Seattle Bike Blog

Mayor Murray: ‘Protected bicycle lanes are a crucial component of our transportation infrastructure’

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

January 16, 2014

In a recent letter, Mayor Ed Murray did not mince words about how strongly he supports building protected bike lanes in Seattle. In support of Seattle’s application to be part of the national Green Lane Project — a program of PeopleForBikes — Murray called protected bike lanes “a crucial component of our transportation infrastructure and at the heart of our Bicycle Master Plan.

“I believe this project could help Seattle reclaim its place as one of the best bicycling cities in the United States,” he wrote. He also embraces the Bike Master Plan and supports the central role that protected bike lanes play in it.

Here’s the mayor’s letter to the Green Lane Project:

As Mayor of Seattle, I am submitting this letter in enthusiastic support of Seattle’s Green Lane Project application. I believe this project could help Seattle reclaim its place as one of the best bicycling cities in the United States.

Protected bicycle lanes are a crucial component of our transportation infrastructure and at the heart of our Bicycle Master Plan. Of course, these lanes are critical for the improved safety of cyclists; they help get bikes and cars out of each other’s way. But they also provide significant benefits for the livability of our city, the mobility and health of our residents, and contribute to our ongoing pursuit of environmental sustainability. (more…)

tags: alliance for biking and walking, cycle tracks, ed murray, green lane project, people for bikes, protected bike lanes

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Memorial walk for man killed crossing West Seattle street, family hopes for ‘positive light’

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

January 15, 2014

James St. Clair was walking across 35th Ave SW at SW Graham Street December 30 when he was struck by a car and killed. He was 69.

Community members and Seattle Neighborhood Greenways are organizing a memorial walk for St. Clair starting at 1 p.m. Saturday. People will walk from the High Point Branch Library to the site of the collision, then walk to Neighborhood House for a discussion.

Oscar St. Clair hopes some good can come from his family’s pain, as he told Seattle Neighborhood Greenways:

Our family, my brothers and sisters, are in sorrow. I pray a positive light will happen because of this. A lot of people need to walk in the evening. They want to go to the grocery store like Jim did on his last night. I hope in his memory we see brighter lights, a stoplight, a safer community.

More details from Seattle Neighborhood Greenways:

A community was devastated by a horrific collision on Monday, December 30, as James St. Clair crossed at the intersection of SW Graham Street and 35th Avenue Southwest. Mr. St. Clair, 69-years-old, had lived at High Point less than one month. His was the second fatality at this intersection. Susanne Scaringi, 27-years-old, died on her bicycle here in September 2006.

Please join us Saturday, January 18 at 1 p.m. in front of the High Point Branch Library, 3411 SW Raymond Street. We will walk one block south to the crash site to pay our respects to the family and friends of James St. Clair, and then we will walk another two blocks to Neighborhood House at 6400 Sylvan Way SW for juice and snacks and a brief discussion with City of Seattle officials about the tragedy and how to make safer streets for everyone in the High Point area. These tragedies don’t need to keep happening. (more…)

tags: 35th ave sw, high point, i-35, james st clair, west seattle

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Cascade members begin registering for big events + Stinky Spoke is Saturday

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

January 15, 2014

Screenshot from Cascade website

Registration opened this week for Cascade Bicycle Club’s major events, including the February 23 Chilly Hilly and the group’s legendary Seattle-to-Portland Classic (July 12-13 this year).

There’s a catch, though: You have to be a Cascade member to register early. But hey, if you really want to make sure you get a spot, you can always join.

Stinky Spoke

Screenshot from the Stinky Spoke website

Can’t wait to get out there on a big group bike event? Well, there’s still time to register for Stinky Spoke Poker Ride 2014. The ride starts at Red Hook Brewery in Woodinville and involves some difficult climbs.

As you make it to checkpoints along the loop course, you’ll get a playing card. People with the best poker hand at the end will get prizes.

And hey, it’s for a good cause. Funds raised by the ride will go to Little Bit Therapeutic Riding Center, which “brings equine-assisted therapies to children and adults with disabilities.”

Learn more at the Stinky Spoke website.

tags: cascade bicycle club, events, stinky spoke

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US Supreme Court hearing case that could impact Washington rail-trails

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

January 14, 2014

Click to read more from the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy

Today, the United States Supreme Court is hearing arguments in a case that could impact rail-trails in Washington State, specifically the John Wayne Pioneer (Iron Horse) Trail.

The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy is leading efforts to argue that certain parts of former railroad right-of-way land legally reverted into Federal ownership and not private hands.

The case is specifically about a section of rail corridor in Wyoming that is home to the Medicine Bow Trail, but the decision could have implications for Washington State’s John Wayne Pioneer Trail and sections of other rail trails all over the country.

SCOTUSblog has a good primer on what is at issue in the case and what factors the Supreme Court must weigh:

The dispute, in fact, is a classic one of competing interests: the personal right to own property free of restrictions that the government may assert, perhaps belatedly, versus the government’s obligation to manage the public lands to maximize policy goals to serve a supposedly larger community of interest. (more…)

tags: john wayne pioneer trail, rails to trails, us supreme court

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Westlake lawyers seek more bike plan delays + Only boat & biz owners invited to ‘community meeting’

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

January 13, 2014

The handful of angry people who have lawyered up to delay the entire city-wide Bike Master Plan are already seeking to delay the process even further. Their reason?

Too many people participated in crafting the Bike Master Plan.

Yes, it’s true. So many Seattle residents attended public meetings, hearings and submitted comments online in various forms that the legal team says they need until May to get digest it all. From a motion by Josh Brower, attorney for the Westlake appellants (see all filed documents related to the case here):

SDOT conducted a number of public outreach meetings, gathered comments and worked with numerous consultants in the research, drafting and completion of the proposed Plan. Obtaining and digesting all of this will take weeks if not a month or more. Under the current schedule, Appellants have approximately seven (7) weeks to do so. Even if the Appellants could timely obtain information from SDOT, which, based on past experience, is unlikely, seven (7) weeks is simply not enough time to gather and digest the mountain of information related to the Plan.

As of now, the original schedule of a pre-hearing January 15 and full hearing March 5 is still noted on the case website.

Brower is not to be underestimated. This is the same attorney who has been delaying the Burke-Gilman Trail Missing Link in Ballard for years. Here, he has turned the fact that the Bike Master Plan had such a successful public outreach campaign into a reason to delay city approval. It’s the work of a true artist.

If you live, work, travel or play on Westlake and would like to have a say as part of the Westlake Stakeholders Group, then you are invited to attend an upcoming meeting. Oh wait! No, you probably aren’t invited anymore.

After the public started signing up for their January 21 kickoff community meeting, organizers cancelled the meeting and took down the Evite page. Instead, they have turned it into a “private Westlake Community Meeting” from 5–7 p.m. at China Harbor, and you must provide a home address on Westlake Ave N, evidence you are a business owner or the slip number for your livaboard boat or yacht in order to attend.

Never heard of a “private” community meeting before? Me neither. If you can’t allow the public to attend your community meeting, might that be a sign that your group has lost all ability to claim you represent the community? (more…)

tags: 2013 bike master plan update, josh brower, westlake, westlake lawsuit

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Snohomish County sees its Centennial Trail as a link to the region’s history

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

January 13, 2014

Snohomish County sees the Centennial Trail as not just a great place to walk and bike, but as a way to connect communities and explore the area’s history.

That’s according to the county’s fancy new website for the trail, which now stretches from the Skagit County border to the City of Snohomish.

Snohomish County recently approved purchase of more rail corridor that could see the trail stretch all the way to King County and connect to the planned Eastside Rail Corridor Trail and the Burke-Gilman/Sammamish River Trails.

History is one of the coolest parts about biking or walking on many rail trails. After all, most the railroads came before the highways, and many of these early transportation corridors became fairly hidden from view as businesses and residences oriented toward roads instead. So not only are the rail beds relatively flat and have few points of conflict with cars, they are also a great way to better know the place you live.

tags: centennial trail, snohomish county

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