A win for traffic safety at Boren School on Delridge! Last February we helped push Craig Rankin’s initiative in going after a Seattle Neighborhood Parks and Streets Fund grant for a crosswalk at Boren. It’s a super long block where people cross the busy street with no protection. The initial reaction to the proposal was negative, but now not just one, but TWO crosswalks will be built! Great work by Craig and Boren’s school community, and thank you Brian Dougherty at SDOT!
Tuesday January 6 from 6:30 to 8:00 pm
HomeStreet Bank, SW Alaska St & 41st Ave SW near West Seattle Junction
Open meeting – you are invited! What should we take on for 2015?
Only two hours left to NOT donate to us! We don’t want your money!
We just want you to ride your bike!
And maybe, if you have some time in 2015, to spend a little of it with us. Or ask us to spend some time with you on a project or activity to make it easier and more fun to go places by bike in and from West Seattle.
If you get involved just a little, we’ll be able to do more of what we did in 2014:
Social rides with friends and families, like the mini STP
Hosting the West Seattle Bike to Work Day commute station.
Getting bike corrals and bike racks at shopping areas and schools
Starting and funding after school bike club at Denny Middle School
Engaging SDOT and City Council on bike routes in South Park, on Fauntleroy, on 35th Ave SW, at the Chelan 5-way intersection, on East Marginal Way S, and for the Delridge/Highland Park Greenway planning.
Our Bike Rodeo at Alki Summer Streets, and participation in Fiestas Patrias in South Park. the White Center Community Summit and Morgan Junction festival.
Grant applications with Admiral, Alki, Highland Park, and Morgan Junction neighborhood associations for traffic safety improvements.
Night Out with the Junction Neighborhood Association.
Lobbying at City Council and in Olympia for bike/pedestrian transportation funding.
Participation in SDOT School Road Safety workshop, Cascade Bicycle Club Policy Ride and Bike Happy Hour in SODO, and another in West Seattle, and memorial and vigil walks and rides.
Meeting and working with our allies at Seattle Neighborhood Greenways, Cascade Bicycle Club, and Sustainable West Seattle.
We are a volunteer community group, so what WE need are more of us!
Today another vehicle driver decided that the bike/ped detour lane under the Alaska Way Viaduct near S Main St was a handy place to park and leave a truck. There has to be use of this area for loading for some of the businesses, but this van was obviously there for construction work, probably tunnel construction work.
Reporting to SPD Parking Enforcement didn’t work – non-emergency line was too booked up and the recorded message said call back later in the day. Worth a try, but would have been too late.
So, in addition to email to Cascade Concrete & Drilling directly to request better behavior, an email to SDOT’s “Construction Hub” program and WSDOT SR99 Viaduct Project got a quick response back from Melody Berry, SDOT Construction Hub Coordination Program Supervisor, promising enforcement. If you see a problem that has to do with construction detours or construction project use of streets in the downtown core area or the WS Junction, give them a try!
Back in February, Denny International Middle School parent and PTA member Theresa Beaulieu, launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to purchase bikes for students of the school. She was able to raise $1,500 in donations, enough to buy 10 KHS mountain bikes from West Seattle’s Alki Bike and Board, owned by Stu Hennesey.
The bikes came in boxes, so Theresa coordinated a bike assembly day (back in July) with Will King, Denny’s Out of School Program Director, who was able to get kids to help put the bikes together. The students rotated through assembly stations during a 3 hour period to help Theresa and two additional volunteers, Jason Beaulieu and Jeff Hallman. Saddles, wheels, pedals, handlebars and reflectors were installed and brakes were checked and adjustments made. The kids had fun learning how to work on bikes and even more fun test-riding them once they were done (a vital step that all mechanics use to ensure that the bike is safe).
These bikes are being used for Denny’s inaugural Major Taylor Program, which was held after school on Thursdays this fall. Cascade’s Major Taylor Program administers the program, which is co-lead by Miles Schulman of Americorps. According to Miles,
“Every Thursday a group of six kids and two instructors hit the roads around Denny, riding everywhere from Fauntleroy Park to High Point Pond, stopping on our rides to enjoy views, play football, and get some hot chocolate and snacks. We taught the kids hand signals, road safety techniques, emergency stops, and shifting. Students got to practice mountain biking techniques in the parks around their neighborhood. We climbed big hills and loved flying down them.”
Two of the club riders, Abdi and Kai, even participated in this year’s Subaru Woodland Park Cyclocross Series #6 race, held on November 9, 2014 at Woodland Park. Both students did exceptionally well, completing two laps covered in mud!
Photo courtesy of Dennis CranePhoto courtesy of Dennis Crane
We will be having another Spring Bike Club at Denny and look forward to the fun rides ahead. Thank you to all who have donated, supported and helped Theresa’s dream come true, and that is to have an after school bike club at Denny to help get more kids comfortable on bikes.
The start of new bike racks today at Alki Elementary School. We helped parents, who met us at our Alki Summer Streets bike rodeo, scope out locations and connect with Brian Dougherty at SDOT. Principal Shannon Stanton and teacher Mr. Leeper really are supportive of kids walking and biking to school. A few parents, the Principal and a teacher or two. That’s what it takes! The kids are willing.
Beautiful evening for a ride, bonfire, hot drinks and Christmas ship caroling at Alki. with a few of us and others from Seattle Family Biking FB group. Thanks to Charity McCollum for getting us going!
In West Seattle, Seattle Neighborhood Greenways has supported our efforts to create the North Delridge Greenway on 26th (completed); the Delridge/Highland Park Greenway (construction in 2015); vigil walks for traffic collision victims; the 35th Avenue SW Corridor Safety Project; and alliances with other groups.
This event is free. That’s because volunteers are doing the work. If you can help with set up (starting at 3:30), running the event (from 5-8), or teardown (after 8:00), contact Gordon Padelford at SNG: info (at) sng (dot) org.
Driving 3.3 miles on 35th Ave SW from Fauntleroy to SW Roxbury takes 5 minutes at 40 mph, or 6.6 minutes at 30 mph, if you could make all the lights and no traffic slows you down. Assuming that was possible, how important is it to get there 100 seconds faster? It is worth risking lives?
