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It’s time for the Bike News Roundup! Here’s a look at some stuff floating around the web in recent weeks (months?) that caught our eye. This is also an open thread, so feel free to discuss whatever bikey stuff is on your mind in the comments below.
First up, this very British comedian’s take on cycling in London sure sounds familiar.
Pacific Northwest News (more…)
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Fiona came home a little more than a week ago after 85 days in the NICU.
She is doing great. She’s so brave and so strong. She’s already been through more intense medical care in her three months of life than I have in my 32 years. She’s powered us through all of it.
My family leave from this blog will continue for a bit longer. I’ll start adding more and more writing back into my day as I can. It’s amazing how time-consuming and exhausting it is to basically just stare at her all day. But I love it.
Huge thanks to everyone for all your support. We are so lucky to have solid health insurance and such a strong network of friends and family to get us through all this. The medical team at the UW Med Center NICU is unbelievable. We are so lucky we had access to that place and that we live within biking distance so we could spend every day there.
But not everyone is so fortunate. There were families in the NICU with us from Eastern Washington and even Alaska who were either forced to uproot their lives or spend time away from their babies so they could continue working. And not everyone has access to quality prenatal care, which is so essential to giving babies the best head start they can get. Like so many injustices in our racist society, Native American, Black, Asian/Pacific Islander and Hispanic babies in Washington State are significantly more likely to be born early than white babies. Racial prejudice begins in the womb.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: Thanks again to Brock Howell of Bike Happy for putting together this comprehensive weekly newsletter.
There are three great videos for you to watch this week. First, Knute Berger provides a brief history of Seattle bicycling in the 1890s. Then Hennessy (yeah, that Hennessy) produced a series of short inspirational videos of Major Taylor, including one about the “Six Day Race” at Madison Square Garden.
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As regular readers of Seattle Bike Blog know, I have been on family leave since late January following the early birth of my daughter. So unlike the daily news regimen I have reported since 2010, I have not had the bandwidth to post about some major local transportation stories as they have happened. It’s been hard to follow the news and not be a part of it.
But maybe taking a step back and looking at the big picture around Seattle transportation would be helpful right now. Mayor Jenny Durkan and Interim SDOT Director Goran Sparrman are calling for a “reset” of Move Seattle to recognize the likelihood of less Federal funding than was assumed under the levy proposal.
I agree that we need a Move Seattle reset, though not in the form of big cuts targeting walking, biking, transit and safety projects as has been the pattern so far under Mayor Durkan. Since passage of the levy, our city’s transportation actions have drifted far off course from the transit, walking, biking, safety and maintenance mission voters approved in 2015. What we’re doing now is not working. Our city needs strong leaders with a creative vision to figure out how to get the job done even if the Feds don’t come through as originally hoped.
But a reset should not mean abandoning the extensive walking, biking and transit master plans that took years to develop, were approved by City Council, and were funded by the voters. Nor should it mean abandoning the city’s Vision Zero plan or the multi-agency One Center City plan for downtown. It may be true that the methods for accomplishing the goals in these plans needs to evolve — either due to funding or because there are better ideas — and that’s where the mayor can step in and be a strong leader.
The Move Seattle levy may be the most ambitious local transportation funding package voters have passed in any U.S. city. $930 million over nine years, and almost all the funding was earmarked for transit, walking, biking and maintenance of existing assets. To pass a levy of this scale with very little funding for new or expanded roads and highways marked a big shift in the city’s transportation vision. The voters were clear in November 2015 that they believe walking, biking and transit are the future in Seattle, and they are willing to pay hard-earned cash for it. City leaders must deliver what the people of Seattle are paying for. (more…)
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Rainier Ave is the only flat and direct street between Mount Baker and the International District/downtown. If southeast Seattle is ever going to have good bike access to the jobs and other major destinations downtown, Rainier Ave will need bike lanes. It is a diagonal street through the low point in a valley. There are no other options for a direct and flat bike route.
At the same time, Rainier is so wide and dangerous that it sees far more traffic collisions than north end streets with double its daily traffic volumes:
The street connects downtown to neighborhoods with low rates of car ownership that have been shamefully underserved ever since Seattle started building bike lanes:
While there are two high quality bike route options for people traveling the three miles from the Fremont Bridge to the downtown core, there are zero quality options for people biking the three miles from downtown to Franklin High School and Mount Baker Station. (more…)
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EDITOR’S NOTE: Thanks again to Brock Howell of Bike Happy for putting together this comprehensive weekly newsletter.
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