Under Mayor Jenny Durkan, Seattle has cut bike lanes from paving projects and slashed its short-term bike plan.
At a time when we need to make dramatic action to do whatever we can to reduce traffic injuries and deaths and combat climate change, her bike lane cuts are all backwards.
People already packed City Council chambers earlier this year to voice their concerns about the bike cuts. This Sunday, protest efforts go to the next level with a rally at City Hall followed by a slow ride/walk down 4th Ave (where a planned bike lane remains delayed) to Westlake Park for music. Meet at City Hall’s 4th Ave plaza at 1 p.m.
The Ride For Safe Streets has been organized with leadership from Brock Howell in partnership with a long list of organizations, including biking, walking, transit, climate and disability rights groups (see the full list here).
Many of the biggest barriers to making streets safer lately are coming from the Mayor’s Office, but there are also actions the City Council can take to make sure safety and climate policies and goals are followed. And it’s important to show city leaders how much enthusiastic support there is for bold safe streets action.
More details from the Ride For Safe Streets website (you can also invite your friends on FB):
It’s time to act on climate change and make Seattle’s streets safe and accessible for everyone: people of all ages, languages, ethnicities, genders, races, and abilities.
Join us on Sunday, June 16 for this family-friendly (and father-friendly!) event calling on City leadership to act boldly on transportation. We’ll meet at Seattle City Hall at 1pm for a fun rally and then bike, walk and roll with hundreds of people down 4th Avenue to Westlake Park, where there will be actions to take as well as music, art, and other activities.
There will be a marching band, public officials, calls to action, and plenty of fun as we urge Seattle leaders to step up.
RALLY AT SEATTLE CITY HALL
1:00, People meet at City Hall’s 4th Avenue Plaza, with Rise Up Action Band playing.1:20, Organizational leaders and elected officials call for action.
1:55, Rise Up Action Band resumes playing. People begin rolling down 4th Avenue.
THE ROLL
1:55, The Roll begins, parade-like, with people riding, rolling, strolling, and walking.We encourage groups to roll together with their own signs and art. Transit groups may create a giant cardboard bus and walk inside it. Climate groups may dress-up in polar bear suits. The “Big Wheel” bicycle lobby may ride high-wheelers. Your imagination and good sense are your only limits.
Everyone is encouraged to play music, whether it’s acoustic or from mobile speakers.
Everyone should obey traffic laws, and roll at a comfortable pace for people of all abilities around them.
PARTY AT WESTLAKE PARK
1:50, Band begins playing from stage2:00, People begin to arrive at Westlake Park
3:00, Band ends set
Comments
11 responses to “Sunday: Join the Ride For Safe Streets starting at City Hall”
Mayor Durkan is doing an excellent job walking a fine line between many funding priorities. Given the drop in number of bike commuters, why would anyone want their hard earned tax dollars supporting very expensive bike lanes for a deceasing number of hard core bicyclists? Let’s be reasonable here – our weather and geography do not lend Seattle to be a year round place to bike commute. Maybe spend more time and effort enforcing the laws that cyclists must follow – that would improve their/your credibility
Weather? Tell that to people riding in Copenhagen. We have it so easy.
Hills, yes. But e-bikes are changing that.
Drop in bike commuters? Doubtful. The survey was very restrictive.
The survey question required picking a single mode of transport for a particular recent day (or week), in the winter no less. Open your eyes, look around, do you really think there are fewer bike commuters? Real measures, such as the bike counters on the Fremont and West Seattle bridges, show increasing numbers.
As for “expensive” bike lanes, you’ve been taken in by slanted reporting. The infamous $12 million per mile came from a project that spanned *less* than a mile. Less than $12 million was actually spent. A lot of that was inappropriately assigned to the bike budget, such as new drainage and new curbs and sidewalks. And if you think bike lanes are expensive, do you have any idea how much a full vehicle lane costs?
Enforcing laws? Oh be serious. Let’s see all the car drivers obey speed limits and stop signs.
“deceasing”
Intentional?
Chris, the multiple billions spent on highways, tunnels and bridges exclusively for use by drivers of motorized vehicles are not enough for you? People walking and biking are prohibited by law from using that infrastructure. Why selfishly desire to perpetuate only that mode of transportation and deny everyone else a safe way to get around? We are talking less than 35 million, a tiny amount in comparison to our recurring investments in general traffic lanes. That is all it would take to make a safe and connected bike network in Seattle for people trying to get to work and school, to run errands and transport kids and groceries. Many people would like to get around safely in a budget friendly manner that takes up minimal space and has a minimal impact on the environment.. Who do you think causes all the damage to road surfaces, potholes, etc? It’s not people biking and walking, I assure you. Yet year after year we pour money into fixing and re-fixing the damaged.roads while people continue to whine about the cost of installing bike infrastructure. People driving and using the streets for car parking have hogged the lion’s share of the right of way for over a century. It’s time to move over and share the road safely with others. You can try all you like to defend a mayor who arbitrarily yanked bike lanes out of a 100% designed and funded street project against the safety advice of her own department of transportation, but no one with any vision of the future of this city is buying your line. When there is total gridlock in Seattle because of poor planning and limited alternatives to getting around in a car, when all the delivery trucks and buses are stuck in that gridlock, you will come around to our way of thinking, and so will whoever happens to be mayor at the time..
Way to hit on all the false talking points from the local anti bike minority. Obvious troll is obvious, again.
She’s really doing great on homelessness, a multidisciplinary challenge where we really need….you know….a Mayor.
Unfortunately she’s clueless on urban transportation, but that’s not a surprise.
And where is her General these days?
Hey Chris given the massive amount of carnage on the road caused by drivers let’s just consider how that makes your credibility argument silly and let’s just consider how that’s the classic comment from people who are anti-cyclist as a way to discredit everything else. Oh because cyclists are the roving band of lawless scofflaws we shouldn’t make the roads safer and cars are just innocent victims of these rogue cyclists. No matter what cyclists do people like you would be angry. No bike lane: Cyclists in my way. Bike lanes: Cyclists taking away space and if there weren’t bike lanes traffic would be so much better.
Hey, guess what? The weather isn’t all that bad. I use to think the same thing until I actually tried commuting for a year. The biggest problem wasn’t the weather or the geography. Finding a safe route was. And no, I’m not a young white male.
So much this. Sure there are lots of days with rain, but how many is the rain hard enough or long enough to be impactful?
[…] don’t expect this plan update will slow down Sunday’s Ride for Safe Streets, a rally at City Hall and ride/walk down 4th Ave to protest the recent cuts and call for more city […]