Seattle Bike Blog

Now streaming at NW Film Forum: Phoebe’s Father, a family drama with lots of Seattle biking scenes

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

May 12, 2021

You have until Sunday (5/16) to stream Phoebe’s Father from the Northwest Film Forum website. And you should! Tickets are sliding scale $5–$25 ($10 suggested) for a 48-hour streaming rental.

We wrote about the film back in 2015 when it first came out. It’s a family drama centering about Phoebe’s (Marie Lazzaro) strained relationship with her father (the late Lawrason Driscoll). Meanwhile, she discovers cycling and starts training to race. So she processes a lot of what’s going on while biking around Seattle. That is extremely relatable to me, because that’s what I do!

There are many scenes inside Recycled Cycles in the U District and along various trails and bike routes. Locals Jessica Cutler (then a pro cyclist, now founder of the Northwest Women’s Cyclocross Project) and longtime racer David Friedt were cycling consultants on the film.

Oh, and its a good movie, too. Very character-driven with excellent acting.

American films are notoriously bad at representing transportation cycling (people biking just to get around). It’s practically a rule that if a character rides a bike in a movie, they will be hit by a car. That or a character riding a bike is a symbol of them being poor or unlucky or juvenile.

But Phoebe’s Father is different. Her biking around town is never scoffed at, and it feels realistic to watch her go from a new rider to someone who discovers that riding is a great way to get out and process everything that’s going on in her life. When she gets overwhelmed by a heavy family issue, she gets on her bike. Partly, it is about escaping from difficult feelings, but it becomes a way for her to exert some control over her life rather than letting the decisions and desires of others control her. It’s a lovely metaphor that also generates many opportunities for scenic shots. They aren’t fast action shots, they just show biking around Seattle for what it is, creating space for her to work through her emotions. I hope other filmmakers take some lessons from director John Helde here. (more…)

tags: david friedt, jessica cutler, john helde, lawrason driscoll, marie lazzaro, nw film forum, phoebe’s father

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Bike lanes coming to Eastlake Ave between Stewart and Fairview, work starts this summer

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

May 11, 2021

SDOT and King County Metro are getting ready to redesign a significant stretch of Eastlake Ave E from Stewart Street in South Lake Union (near REI) to Fairview Ave N in Eastlake. The changes will happen in two phases with work on the north phase from Fairview to Roy beginning this summer.

The project will construct high-priority protected bike lanes and build more layover space for Metro buses. It also includes a new “comfort station” with restrooms, break area and a small office for Metro bus operators. The comfort station won’t be open to the public.

Construction on the north segment will be timed with reopening of the Fairview Ave N Bridge, which has been under construction since fall 2019. Since then, Eastlake Ave has been the construction detour route. So this work can’t really begin until Fairview is open, which is expected during the summer.

The north segment’s design will look something like this:

From SDOT.

There will be bike lanes on both sides of the street as there are today. However, where there is on-street parking, the bike lane will be protected by the line of cars.

The big changes will come in 2022 when Metro’s layover project is complete and the south segment opens. That project includes all-new, sorely-needed bike lanes between Roy and Stewart Streets. And for most of the length, the bike lanes will be protected by either on-street parking or parked buses.

The biggest change will be at the south end of the Lakeview Boulevard Bridge over I-5. Here, the bike lane will hop up onto a new sidewalk separating the street from a new larger space for more bus layovers.

From Metro.

(more…)

tags: eastlake, king county metro, lakeview boulevard, sdot

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Support Ryan Packer’s reporting

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

May 10, 2021

Ryan Packer was the Temporary Editor of Seattle Bike Blog for the entire winter as I worked on completing the first draft of a book. During that time, they reported many important stories such as this report about an internal SDOT policy that would all but dismantle the Bicycle Master Plan. We spoke more about their time as Editor in a recap video back in April.

Ryan has since continued reporting for The Urbanist, but has also expanded to cover state transportation news, such as watching the reboot of the expanded I-5 Columbia River crossing between Vancouver, Washington, and Portland. Bike Portland has started publishing that work.

You can now support Ryan’s journalism work directly via their brand new Patreon. The independent journalism economy is broken, and getting direct support from readers is vital for enabling this work to continue. Reader support is what keeps Seattle Bike Blog going, for example. Ryan’s work is definitely worth funding.

Hello everyone! This morning I am officially launching my Patreon. If you like the reporting I do here, at @UrbanistOrg and elsewhere, I would be honored to have your support in continuing my work. https://t.co/PccsfY9V2p

— Ryan Packer (@typewriteralley) May 10, 2021

tags: ryan packer

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Council seeks project list to determine if a $100 million bond is necessary

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

May 6, 2021

The SDOT funding breakdown (left) vs the City Council’s proposed funding breakdown. From Seattle Neighborhood Greenways.

A majority of the City Council, led by Councilmember Dan Strauss, voted Wednesday to defer their decision on issuing a large bond until they have more details on what it would fund and when the money would be needed.

As we reported last week, the City Council is considering a 20-year, $100 million bond on a $20 vehicle license fee that would put 75% of funds into bridge work rather than the focus on safe streets that SDOT’s community outreach process recommended. Over the course of 20 years, this could result in an $80 million reduction in funding for safe streets projects according to an action alert from Seattle Neighborhood Greenways.

Of course most of the city’s bridges are vital infrastructure, and the city will be hit with a significant bill for the West Seattle Bridge soon. So it may be that bonding against some of the vehicle license fee will be needed at some point. But Seattle does not have a list of shovel-ready projects that need the immediate funding a bonding measure would generate. That’s why Transportation and Utilities Committee Vice-Chair Strauss proposed a successful amendment that would hold off on issuing bonds until projects and their schedules are identified.

“We must dedicate city funding to the work of investing in our bridges that is matched by state and federal dollars,” said Councilmember Strauss during the meeting. “We need to have a more accurate and detailed understanding of our maintenance and investments needs, and we need to use this information to raise the correct amount of bonds at the right time to invest in our infrastructure rather than taking on unneeded debt until we’re ready to use it.

The initial version of the bill, as proposed by Committee Chair Alex Pedersen, would have called for issuing the bond without knowing the scope or schedule of the work it would fund.

“If this non-binding language was enacted on today, we would raise bonds without shovel-ready projects,” said Strauss. “This means we would be paying bankers interest on dollars we would not be ready to spend today.”

Strauss also rejected the argument that the bond money could pay for the planning studies to get projects shovel-ready, saying, “This would be akin to taking out a home loan to pay for our groceries.” (more…)

tags: alex pedersen, city council, dan strauss, seattle neighborhood greenways, vehicle license fee

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Cascade makes the Pedaling Relief Project permanent

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

May 5, 2021
My assistant helped me make deliveries one week.

The Seattle Pedaling Relief Project (“SPRP”) started in the spring of 2020 as a way to help food banks deal with the sudden influx of people who needed to access their services at a time when COVID restrictions made it more difficult for people to get there.

The SPRP was initially designed as a “cargo bike powered crisis response group” partnering with existing mutual aid networks and community organizations to extend the reach of their delivery abilities. Basically, an organization would let SPRP know how many deliveries were needed, and the SPRP would organize people to get the work done by bike.

“My thinking was, ‘What if we did a Cranksgiving in reverse? And did it every week?,’” co-founder Maxwell Burton told me during a video interview back in July 2020. Cranksgiving is an annual ride Seattle Bike Blog has organized for more than a decade in which riders gather food from grocery stores and other food vendors to donate to food banks. Burton and co-founder Mike Lang’s idea was to have riders take the food from food banks and bike it back out into the community.

I have been volunteering for the PRP, and it’s a wonderful excuse to get out and bike around. You get to practice your navigation skills and your cargo-hauling skills, and all while helping fill in one of the more difficult parts of the food support system: Getting it to individuals and families.

A few months into operation, Cascade Bicycle Club hired Burton and supported the work of the PRP. With the stable source of funding and deep well of volunteer power, the PRP has since grown to work with seven food banks as well as a growing list of farmers’ market vendors and community gardens. The 500 volunteers not only made home deliveries, they also helped stock Little Free Pantries all around town.

Now as the project turns one year old, Cascade announced during its annual Bike Everywhere Breakfast that the PRP is becoming a permanent “cornerstone” program for the organization:

Previously a grassroots initiative that operated with support from Cascade, the Pedaling Relief Project now joins the Major Taylor Project, Let’s Go, Free Group Rides, and Learn to Ride as one of Cascade’s cornerstone programs. The Pedaling Relief Project will be managed by co-founder Maxwell Burton, who has been hired as a full-time Cascade employee to oversee Pedaling Relief and its expansion.

“This is bicycling with a purpose and a heart, and with a direct goal of helping neighbors who are struggling,” says Burton, who encourages people who bike to sign up at Cascade.org. “The Pedaling Relief Project is a way for people who bike to make a difference in their community, while also enjoying the exercise, fresh air, and camaraderie of bicycling for a good cause.”

“Everyone in the Cascade community should feel proud to be involved with this initiative,” says Board President Tamara Schmautz. “The Pedaling Relief Project represents a new chapter for Cascade Bicycle Club as we add to our bicycling advocacy, events, and education programming to find new ways for our members–and the entire bicycling community–to use their bikes for good.”

Interested volunteers can sign up online. There are starting locations around Seattle and in White Center.

The added organizational support from Cascade will also enable the project to expand beyond Seattle. Similar efforts are already in the work in Spokane and Tacoma, and the organization will be putting together a tool kit to help more places get started.

The numbers (totals to date):
- 120 tons of food rescued or delivered
- 500 volunteers
- 7,000 miles biked
- 4,900 households served
- 4,000 pounds of carbon dioxide saved by biking
tags: cascade bicycle club, maxwell burton, mike lang, seattle pedaling relief project, tamara schmautz

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Apple Maps now has bicycling directions, and they are OK compared to Google’s dusty service

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

May 3, 2021

Eight years after Google Maps introduced biking directions in its iPhone app, Apple Maps has finally introduced the feature. And much like the Google version, it is…OK.

When Google first introduced biking directions, it wasn’t perfect. The route decisions were rarely what I would choose, and sometimes it chose very busy streets. But at least it gave a biking option and a time estimate, which were very useful. It was a promising start, and I was hoping that the company would continuously improve the service so it would more consistently find high-quality routes. But like so many Google services, the company has let the feature languish with very few if any improvements (they improve the map data, like which streets are one-way, etc, but the way it makes routing decisions is much the same).

Apple Maps also gives OK bicycling directions. They are almost never the routes I would choose, but at least they usually work. Both services offer information on elevation changes and give a couple different routes to choose from.

Apple does offer a couple interesting features that Google lacks, like options to avoid hills and busy streets, but they seem to be a bit confused by Seattle’s complicated geography. For example, if you select either “avoid hills” or “avoid busy roads,” it will suggest taking 3rd Avenue downtown rather than the 2nd Avenue protected bike lane.

(more…)

tags: apple maps, google maps

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