Seattle Bike Blog

SPD busts bike theft ring, finds stolen pistol

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 10, 2015

Sometimes stolen bike rings steal more than just people’s rides. Images from SPD.

After Seattle Police staged a sting to recover a stolen bicycle posted for sale on Craigslist a few weeks ago, they pushed the lead further and found even more stolen bikes and even a stolen handgun, according to the SPD Blotter.

The bust began in late July when detectives staged a Craigslist deal with a person selling a stolen bike. The thief had already pawned the reportedly $3,500 bike for $400 at a Shoreline shop (and I’m sure the shop HAD NO IDEA IT WAS STOLEN), but bought it back from the pawn shop to sell it to the officer for twice that much.

Detectives arrested the suspect and returned the bike to its owner.

But unlike so many other bike theft stories, officers dug deeper. A few days later, another bike theft victim found his bike on OfferUp, and officers staged another sting.

This time they arrested two people who police say were involved in the same theft ring as the man arrested in the previous sting. Those arrests led them to a storage locker with ten more bikes (six of which had been reported stolen), some meth and heroin, and a stolen Glock pistol.

Here’s the theft victim’s version of events, as related to Bike Index:

A Bike Index user found my bike for sale on OfferUpNow and alerted me. I contacted the seller … and he had me meet at the public storage building at Mercer and Fairview. I was able to have SPD detectives bring me along with them, and they ended up making a big arrest. A crime ring leader who had assault charges and other felonies was the one who had the storage space with many other stolen bikes. The police were able to find my bike in the storage unit and return it to me.

It’s a sad reminder that the money from bike theft fuels some more serious problems. It’s great to see Seattle Police helping people recover their bikes, which is a worthy end in itself. But we also need to address our more deep-rooted social ills. Bike theft is really just one more symptom of those larger problems. (more…)

tags: bike thefts, craigslist, OfferUp, spd

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Community members paint Pan-African flag crosswalk. Rather than fight it, city makes it official

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 7, 2015

Around the time of the annual Umoja Fest Africatown Heritage Parade earlier this month, some folks including the United Hood Movement went out and painted several crosswalks in the Central District red, black and green, the colors of the Pan-African flag.

The action calls attention to what many people who grew up in the Central District have experienced: As more white people (including yours truly) and more money move into the neighborhood, longtime black community members are getting priced out. And with them goes the sense of identity and belonging the neighborhood used to provide. The CD has been gentrifying for a long time, but the physical space is changing quickly now that investment in big new buildings has crossed south of Madison.

In response, some community activists have rallied around the identity of Africatown, which refers both to the African-American history of the neighborhood and to newer immigrant and refugee communities from African nations that have made the CD their home. Just like Chinatown and International District organizations work to preserve Asian heritage in Seattle and many other cities, Africatown is meant to preserve the identity of this neighborhood before it simply becomes Capitol Hill South.

So activists took matters into their own hands and painted several crosswalks at MLK and Cherry and near Powell Barnett Park. They didn’t wait for the city to approve them or find a spot for the project in the annual budget. Here’s how the UHM described the action in a Facebook post: (more…)

tags: africatown, capitol hill seattle, central district, king 5, pan-african flag, pete holmes, scott kubly, sdot, umoja fest, united hood movement

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Weekend Guide: Bike crazy, bike sexy and/or bike against the bomb

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 7, 2015

I hope you didn’t plan a trip away from Seattle this weekend, because that would have been a mistake. There’s all kinds of bikey stuff to do, some of it pretty wild, some of it family-focused and some of it very somber and deep.

You may not find another bike weekend that better showcases the wide range of the ways bicycles build community and help people express themselves.

Event descriptions come from our Events Calendar. Remember, anyone can add events to the calendar. So if I missed anything, add it and let us know in the comments below.

Dead Baby Downhill XIX

When: August 7, 2015 @ 5:00 pm – 11:45 pm
Where: Race starts at Elysian, Party in Georgetown

(more…)

tags: weekend guide

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Breaking through ‘legislative gridlock’: Bipartisan Bike Ride tours Seattle

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 6, 2015

I called it Congressional Mass. Then someone next to me joked it should be called Legislative Gridlock. But the 150 or so state legislators and I were on bikes, so we actually moved through downtown and around Lake Union quite smoothly.

Seattle is hosting the National Conference of State Legislators this week, and Thursday morning was the annual Bipartisan Bike Ride hosted by Bike Texas with local support from Washington Bikes (and some folks from Pronto, Cascade). Barb Culp, who helped organize the very first ride 11 years ago in Seattle as Director of the Bicycle Alliance of Washington, was the ride’s sweep.

One of the Washington legislative hosts was Rep. Ed Orcutt (R–Kalama), which was great. He was very nice even after I told him who I was. I wrote a story a few years ago that didn’t make his look great. He apologized and tried to take it back, but it was too late and the story blew up worldwide. The Internet can be ruthless.

So given the rough time he got from the bike world, I thought it was very cool of him to help host a bike ride in Seattle. He even thanked me for being there to volunteer. That’s pretty classy. I probably would have punched me. (more…)

tags: bike texas, bipartisan bike ride, ed orcutt, washington bikes

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Get ready for the Big One at the Seattle Disaster Relief Trials

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 5, 2015

Were you scared shitless by that New Yorker story about the Cascadia Subduction Zone? Want to be ready to help if a big quake takes out the Viaduct and other major transportation systems? Do you think it’s really fun to haul stuff around on a bike?

Then you should sign up for the annual Seattle Disaster Relief Trials. Registration for the September 12 event opened today. It costs $15 to participate or you can volunteer.

The 2015 Seattle DRT will start at Garfield High School during the city’s Summer Parkways open streets event in the Central District.

The event simulates a major disaster in Seattle, and participants have to complete tasks to help with rescue efforts. You can ride either a standard bike or a cargo bike, and because it’s organized by FamilyBike Seattle, obviously there’s a biking with your kids option.

It’s a fun time, but it’s also empowering and educational. After all, Seattle will be slightly better prepared for disaster with a bunch of people ready to move people and things over terrain impassable by cars.

OK, sure, bikes aren’t gonna totally save Seattle when the Big One hits. But as Jonathan from Bike Portland wrote recently, a big part of being ready for an emergency is being part of a community. And bikes are a uniting force.

And being ready to carry a cargo bike full of water jugs over a barrier probably won’t hurt, either.

Here’s a video giving you a taste of what you’ll get into: (more…)

tags: disaster relief trials, morgan scherer

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If you want this district elections thing to work out, you have to vote today

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 4, 2015

UPDATE: You did it! Initial returns show that most of the NIMBY candidates did very poorly in the primary, despite a low and likely more conservative turnout. Things are looking great for electing a City Council that supports bold action on safe streets.

In fact, Cascade Bicycle Club went 7 for 8 in having their endorsed candidates make it through, with only Halei Watkins getting knocked out (they did not endorse in District 3). That’s not too shabby. And noted bike lane opponent Tony Provine came in a distant fourth place in District 4 (so, no, voicing opposition to safe streets is not a winning election strategy).

In fact, nearly every candidate to make it to the general election (with a chance of winning) has a solid stance on safe streets and bike lanes. The safest incumbents — Mike O’Brien and Sally Bagshaw — are also some of the biggest safe streets boosters.

The only candidate in a close race who wasn’t solid on biking and safe streets issues is Pamela Banks in District 3. But she can hardly be called anti-bike, since she told Cascade she will seek to fully fund the Bike Master Plan and supports safe streets projects like the 23rd Ave redesign and Central Area Neighborhood Greenway (also wants to repave Lake Washington Blvd… yes, please!). But red flags went up when she waffled on a question from the DSA about supporting protected bike lanes downtown (“BALANCE!! Not all roads can handle all modes of transportation.”).

Now it’s time to kick the Move Seattle levy campaign into full power. Support for that levy will be a big factor in how bicycling voters view candidates going into the general. Because Move Seattle is bold, smart and vital for our growing city. If I were a candidate for City Council, I would unequivocally support it. Because this is a real test of whether you are willing to upset some voters (there will likely be people strongly against the property tax levy) in order to do the right thing for safe streets and multimodal transportation.

Original story:

Center column: “Active registered voters
as of August 3, 2015″ – Right column: “Ballots returned” as of press time.

District elections sure sound like a good idea. You get candidates who live in every part of the city, and someone’s path to office could depend more on knocking on doors and shaking hands than big money advertising campaigns.

But district elections could also open the door for candidates who fear change, members of the Not-In-My-Backyard Party who would have been laughed out of town in a citywide race. This is the worst-case scenario. Our leaders need to be bold and willing to take drastic action to address our city’s biggest problems, including safe, efficient streets.

That’s why you can’t skip today’s primary. I know August is a terrible time to have an election with so many people on vacation. But people who generally resist change are reliable voters. If you want the city to have bold leaders, you have to vote for them today.

Get your ballot to a King County drop box by 8 p.m. or get it in the mail early enough to get a postmark from today (as the day gets later, this probably means swinging by a post office). (more…)

tags: 2015 primary election, bike the vote

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