Crash in Georgetown kills bike rider

We are heartbroken for the person killed yesterday by the driver of a semi-truck on S Michigan St, and family and friends.  Sorry for the truck driver, too.
Reports of circumstances and cause are conflicting. The investigation is not complete.  The news reports, blog comments and police blotter are all likely to be incorrect. No matter the cause, we grieve this loss.
In Georgetown and SODO,  people must use the same streets whether they are biking or driving heavy trucks. Most unfortunately, this fatal crash is not the first. This is why we need the Mayor and Council to fund and SDOT to build safe bike routes through Georgetown and SODO with decent paving, and separation of bike riders from heavy trucks on arterials, and traffic calming and street edge definition on minor streets. Drivers of large trucks have huge blind spots. Intersections on arterials with heavy truck traffic need to be designed and marked for safety of cyclists and pedestrians and turning movements of trucks. The Freight Master Plan and Bicycle Master Plan show what to do [FMP appendix C] and how to do it. Now, just do it.
UPDATE:  Some folks in Georgetown invite all to join them in a

Map showing truck crashes at intersections in Seattle from 2009 through 2014, with heavy concentration in Georgetown, SODO and downtown.
Truck crashes are frequent in Georgetown and SODO.

Photo of ghost bike by Henry Hargreaves, Brooklyn NY, c 2011, used with permission.

MLK Day – strategies for community healing

Strategies for Community Healing!  We need community healing.

Please consider making this session a part of your day tomorrow, to honor the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. and all people working for racial equality and social justice in America, particulary in our area of focus: safe streets.  Register here. 

“The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.”  -MLK, Jr. Strength to Love. 

“A lot of people are waiting for Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi to come back — but they are gone. We are it. It is up to us. It is up to you.”  – Marian Wright Edelman.

This is a pivotal moment for Whose Streets? Our Streets! —  and our safe streets movement.  Key folks you may recognize — Seattle Neighborhood Greenways board member Phyllis Porter, Duwamish Valley Safe Streets leader Peaches Thomas, SNG staff member KL Shannon, and longtime SNG volunteer Yes Segura will  be featured in this panel.
Who’s Streets – Our Streets will be giving a first peek at their community recommendations for how our streets can be safe, thriving places without the use of armed police.
If you haven’t already — please register:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_N2egkidBTyuYrH0VfcKkpg

 

Cycle History 2020

Cycle History 2020 is here. Put some variety into your West Seattle outings on wheels, and learn a little local history, too. 

Fourth annual history ride with Southwest Seattle Historical Society and West Seattle Bike Connections!
We can’t do a group ride this year, so we have three self-guided routes to try any time you want to, along with an audio guide and historical photos from SWSHS. 
https://www.loghousemuseum.org/exhibits/cycle-history-neighborhood-grocery-stores/