Be sure to check out our other notes from the 2017 WA Bike Summit.
State Transportation Secretary Roger Millar kicked off the Monday keynote with some solid jokes about job security, a reference to the sudden, politically-motivated firing his predecessor Lynn Peterson one year ago.
Millar, who walks to work every day, talked about the state’s responsibility to see beyond just personal cars.
“We’re not just about moving cars and drivers, we’re about moving people,” he said.
And he emphasized that “active transportation isn’t just for urban centers.” People in communities of all sizes across the state are either choosing to biking and walk or can’t afford another option. (more…)
Dr Adonia Lugo was the Monday lunchtime keynote speaker
I’m at Cascade Bicycle Club’s Washington Bike Summit, a two-day conference that coincides today with Active Transportation Lobby Day.
As I write this, people from all over the state are volunteering their time to meet with their state Representatives and Senators and urge them to support biking, walking and transit during the legislative session. That’s pretty cool.
Below is the first of several notes from the summit. I’ll keep posting as I get them written, so be sure to check back.
Dr. Adonia Lugo:
Just a couple days after Donald Trump was elected President, Dr. Adonia Lugo flew from L.A. to Atlanta to attend The Untokening, a conference she helped organize that was designed to be a majority-people-of-color event for people working “for just and accessible streets and communities.”
But the election took the wind out of her sails as the headed to the conference, Lugo said during her keynote speech Monday. The work seemed so small in comparison to the threat Trump posed to so many communities in the nation.
Yet bicycling can be a part of the movement for a different vision of the world than the one Trump campaigned for. (more…)
It’s time for the Bike News Roundup! Here’s a look at some stuff floating around the web lately. This is an open thread.
First up, a PBS documentary (fresh out of 1996) on the auto industry’s conspiracy to destroy public transit and create the urban traffic headaches we have today and continue to make worse through further highway spending. Interesting that Trump’s proposed budget would not only cut public transit funding, but also PBS…
Photo from MOHAI: Rally Against the Burke Gilman Trail, Seattle, 1971. Photographer: Tom BarletAs you pedal or stroll along the Burke-Gilman Trail today, it feels like such an integral part of the city that it is hard to imagine the north end without it (unless you’re in Ballard, of course).
But that trail isn’t there by accident, and it isn’t there because of smart City of Seattle transportation policy. It’s there because neighbors — with the help of a supportive mayor — took action and made it happen, culminating in a 2,000-person “hike-in” along the railroad line calling for the city to preserve the decommissioned line as a public biking and walking path rather than splitting it up into many privately-owned parcels.
Half a century later, the Burke-Gilman has inspired rail-trail across the nation and remains a jewel of the city. During peak commute hours, the trail can move as many people as a lane of a major freeway, but it also serves as a unique way for people to quickly feel very far away from the hustle and bustle of city life.
KIRO Radio’s Feliks Banel caught up with trail activist Merrill Hille and former Mayor Wes Uhlman recently to talk about the effort to create the trail (it also includes a fantastic first-person account of train worker Jack Christensen traveling the route shortly before it was decommissioned). It might be hard to imagine today, but the plans were very controversial back then. But Uhlman and other leaders saw the vision and potential the trail held for the city and spent a lot of political capital making it a reality.
But none of that could have happened without neighbors organizing and pushing hard to make sure the positive vision outweighed the pushback.
The story is familiar, yet also feels fantastical. How could people have ever been against the Burke-Gilman Trail? Perhaps in a half century, people will be asking the same question about the downtown bike network and the protected bike lanes down Rainier Ave…
Seattle is trying a whole new method for gathering community ideas for small park and street improvements, and the people have responded. Loudly.
Neighbors from all over Seattle submitted nearly 900 ideas for street and park improvements (up to $90,000 in cost), which is a huge success for the new community outreach process. And a look at the interactive map of submitted ideas shows that ideas are distributed well across the city, which is a strong marker of success for a brand new citywide outreach effort.
But it’s also maybe a bit of a problem since the city only budgeted $2 million to go around.
I know $2 million sounds like a lot of money, but it is only enough to fund 23 projects if each project uses the maximum budget allowed (of course, not all will do so). That’s only enough for a small percentage of ideas to become reality.
A lot of the ideas are about making streets safer and more friendly for people walking, biking or just trying to spend time hanging out and enjoying their neighborhood. Not all the 900 ideas submitted are feasible, but they are a place to start.
The “Your Voice. Your Choice; Parks & Streets” process has replaced the old Neighborhood Park and Street Fund, which went through the city’s various District Councils. The hope is that the new process will be more inviting to more people with city staff reaching out to many different groups directly. A growing and changing city needs a versatile outreach process that can find people where they are rather than requiring people to go through their District Councils. (more…)
The Madison BRT project has dropped its goal of designing a so-called “parallel” bike route to accompany its $120 million plans for a faster and more reliable bus line from the waterfront to MLK Way.
But just as concerning, the few short, disconnected sections of bike facilities that are planned mostly fail to meet standards that would make them inviting for people of all ages and abilities to use.
You can learn more about the plans and provide feedback at a Wednesday open house or through an online open house. From the project info page:
Wednesday, March 15
5:30 – 7:30 PM
First African Methodist Episcopal Church
1522 14th Ave
![Photo from MOHAI: Rally Against the Burke Gilman Trail, Seattle, 1971 Signs in image: Do the Hungry and Needy Really Want [...] Million Trail. [...] Woods [...] in My Yard. Not More Taxes. Who's Paying for This $10 Million Dream? We Don't Want It. Burke Gilman Trail. Enjoy But Who Pays? Who Pays for Upkeep. Photographer: Tom Barlet Image Date: 1971 Image Number:1986.5.55062.1 - See more at: http://www.mohai.org/explore/blog/item/2067-rally-against-the-burke-gilman-trail-seattle-1971#sthash.3mRtlXsn.dpuf](https://www.seattlebikeblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/getimage.jpg)
