If you commute using the 520 and the Montlake Bridge, your afternoon trip home today may be a little more hellish than usual. A protest is planned at UW (Thursday, November 17) beginning at 4:30pm. We received a tip with an email from an unidentified source that read, “Organizers have put the word out that large groups of protesters are planning to block the Montlake Bridge and potentially State Route 520, disrupting traffic and transit beginning around 4:15 pm.” But after doing some digging, I found information from the organizers:
The M.L. King County Labor Council will hold a rally on the plaza on the corner of Montlake Blvd. NE at NE Pacific Street beginning at 4pm., followed by a march to the Montlake Bridge at 4:30. From the mlkclc.org website:
Our Bridges Need Work. So Do We!
We have a jobs crisis here in Washington. But instead of doing their part to get the economy moving again, Congress and the State Legislature are making more cuts.
Instead we need to get people working on the jobs that need to get done. The Jobs Act proposed by President Obama would invest $50 billion in immediate projects like fixing roads, bridges, and mass transit to get people working and get the economy moving. It wouldn’t solve all our problems, but it’s a big step in the right direction.
But some politicians keep saying no to jobs. Instead of getting us back to work, they’re demanding cuts to Social Security, health care, and education – cuts that we simply can’t afford.
On November 17th, people from across the area will converge near the functionally obsolete Montlake Bridge, then march to the University Bridge to demand our political leaders work for new jobs, not make more cuts. RSVP here!
Refreshments – 3:30 p.m.
Rally – 4:00 p.m.
March – 4:30 p.m.
Update, 1:04pm: Ravenna Blog tells us about the Seattle Times Traffic Alert from this afternoon indicating that “instead of going to the Montlake Bridge, the group now intends to march west to the University Bridge. The change was made due to ‘safety concerns cited by the Seattle Police Department,’ according to Working Washington.” Ravenna Blog also includes an emailed traffic advisory from Seattle Department of Transportation which states the following:
The rally is scheduled to take place between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m. on the University of Washington campus and then is expected to march west on NE Pacific Street to the University Bridge at roughly 4:30 p.m. The demonstrators plan to block the bridge during the afternoon rush hour so their presence will likely cause traffic delays throughout the afternoon commute – until after 6:30 or 7 p.m. Demonstrators may also block the Montlake Bridge during that timeframe.
Thanks for the tip, Alan!
Brilliant move, protesters! The commute across the 520 is already a hellish nightmare that world-weary workers endure every day, and your ill-thought out temper tantrum is going to make it that much worse.
And you think needlessly adding to our commute is going to enlist MORE people to your cause? From that horribly-written press release, it’s pretty clear that you guys haven’t really put much thought into this whole thing.
OCCUPY!!!!!!
“… Organizers have put the word out that large groups of protesters are planning to block the Montlake Bridge …”
What organizers, where did this come from? I get the Labor Council link (one of them, anyway), and similar story at http://www.workingwa.org/, but I’m missing the part about blocking anything. Link?
Donn, the following email has been circulated using that language:
“A University of Washington student protest is planned for Thursday, Nov. 17
at 4:30 p.m. According to organizers, large groups of protesters are
planning to block the Montlake Bridge and potentially State Route 520.
Traffic and transit on Montlake Boulevard and throughout the University
District may be heavily disrupted beginning around 4:15 p.m. An end time has
not been estimated.”
I’ve seen the email twice today: Once on the Green Lake Moms board and once here sent through our “tips” email alias. Unfortunately, I can’t figure out the source from either.
I’ve updated the language in the post to make the distinction between the email and the organizers’ website.
Go ahead, block 520, the most ridiculous freeway in Washington! See how many people you convert to your cause by screwing up their evening commute even more. I’ll play a different game – seeing how many of these losers I can run down. Here’s a tip, how about my foot occupies your a@@ until you quit whining, move out of your parents basement, and get a job. Try ‘occupy cubicle’ instead of the constant whining.
Every time my commute gets broken by a “protest,” I wonder the same thing: how does keeping people who are in the 99% from getting to work or school on time, or preventing these 99% from getting home to feed their children or do homework… how does this HELP the cause? It gets attention, but it definitely feels like the wrong attention.
Noble cause, but isn’t it a HUGE public health and safety issues blocking access to Seattle Children’s and UWMC?
So, not to put too fine a point on it, but we’re talking about tons of adverse publicity, generated by circulating a rumor that can’t be substantiated or traced back to its source.
Donn, This is why I included the link to the actual organizers of the event and made the distinction between the email and the information from the organizers’ website.
The tactic of blocking working people from getting home is a form of terrorism.
It looks like the marchers will now be headed to the University Bridge, to avoid impacting 520: http://www.ravennablog.com/2011/11/17/rally-and-march-near-montlake-university-bridges-this-afternoon/
Thank you for the update, Judy!
Thanks to both Judy and Margaret for keeping us informed.
I can confirm that the University Bridge is completely blocked by protesters at this time. No cars are getting through. I saw the scene looking down from a bus crossing the ship canal bridge.
Too bad they didn’t open it with them on it
Me me me me me me me me me me me me. Pathetic, all the whiners here who only care about themselves and their poor commutes. At least the protesters are trying to do something that could have a long lasting, positive effect on our society.
My commute wasn’t affected by the protest. (I ride the bus and my route is farther west). I also support some of the principles and goals of the protestors. Yes, people need jobs.
At the same time, my heart goes out to anyone with family or friends at the UW Medical School or Childrens Hospital, who may not have been able to get there because traffic was blocked. There’s something wrong with that, in my view.
@brian “Do something”? It would be great if the Occupy movement had a constructive agenda. There are some startling parallels between Occupy and the Tea Party movement: lots of yelling and hate, few ideas as to what to actually do.
“…blocking working people from getting home is a form of terrorism.” Just a little bit hyperbolic there? Delaying people’s commutes is equivalent to horrific acts of violence?
“I’ll play a different game – seeing how many of these losers I can run down.”
“Too bad they didn’t open [the bridge] with them on it.”
Threatening or wishing for people’s death because their protest inconvenienced you one afternoon? Disgusting.
Whether or not you agree with the message or the motives of Occupy Seattle, I’m embarrassed that this is how people in my neighborhood are responding.
I was not being hyperbolic at all. The mobs that block streets at rush hour are causing people to feel dread about what they will encounter as they’re trying to get home. Blocking streets, disobeying police orders, assaulting police, pushing people away from ATMs, camping in parks, selling and using illegal drugs: These are all illegal acts that the occupiers have committed. Though not “horrific acts of violence”, these acts are causing a state of fear among law-abiding citizens. And that is a form of terrorism.
Ah yes, the law abiding citizens. I don’t think I know any, so you could be right about that state of fear, hard to say.
Drug-dealing on Capitol Hill? Tell me it isn’t so! That never happened before Occupy Seattle.
I’ve been supportive of the the “Occupy” movement and glad to see the protests, until this stunt. I realize now why there’s so many unemployed, THEY”RE TOO STUPID TO BE HIRED! Why on earth would you screw the people that support the cause? This group of idiots have lost focus of the cause.
Steve