Seattle Bike Blog

Cycle Dogs needs support after troubled move to brick and mortar shop

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

November 30, 2022

The Cycle Dogs GoFundMe.

When I think of Cycle Dogs, I think of sitting in the backyard of Peddler Brewing eating a creative and delicious vegan dog. What started as a hot dog cart in a bike trailer (we wrote about the initial Cycle Dogs cart back in 2014) grew into a food truck and, in 2021, a brick and mortar restaurant near the Mighty-O at 17th and Market in Ballard.

But the move inside has been difficult for owners Keaton and Becky Tucker as a series of unexpected repairs put them into debt. This has led them to reach out to supporters for some emergency funds to help them get back on stable financial ground. So go get a dog. And if you want to lend some extra support on top of dinner, you can contribute to the GoFundMe. From Cycle Dogs:

Cycle Dogs had a rough start with our new brick-and-mortar location. In February 2021, we began renovation on the new space. Immediately, we were met with unexpected setbacks, resulting in huge losses. These setbacks continued to plague us through the summer of 2022. Over and over, we took it on the chin and tried to figure out a path forward. A way that didn’t require the help of a crowdfunding campaign.

Cycle Dogs has lost an estimated $144,000 due to unforeseen repairs and closures. Once our contingency fund was used up and the owner’s assets were liquidated, we were forced to take two short-term, high-interest loans. Had our troubles ended there, we would have been able to overcome the setbacks ourselves. Unfortunately, our bad luck continued. When our AC broke, it was the last straw.

We love our customers! They’ve shown us more support than we could ever dream of. We want to stress that we do not have a revenue problem. Our growth rate is right on track. Unfortunately, we got too far behind with repair costs and need additional help. To help us kick our predatory loans and keep our doors open, we’re looking to raise 35K in emergency funding.

We so badly want to get back to giving back to the community. Lately, we haven’t been able to do that. Please consider donating so we can get back on track.

Thank you,

Keaton & Becky Tucker

tags: ballard, becky tucker, cycle dogs, keaton tucker

— Advertisement —
Bike League: Inside Seattle’s community movement for slower streets

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

November 30, 2022

The interview is from the Winter 2022 issue of American Bicyclist Magazine.

The League of American Bicyclists interviewed two wonderful friends of the blog for a story about how safe streets advocates won slower speed limits in Seattle. Brie Gyncild, who you may remember from this Pike Street bike lanes video, and Merlin Rainwater, the creator of Senior Ladies on Wheels, spoke about the community work it took to get the city to lower most arterial speed limits to 25 mph and most residential speed limits to 20 mph. They also noted that just changing the limit isn’t enough. The design of the road must change.

The interview is part of a magazine feature all about what makes a street safer. From the Bike League:

Ask Merlin Rainwater and Brie Gyncild how and when the fight for slower streets started and you’ll learn about the people lost and injured — and the memorial rides and walks the advocates led for each of them.

“I think that initiative was critical because it made the issue of speed one of life and death,” Merlin said. “Traffic violence is an invisible scourge. It’s truly taken for granted that people are going to die in traffic and there’s nothing we can do about it.”

The memorial walks and rides, they said, made the issue of traffic safety about more than just the safety of people inside cars. Using the stories of individuals galvanized support for taking big steps like lowering the speed limit throughout the city. For Brie, lower speed limits were another step towards turning the streets into “places people exist in rather than places people pass through.” When she learned that every city council member was on the record in support of lowering speed limits in Cascade Bicycle Club’s candidate survey, she saw an opportunity to lead a movement for change.

In 2016, a coalition of groups mobilized by Seattle Neighborhood Greenways secured their first major win: the city council and mayor unanimously approved a measure designating all non-arterial streets with speed limits of 20 miles per hour, while arterials — unless otherwise posted — were set to 25 miles per hour. Lowering residential speed limits to 20 mph was a big win, but there was and is still much work ahead.

“We all know that just changing what the sign on the street says doesn’t actually change behavior,” Brie said. As part of their ongoing advocacy, Seattle Neighborhood Greenways focused on the need to not only put up a new sign, but also to redesign the streets to limit driver speeds.

Read more…

tags: brie gyncild, merlin rainwater, seattle neighborhood greenways, speed limits, vision zero

— Advertisement —
How to prepare for biking during the first big freeze of the season

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

November 29, 2022

Obvious challenges aside, biking in freezing weather can be a lot of fun. It’s also an excellent cure for cabin fever. Today’s flurries mostly failed to stick to roadways and paths, and people in Seattle have reported clear routes during their morning bike rides and commutes. But with below-freezing temperatures in the forecast, this is a good time to get ready for winter biking.

By far the most important thing is to be aware of freezing overnight weather because patches of ice are the biggest concern. When riding over any wet-looking surface that could potentially be ice, avoid braking (especially with your front brake) or turning until you are clear of the spot. If the potential ice in on a curve or near a stopping point, go very slowly until you are sure it is not slippery.

If roads do freeze or snow starts accumulating, SDOT collected snow response information in a blog post. King County has also collected information for people who need cold weather shelter, including a printable flier to help spread Seattle-based shelter options.

Forecasts do not currently predict a long frozen stretch, but in previous years we have seen agencies be slow to clear bike routes, especially trails that fall within Seattle Parks jurisdiction. We argued in 2019 that “while trails certainly don’t need to be the top priority, they should be on the list somewhere.” Hopefully agencies will be at least a little better if major freezes hit the area this winter. When dealing with freezing roads, local agencies focus on clearing and treating priority arterial routes. So especially if there is a lot of ice, the main busy streets might be the most bikeable. Though, of course, biking in mixed traffic on a busy street isn’t for everyone. (more…)

tags: snow, winter biking

— Advertisement —
Alert 11/28-1/27: Interurban Trail closed in Algona/Pacific

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

November 29, 2022

Map of the closure from King County Parks.

A section of the Interurban Trail near the Algona/Pacific border will be closed for repairs now until January 27.

There is no official detour or temporary trail. Frontage Road is probable the most obvious alternative, though Josh Putnam noted some additional options via Tacoma Blvd or a longer route via Milwaukee Blvd: (more…)

tags: algona, Bike Route Alert, interurban south, king county parks, pacific

— Advertisement —
Boeing workers use cargo bikes to get around their massive facilities

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

November 28, 2022

Saw this making the rounds and had to share it with you all:

Boeing workers have long relied on bicycles to move around their enormous facilities, and they started switching to cargo trikes back in 2015.

tags: boeing, cargo bikes

— Advertisement —
South Seattle bike lane improvements added as budget goes to final vote

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

November 28, 2022

Though many of the Seattle City Council’s more ambitious budget goals were shelved following a grim revenue forecast, the nearly-complete 2023-24 budget retains the Vision Zero and Missing Link redesign funds that Mayor Bruce Harrell initially proposed and sets aside $1 million for upgrading many District 2 bike lane barriers to concrete.

Considering the budget crunch, biking and safe streets did OK through this Council budget process. Many larger project additions didn’t make it, such as Councilmember Lisa Herbold’s effort to revive the shelved Fauntleroy project, Councilmember Andrew Lewis’s effort to save the Thomas Street Redesigned project that Mayor Harrell cut, and Councilmember Tammy Morales’s Home Zone program expansion. The Council also made some frustrating cuts to the sidewalk repair program and ADA compliance in parks.

But the ill-advised bike and scooter share tax was also cut, which is a significant win considering how appealing a new potential revenue source was during an austerity budget session. However, as we argued, the revenue was far from assured, and creating the new taxing process could even have cost the city money in its first year of operation.

One of the biggest wins late in the Council’s deliberations was a Councilmember Morales proviso setting aside $1 million “solely for the replacement of plastic bollards with concrete barriers on currently protected bike lanes in Council District Two and may be spent for no other purpose” (budget action PDF). Morales tried hard to get more street safety funds into this budget, continuing to stand out as a champion for Vision Zero and equitable safety investments.

In the end, some but not all budget asks from Seattle Neighborhood Greenways and Cascade Bicycle Club made it through. You can track all the budget amendments using this very handy city website.

While not related to biking specifically, Ryan Packer at the Urbanist has sounded the alarm about a concerning move to shift $12 million in funds from Seattle’s 2020 transit funding ballot measure to fund bridge maintenance instead of transit service. They are managing this bait and switch by noting that buses also use the bridges, so it should count as a transit investment. This is not what voters thought they were voting for when an overwhelming 80% of them approved this measure. There are many pools of money available to fund bridges that are not available for transit service, such as state gas taxes. That’s why it is so important to protect transit service funds. Unfortunately, the severe bus driver shortage has been leading to King County Metro bus service cuts even as funds are available to maintain that service. So as reserves from the ballot measure built up, it became a juicy pot of cash to raid.

The City Council is scheduled to make a final vote on the budget 2 p.m. Tuesday. While they are able to make last-minute changes, approval is often more of a formality as the vast majority of debates happened in the Budget Committee.

tags: 2023 budget, andrew lewis, bruce harrell, city council, Lisa herbold, tammy morales

— Advertisement —