Cary Moon — a strong champion for vibrant, people-focused places — has officially declared her candidacy for Seattle mayor.
Moon has been a vital organizer for a people-focused waterfront downtown and currently serves on the One Center City advisory committee. Though her efforts to promote a surface street and transit alternative to the downtown car tunnel did not win, her efforts have shaped Waterfront Seattle’s plans for a better waterfront. We could have had a reconstructed viaduct, after all.
As Mike McGinn was announcing his bid for mayor Monday, Moon was sitting down with Eli Sanders at the Stranger to get deep into the issues (she was exploring the run before the allegations against Murray came out, her campaign’s marketing firm said). She presented a bold vision for transportation, especially downtown: (more…)
Mayor Ed Murray and SDOT Director Scott Kubly fill a pothole. Image from SDOT.
If there is a persistent pothole that you find yourself swearing at every singe day, well, this is your chance to get it fixed.
SDOT has launched a renewed campaign to get people to report potholes so crews can go fix them. Reporting potholes really does work, so long as you’re reporting isolated potholes and not, like, a whole block of bad pavement.
The easiest way is to download the city’s Find It Fix It app. If you pull over next to the pothole, the app will geolocate for you. You can even add a photo if you want. There’s also this web form and good old-fashioned phone calling: 206-386-1218.
It is very easy, and the response time from road crews may surprise you (it’s not uncommon for the problem to be fixed within a couple days).
The long and cold winter did more damage to roads than the average winter, SDOT says, so they need people’s help locating issues. It’s much cheaper and more effective to get crowd-sourced data. And, of course, everyone loves when the city fills potholes! It’s the perfect transportation campaign for an election year. (more…)
Standing in the yard of his Greenwood house with his family — a couple campaign signs leaning against the white picket fence, perhaps dusted off after four years in storage — Mike McGinn announced his candidacy for mayor.
This wil be his third mayoral campaign in eight years. And as he joked with media, he’s 50 percent on winning so far.
There were no “Mike Likes Bikes” stickers around this time. At least not yet. In fact, McGinn did not directly mention bikes during his half hour in front of the TV cameras Monday morning other than to highlight the Road Safety Action Plan created under his leadership in 2012. McGinn pursued some bold and sometimes controversial complete streets and bike safety projects during his term, earning him the supposedly-diminutive-but-actually-kinda-cool nickname Mayor McSchwinn. Bike commuting rose more than 40 percent during the first three years of his term, but have since plateaued.
Instead, his focus Monday was mostly on housing affordability and the need for taxes on high earners and big companies.
His slogan “Keep Seattle” has so far fallen pretty flat with local media (as the Stranger asks, “What the fuck does that mean?”). During his announcement, he talked about rising housing costs and regressive taxes that force people out of town as the city becomes a wealthy enclave rather than a place for everyone.
“We can’t let this city become San Fransisco,” he said. I guess that’s what “Keep Seattle” means. “The people who helped make this city what it is, make it so attractive, are being pushed out by the growth.” (more…)
It’s time for the Bike News Roundup! The comments below are also open to whatever at-least-somewhat relevant topic you want to discuss.
First up, here’s how Oslo is working to go car-free in its city center. A hopeful note for Seattle: Around the 8:00 mark they talk about the recent launch of a new bigger and better bike share system to replace their old lagging system. They key to success: More stations serving more places.
Pedal Anywhere CEO Zach Shaner with the company’s custom bike-delivering bike. This set-up is a combination of three other local companies: The e-assist motor is from Seattle-based Bike Swift, the trailer base is by Seattle-based CycleFab and the bike racks are from Woodinville-based Sportworks.
You just flew into Seattle, made your way through the airport and sat down on the light rail heading towards your hotel. You heard biking in Seattle is awesome, and you want to try it out. So you Google “bike rental seattle” and find a handful of shops, some sad news about the closure of Pronto and one service that claims it will bring a bike to you within two hours of booking: Pedal Anywhere. Better yet, the rates are even better if you keep the bike for your whole week stay.
So you book a bike online. By the time you are checked into your hotel and settled into your room, a quality hybrid bike in your size is in the lobby waiting for you. And the best part is that the person delivering it brought your bike using a custom e-assist bike. Bikes delivering bikes, that’s just too cool.
This is not just the concept behind Pedal Anywhere, it’s how the service actually works today in Seattle. The company, under the leadership of CEO (and friend of Seattle Bike Blog) Zach Shaner, is currently trying to grow using a crowdfunding-style investment effort through Seed Invest. That campaign is open until April 24. The minimum investment is $500 (but unlike with a Kickstarter-style crowdfunding, you would actually own a stake in the company).
“We’re trying to take all the headaches out the bike rental process,” said Shaner. And if it works in Seattle, why not replicate it other cities?
“If we [meet our investment goal], we’d like to be in Portland and Vancouver, B.C., and maybe San Francisco by next year.” (more…)
Work is underway on a short new stretch of sidewalk and bike lane on Northlake Way near the University Bridge.
Identified as a key missing piece in the Pedestrian Master Plan, the sidewalk will connect the businesses on Northlake Way (like Voula’s! Mmmmm…) to the UW campus sidewalk and trail network.
For people biking, the project will preserve the existing painted bike lines east of 8th Ave NE and add one extra block of westbound bike lane connecting to 7th Ave NE. It’s a bit of a climb, but 7th Ave NE is a shortcut to the Burke-Gilman Trail. It’s not a groundbreaking improvement for biking, but it’s something. (more…)
