Seattle Bike Blog

Friday’s Park(ing) Day will be Seattle’s biggest yet: Over 50 pop-up parks planned

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

September 16, 2015

Last year, some parks got a little bigger and more ambitious, like this pop-up protected bike lane on 9th Ave in South Lake Union by Cascade Bicycle Club

Park(ing) Day is one of my favorite holidays. It’s a day of people and organizations showcasing their creative ideas for how to activate our public spaces. In the space of just a car or two, a whole park can spring up. That’s amazing.

Park(ing) Day 2015 is Friday, and there are more than 50 parks registered across Seattle. That makes this year’s event the biggest yet.

And better yet, the hours have been extended so people who work days or go to school don’t have to fake sick to check out the temporary parks. The parks will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

You can read a short description of every park on the city’s Park(ing) Day website and check out the city’s map of park locations at the bottom of this post. (more…)

tags: cascade bicycle club, park(ing) day, park(ing) day 2015, seattle neighborhood greenways

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Ahead of public hearing, a couple ways to make the 520 Bridge plans better

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

September 15, 2015

In case you haven’t noticed, the state is building a new 520 Bridge. And as we noted back in February, the biking and walking elements of their Seattle-side plans have come a long way since the initial drafts. But there’s still a lot of work left to do.

Since February, the state legislature passed a transportation package that includes funding for the project. Now Seattle has completed a draft of its recommendations, and they have addressed many of the issues safe streets advocates and community groups have been pushing. But there are some key details that still aren’t good enough.

Just the Seattle part of the massive highway expansion project is expected to cost $1.64 billion. So we need to get these details right, and we should spell them out pretty carefully in the city’s resolution.

The good news is that you have a chance to tell the City Council exactly that during a public hearing 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the University Christian Church in the U District.

Seattle Neighborhood Greenways suggests these specific changes: (more…)

tags: 520 trail, city council, NOAA, sr 520

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The first ever Seattle Summer Parkways was fun, but let’s go bigger in Ballard

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

September 15, 2015

20/20 Cycle Owner Alex Kostelnik and Cascade Bicycle Club Executive Director Elizabeth Kiker help kick off Seattle’s first Summer Parkways.

Seattle held its first ever Summer Parkways last weekend in the Central District. Three miles of residential streets linked several neighborhood parks in a car-light loop, encouraging people to bike, walk, scooter or use any other people-powered method to explore and have fun.

Parks were packed with programming, from free zumba classes to music to giant blow-up hamster-ball things (see photo below). Family Bike Seattle used the event as the headquarters for the Disaster Relief Trials, basically a fun cargo bike race and disaster preparedness drill that yours truly had a blast doing. So when the big one hits, I am fully equipped to save the whole city. Don’t even worry about it.

Mayor Ed Murray spoke at the start and especially thanked Cathy Tuttle of Seattle Neighborhood Greenways and City Councilmember Sally Bagshaw for being major forces pushing the city to get more ambitious about its neighborhood open streets events.

The second Summer Parkways event is in Ballard 11–3 this Saturday. It’s an awesome seven miles long. So bring the family and invite your friends. (more…)

tags: ballard, brake the cycle, cascade bicycle club, cathy tuttle, ed murray, eli goldberg, sally bagshaw, seattle neighborhood greenways, summer parkways

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Seattle will let neighborhoods design their own crosswalks

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

September 14, 2015

A Pan-African flag crosswalk on MLK near Powell Barnett Park

Remember when community members painted crosswalks in the Central District the colors of the Pan-African flag earlier this summer? We praised the city for making them official rather than trying to clean them off.

Well, now the city has gone one step further. Today, SDOT announced a new program to allow neighborhoods to officially implement custom crosswalks. It’s certainly a longer process than buying some paint and doing it yourself, but it will also last longer and the city will make sure it meets safety standards.

Of course, the crosswalk painters were not making a statement about the need for a community crosswalk program at SDOT/Department of Neighborhoods. In the words of the United Hood Movement: “We didn’t get $100,000 to do it. We just knew it would give people a sense ownership back to our community since gentrification has changed it so rapidly, and dramatically it’s hard to recognize the place we call… Home.”

But it is a cool side-effect of the action that now communities have this new option for creating public art or identity markings right in the middle of their streets. It will take some fundraising or winning a Neighborhood Matching Fund grant, but that’s a small price to pay for a community-building addition like this. Because the streets belong to everyone, and this is just one more way to say so.

Unless your neighborhood is zerbra-themed, in which case the current crosswalks work just fine.

From SDOT: (more…)

tags: community crosswalks, department of neighborhoods, pan-african flag, sdot, united hood movement

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Bring the whole family! Bring your friends! The first ever Summer Parkways fills streets in the CD Saturday

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

September 11, 2015

It’s really happening. Summer Parkways is headed to the Central District, turning three miles of neighborhood streets into a long car-free, people-filled park.

The weather report for Saturday is looking great. So grab your bike or put on your walking shoes and get ready to spend the afternoon in the sun meeting people and smiling.

Better yet, bring the whole family. And invite all your friends. Tell the Seattle teachers in your life they can bring picket signs. Bring a radio so you can listen to the Seahawks game on the route. Because the more people show up, the more fun it will be (full disclosure: Summer Parkways is a Seattle Bike Blog advertiser).

Aside from the loop of car-free streets, there will also be a bunch of programmed activities in parks and public spaces along the way. From live music to food trucks to free zumba and belly dancing classes, there’s going to be plenty to do to fill your afternoon.

The route opens at 11 a.m. with a ceremony at Garfield Playfield. Then you have until 3 p.m. to explore and have fun. You can also volunteer to help by signing up online here.

If you don’t live in the immediate area, you can catch one of these group rides to the opening ceremony leaving from various parts of town in the late morning: (more…)

tags: central district, summer parkways

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Man biking hits person in crosswalk on the Ave, both seriously injured

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

September 11, 2015

A man in his 20s biking on the Ave collided with a man in his 40s walking in a crosswalk Thursday evening, sending both people to the hospital.

When Medics transported them shortly after 4:30 p.m., the man walking had serious injuries and the man biking was in critical condition.

We send them both our best wishes.

Police say the man on the bike was headed downhill (southbound) on the Ave approaching the mid-block crosswalk between NE 47th and NE 45th Streets. He was passing a stopped bus on the driver’s side and collided with a man walking eastbound in the crosswalk.

Traffic Collision Investigators shut down the area for a while, and their investigation is ongoing. Blood work is still pending, so it it not yet known if impairment was involved. (more…)

tags: injuries, the ave, u district

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