Somebody Else for Seattle Port Commission #1

Ehhhhlection '09

Should a crypto-right-winger and Temporary Restrainee like John Creighton be allowed to simply skate through the general election unopposed? I don't think so. Clearly, then, the only solution is to write-in Susan Robinet. Poetic justice is an excellent campaign slogan.

Update (11/4/09): So far there are 3032 write-ins in this race. That's 1.78%, the biggest write-in percentage of all the races.

How Bike Lanes should be done

Hello Seattle DOT, we'd appreciate it if you'd watch this.

The New York High Line

A great Flickr slideshow by mi compadre Unrealfred. Could part of the Alaskan Way Viaduct be converted to something like this?

The Threshold

R-71
Ehhhhlection '09


The campaign that gathered signatures to get Referendum 71 on the ballot has been the winner in court so far in its effort to withhold names of people who signed the referendum petition.

When should a group be allowed to withhold names? There is a local precedent that sets a threshold. The Seattle Ethics and Elections gave the Freedom Socialists a pass on disclosing supporter names because they were able to show disclosure would have subjected them to threats, intimidation and harassment.

As we can see today, Freedom Socialists are not the only ones with good reason to be afraid of the right wing. Threats based on politics target the center and left; Beckbots are willing to go after anyone even slightly liberal.

The case for withholding names of R-71 signers does not rise to this threshold. Opponents of gay civil rights have no safety concerns from loss of anonymity, because liberals don't threaten, intimidate and harrass. We do criticize, mock and boycott -- but those are legal and nonviolent expression. Shielding someone from legal and nonviolent expression is not sufficient reason for exemption from public disclosure.

No problem after Viaduct shuts down

A miles-long oil slick on the Alaskan Way viaduct this morning caused southbound lanes on the elevated roadway to be shut down from 4am until 8:30ish.

Traffic diverted elsewhere. No lightning flashed, no toads rained from the sky.

Are a SURE we need to replace it with a tunnel???

A Ginormous Tragedy

While you wouldn't think the health insurance reform debate ventures into green territory, a current experience of mine does exactly that.

• My health insurance company took away my choice of pharmacy. I usually go to Bartell, but for one particular drug I need, my insurance made me choose between two national mail order pharmacies. This is being done for excellence in service and for your convenience, the letter read. In reality I tried both companies, and one was incompetent and the other one involved a lengthy intake interview. Like they think they're my doctor. And they'll be calling me every month when I need a refill for another friendly chat. Yessss, much more excellent and convenient. With Bartell (which is located right down the street) I can call the automated refill line and be done in less than a minute.

• Of course the real reason my insurance has taken away my choice is because it saves money, i.e. it allows them to make more money (because it is one of the Blues, they put the money into their ginormous reserve and give their executives massive salaries).

• The green connection involves the way the mail order pharmacies send me my prescription: with massive amounts of styrofoam packaging. It has to be refrigerated, so what UPS drops on my porch is a massive box containing a ginormous styrofoam vault as well as gel cold packs.

• I get to throw all that packaging away. More precisely, I get to pay to throw it away, either via municipal trash pickup or by transporting it 23 miles to Ikea.

It's a clear, compelling example of The Tragedy of the Commons. My insurance company is saving money, savings physically represented by petroleum-based material that ends up in the landfill. The mail-order pharmacies don't offer styrofoam mailback.

The newest Mariners fan

Heretofore non-sports fan Marc Maron, Air America Media pundit, has chosen a baseball team to root for. He explains his variety of reasons in this segment from Friday's Break Room Live:



No sooner had Maron boarded the good ship Mariner than the team went out and got clobbered by the Twins 11-0 on Friday and 9-6 on Saturday, continuing a four game losing streak courtesy of Texas and Kansas City.

Only today's 5-3 win over Minnesota saves Maron from jinx status. Welcome, Marc, and see ya at Safeco Field.

This is also how you Do It

Public rental bikes, that is: the check-out stations have to be near everywhere you want to go.

Blueprint for London's Cycling Revolution (The Guardian)

Money talks

Here's a video of Will Murray describing his proposal for a sidewalk in the Bitter Lake neighborhood. It's the fourth time he's submitted it -- ironic that it has been unsuccessful, considering the area is one of the urban villages that supposedly is the focus of our smart growth, walkable neighborhoods policies.



Seattle may claim to put a priority on pedestrian needs, but money talks. The $90,000 available annually in the Neighborhood Street Fund represents city hall's real level of interest in making streets safer. In other words -- very little.

There will be no comprehensive improvement in pedestrian infrastructure so long as city hall follows a divide and conquer strategy: allocating a tiny amount of funding and making the neighborhoods compete for it against each other. It distracts everyone from uniting as one community and demanding a solution that is good for everyone.

Another car runs amok

Hey, a bicyclist has been hit by another one of those driverless cars. The Seattle Times story in full --

March 11, 2009 10:38 AM
Bicyclist struck by vehicle in Wallingford neighborhood

Posted by Nick Provenza

A cyclist suffered serious head injuries after she was struck by a vehicle just before 10:30 a.m. in Seattle's Wallingford neighborhood.

Police and medics are at the scene, near First Avenue Northeast and North 56th Street.

The cyclist, a woman in her 40s, suffered life-threatening injuries and is being transported to Harborview Medical Center, said Dana Vander Houwen of the Seattle Fire Department.

More to come.

Ya missed a Who, Nick.

Mercer will still be One-Way, in a way

Gee, so Seattle is going to put $154 million on making Mercer Street two-way, with another $50 million coming from federal stimulus funds. Yes, we'll be paying contractors and putting people to work to take a couple minutes off the drive of people exiting I-5.

This strikes me as perpetuating the "one way" that urban development has followed for decades: the car culture.

I've been going around telling people that the point of the stimulus is to spend money to get it out into the economy. Well, why Mercer Street? Won't other non-defense spending also create work? How about these items that are supposed to be city priorities:

• Pedestrian safety
• Housing and support services for the hardcore homeless
• School district funding
• Finish the sidewalk grid!
• Duwamish Superfund cleanup
• Fast, convenient and pervasive transit

And how about this need that no one ever talks about: preparing the infrastructure that will support the 1.6 million additional residents expected to move to the Puget Sound region between now and 2040. Do you think the current wastewater treatment system can handle all the additional inputs? Wouldn't our power grid benefit from rooftop solar and wind farms?

The problem for Seattle is that the federal stimulus is only going to shovel-ready projects. That is, projects that were already in advanced planning and only lacked the funding to proceed.

Obviously, Seattle didn't plan.

Another piece of great reporting

The Seattle Times reports on another one of those accidents where a cyclist collides with an -- apparently -- driverless vehicle:

Bicyclist killed in Ballard crash

A 39-year-old cyclist was killed in a collision with a van this morning in Ballard.

By Seattle Times staff

A 39-year-old cyclist was killed in a collision with a van this morning in Ballard.

Medics were called to 24th Avenue Northwest and Northwest 65th Street just before 11 a.m. and performed CPR on the man, according to Dana Vander Houwen, a spokeswoman for the Seattle Fire Department.

The cyclist suffered life-threatening injuries and later died at Harborview Medical Center, said hospital spokeswoman Susan Gregg-Hanson. Police did not immediately provide details of the collision.

Way to get all the 5 Ws, "Staff."

Update, 2/5:

Here's the Street View of the scene, looking south. The Viking is on the left, the turn lane is just ahead. The arrows appear to be where the accident occurred -- pan right 2 clicks, and the telephone pole in the P-I photo is visible.


View Larger Map

Scenario 1. News stories are implying the van was making a legal turn at the intersection with 64th. But the only way the accident makes any sense at that location, and considering the victim, Kevin Black, was an experienced rider, is if he was in the southbound lane preparing to enter the turn lane, and the van driver passed Black and got there first. It's also possible she only thought she was past him, then turned before he did. Drivers think they can share the lane with me all the time.

By the way, for the P-I Soundoff trogs -- there is no law saying you MUST use a bike lane if one is there. There are in fact all sorts of reasons not to use it -- people often insist on loading cargo on the driver's side, someone could be in the middle of parking, a car could be parked in the bike lane. The bike lane is also where all the road debris winds up.

Scenario 2. But the most common reason not to be in the bike lane is if you have to swerve to avoid something -- such as a van that has pulled out in front of you. Interestingly, the accident site is precisely where a southbound vehicle would make a U-turn to get to The Viking (look at where the nose of the white van is in the 13th photo HERE). But that can't possibly be the case here, since U-turns are only allowed at intersections and streetends -- and drivers never EVER break the law, right trogs?

O Green Mayor, Where Art Thou?

Where's our city-wide bike rental program?

Velíb (Paris)



Smartbike (Washington DC)

It's a new year...

...time to do some shopping at one of the hip boutiques on Western Avenue!


The giant safety pin must be for popping the really big ones.

End of free parking in Fremont

It's the end of free parking in Fremont
Surprise notification greeted with outrage

By KATHY MULADY
P-I REPORTER

Fremont isn't so free anymore, at least not the parking.

The Seattle Department of Transportation announced Thursday that Fremont will be the next neighborhood to get paid parking stations, probably by February.

It will cost $1.50 per hour to park in one of the 115 paid parking stations in the central retail district from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

I guess now we'll have to call it Feemont.

Slick use of dehumanization

The Thursday deadline passed without action, and today the Nickelsville tent city is still there. Maybe Hizzoner decided it would be bad to express support for the homeless one day (see yesterday), and take away one of their places to live the next.

And notice how concerned the Mayor's Office is about the human dimension:

City crews placed more than a dozen no-trespassing signs in and around the camp, dubbed "Nickelsville" in defiance of Mayor Greg Nickels, about two hours before the deadline of a 72-hour eviction notice.

But the 5 p.m. deadline passed without incident at the site in an industrial area in the Highland Park neighborhood.

"We don't announce when the cleanup will happen," said Karin Zaugg Black, Nickels' spokeswoman. Source

"Cleanup." Cleanup is what you do to garbage. People get evicted.

Don't dehumanize the residents of Nickelsville, Ms. Black. Call the eviction what it is.

More: Mayor, Zaugg claim no shelter shortage, define controversy as "political"

The post with Dan Rather

Toddled over to the Westin today, to attend the Plymouth Housing Group annual luncheon. I love this group, it is unbelievably effective in planning, funding and constructing transitional and low income housing around downtown Seattle. And they also provide the medical and social support services people need to avoid becoming homeless again.

Anywho, the annual luncheon always features a celebrity draw. A couple years ago it was Malcolm Gladwell; last year was Martin Sheen. Today at least a thousand people turned out to hear journalist Dan Rather, who spoke in broad historical terms about the rise, neglect and potential fall of the social welfare system in the United States.

Rather is eloquent and cerebral -- which is easy to forget reporters can be, given the current state of the profession's blow-dried ratings leaders.

Also given a few minutes to speak were former mayor Norm Rice, and current mayor Greg "Seattle's Green Mayor" Nickels. Both spoke of the need to reduce homelessness; Nickels finished his free lunch, then slipped out when the lights went down for the video profiling several Plymouth residents.

Nickels' appearance, frankly, was a breathtaking display of chutzpah. I wonder if he'll feel the same way about the homeless tomorrow.

Nickels. He finished lunch and scooted.

The Other Thing:

The new website for the Sam Seder/Marc Maron online show can be seen at mvslive.com, give it a look and enjoy the videos.

Green era means we should rethink traffic priorities

Today in the Seattle Times:

Seattle is seeking possession of a popular boating-supply store along Mercer Street, even though the city remains $88 million short of the funds it needs to carry out a street reconstruction project there.

West Marine is to be condemned and torn down to make room for a 60- to 70-foot road widening along Mercer Street in an area commonly called the "Mercer Mess," according to the city's plan.

...private contributors won't commit money for the project until Seattle secures the right-of-way. Of the missing $88 million, the city is negotiating to get $36 million from nearby businesses that would benefit from the $201 million rebuild.

. . .

For two generations, commuters have complained about the Mercer Mess between Interstate 5 and Seattle Center. The city plans to add lanes for two-way travel on Mercer, which now goes eastbound to I-5. Valley Street, now an arterial, would be reduced to two lanes.

A study for the Seattle Department of Transportation predicts that drivers would save minutes leaving I-5, because they would gain a straight route on Mercer westbound, instead of navigating a curve to Valley. Overall, there would be little change in congestion, the study says; but bicycling and walking conditions would improve greatly, while landscaping would make the area more pleasant.

Source

Am I understanding this right? The city wants to spend $201 million on this 10-block stretch so drivers can save a few minutes? That's the sole benefit traffic-wise, because there would be no congestion reduction. Let's make a ledger.

Benefits	Costs ($201 million)
Cars: Drivers save a few minutes	Congestion continues at same level
Non-motorized: Improved walking, biking	generally $1 million per block, including curbs and drainage
Other: Nice landscaping	Businesses: Loss of strong retailer; $36 million

Anyone see anything wrong here? Try taking off your Car Culture Hat. How about now?

That's right: Although I'm mixing qualitative and quantitative, the costs for the automobile portion is the biggest, maybe $150-155 million, while returning the littlest benefit -- a few minutes per driver.

Want to reduce congestion? Want to make the transition away from the car culture? THEN STOP FACILITATING IT. Spend $10 million on non-motorized transportation on Mercer, and a few more million on landscaping and trees. Mandate Low Impact Development to protect Lake Union.

Road-diet what's there now, and maybe you'll get more people biking and taking Metro and the S.L.U.T. (and North Link whenever that's supposed to happen).

Dan Rather to speak at Plymouth Housing Group event

That's right -- former CBS anchor and Texas Air National Guard truthteller Dan Rather has just been announced as the featured speaker for the annual Plymouth Housing Group "Key To Hope" event.

Rather is replacing original speaker John Edwards, who has withdrawn from public engagements for some reason.

The luncheon is Sept. 25 at Noon. Register at the Plymouth site ($150 suggested donation). See you there!

Your security services at work

(8:46 am) Why did a caravan of Homeland Security cops (a sedan and two SUVs) need to go racing up Third Avenue, full lights and sirens, at the end of this morning's rush hour?