The Mayor and many department heads from the City of Seattle will be coming to Wallingford for the Find It, Fix It Community Walk. The event is open to the public and will start in Woodland Park at the corner of 50th and Greenlake Way North. Refreshments will be served at 5:00-5:30 PM and the walk is 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM. If you have concerns you would like to share with the City, now is your chance!
Kitaro’s burned out shell.. the graffitti on old Auto Supply store.. reoccurring tents etc under freeway 1-2 blocks from JSIS.. empty ‘for rent” storefronts along Stone Way N below ‘”new” apartment buildings.. Too bad he can not come during the day for the long lines and crowded area at Solid Ground Food Bank. Have him walk by Woodland Park N & loook on 44th to the west where large condo developments went concrete to the sidewalk in replacing now torn down homes with yards and trees. Pass by the boarded up older houses ( 3 1-2 block radius). Then walk him by QFC, the Wallingford Center. and through lovely neighborhoods and see the Pea Patch and the successes at The Good Shepherd center.
Can we point out the obvious that he is one of the things that needs fixing the most? I mean to say that his failed policies continue to grow poverty, homelessness, drug usage, prostitution, crime, lack of policing, under-funded education and unnecessary growth that is gentrifying the very people who made Seattle, and Wallingford such an incredible place to live … once.
1) The extreme mis-timing of traffic lights when back-up on east-bound 45th St to get onto south-bound I-5. Almost impossible to make the right turn onto south-bound 5th Ave on-ramp. South-bound 5th traffic from north of the intersection and left turns from west-bound 45th can get through but when light is green for turns from 45th east of the intersection, the east-bound traffic maybe can get 1 or 2 cars through before the light turns red. Especially frustrating that there is no way for carpools to access that lane. (So arterial traffic ends up all over the residential streets, especially heading north to get in the more free-flowing SB I-5 access from north of the I-5/45th intersection.)
2) Horrible weaving mess on east side of I-5 especially to access NB I-5. Many drivers disregard the “stay in lane” signs on that section of 7th creating unsafe and road-rage-inducing conditions.
Not sure where the state and city responsibilities lie re: the I-5/45th St mess but this *must* improve especially w/U District and possible Wallingford and other up-zones.
I’ve heard a rumor that the city is considering making 45th and 50th one-way only, and will take away a car lane to put a bike lane on 50th. Do you know if there’s any truth to that?
Great idea! It has worked so well for businesses on Roosevelt to lose all the west side parking to bike lanes! Never mind that custom has declined and even Racer Café is teetering on the edge! More for the Superior Citizens, the bikers! Screw businesses! C’mon, Lil’ Eddie, stick it to ’em!
I just read today that Cafe Racer is actually closing for good. I remember reading a while back when they were thinking about closing that that wonderful, fancy bike lane that hardly anyone uses was part of the reason.
You read wrong. Cafe Racer is for sale, it’s not closing. And the sale has nothing to do with the bike lane, which is indeed pretty wonderful.
Guess again:
http://www.kiro7.com/news/local/cafe-racer-hoping-gofundme-account-will-help-keep-it-afloat/464446404
So the owner confirms it. But hey, as long as the Cascade Bike Alliance gets it’s precious bike lanes, who cares who gets hurt.
The owner says his business slowed during the reconstruction of Roosevelt Avenue, which was more than just a bike lane. Should we blame new pavement, pedestrian improvements and bus stops too?
Of course! KIRO must have tricked him into saying that. It couldn’t possibly be the legitimate observation of the man whose owned that business for twelve years, could it.
As the report said, it was a year-long project TO INSTALL BIKE LANES. The pavement was perfectly fine, but they tore it all up for one of Scott Kubly’s pet projects. So no, you don’t get to blame it on other uses.
Except Kurt Geissel never mentions bike lanes in the interview. It’s really a shame that KIRO smeared him like that. In fact, Cafe Racer has long-proven to be a friend of cyclists.
I really don’t care what the KIRO “report” says. They have their own agenda. Why don’t you look at the SDOT documents regarding the project? The pavement was not “perfectly fine”. In fact, it was initially a repaving project. The decision to install bike lanes, pedestrian safety improvements and a more reliable bus corridor came later.
And guess what? I learned yesterday that N 40th Street between Stone and Latona is getting repaved in 2018. And N 50th is getting repaved in 2019. I’m going to fight like hell to see that those streets having traffic calming, improved pedestrian safety and, yes, maybe bike lanes.
“And N 50th is getting repaved in 2019. I’m going to fight like hell to see that those streets having…yes, maybe bike lanes.”
Of course you will. Because typical bike activists don’t trouble themselves with rational, common sense considerations or reality. The reality in this situation being that NO ONE bikes on 50th. Every once in a blue moon, you might see the occasional crazy oddball doing it, usually with no bike lights either. But that’s the extent of it. So once again, taxpayers will fund another idiotic, unused bike lane that serves only to make congestion even worse and keep people away from their families that much longer when they drive home from work.
Except…. I was there last night when the rep from SDOT spoke too. And guess what? I had a chance to talk to her about this very issue, because I have heard rumors that SDOT was considering taking away a bike lane on 50th to give another heavily used lane on a cross-town arterial to a bunch of noisy bike activists. I asked her if they were considering it, pointing out that it would be a nutty idea.
She agreed, and said no. So, good luck with that. Don’t give up though; after all, you bike activists have been able to convince the city to do a lot of expensive and ineffective harebrained schemes already.
BTW, I drove down Roosevelt this evening, as I usually do. There were dozens of cars in front of me, and dozens behind me, at any given point on the street. Care to guess how many bicycles I saw?
N 50th is already kind of a narrowed artery. The real pedestrian safety issue is on the parallel streets to the north, which get overflow traffic. Narrow it further, and watch kids and old people get mowed down on the side streets that you’d think would be safe. I don’t think the problem right now is due to capacity on N 50th so much, but it’s something to think about.
LOLZ. Poor Doug, he just can’t help “knowing it all” and knowing nothing at all.
Here’s a link to the map of the walk route:
http://www.seattle.gov/Documents/Departments/Neighborhoods/FindItFixIt/FIFI-Walk-Route-Map-Wallingford.pdf
Start at the Park, and end at the Octopus. Now, that’s public service!
Not to be cynical or suspicious of potential political grandstanding, but…how do you suppose mayoral staffers came up with this meandering route that conveniently avoids some of the more obvious but difficult to address issues in the ‘hood, but conveniently provides backdrop for seemingly scripted talking points along the way?
EXACTLY!!!
Perhaps the Mayor can be made aware that the walk button at 45th and Wallingford (east side of Wallingford, crossing 45th in either direction) when pressed late at night doesn’t work for over one full cycle. Basically, the walk light crossing Wallingford will go to flashing Don’t Walk and then go straight back to Walk for no earthly reason. There need not be a single vehicle on 45th Street. This makes absolutely no sense, but it’s been doing that since they changed the light cycle several years ago.
based on the map.. Kitaro’s will not be looked at!! I propose discussing parking at the PO. How about discussing the empty building next door- used to be a meat place?
Last I heard about the Bill the Butcher site, it was supposed to be a 3 (4?) story apartment with 63 units and, wait for it…ZERO parking. Anyone know if this is still the case?
FYI the 206 number for Paige is answered by VM for Laura jenkins… one of whom is a vISTA/Americorps worker.
Perhaps the Mayor could address the King 5 news article that the city is considering a partnership which would privatize Evan Pool and the Green Lake Community Center. Why is this heavily used pool and community center so neglected by the city? Evans pool and the Community Center have served the Green Lake and Wallingford community for over a half century providing a safe environment for our children to learn to swim and play sports. Stop by the Community Center at 7:30 on Tuesday, March 14th to hear the plan and give input. Maybe the Mayor could attend after this walk.
Sorry, but we have far more pressing needs. Like making sure junkies have a safe place to shoot up, illegal encampments get dumpsters and porta-potties they won’t use, and bike-shares keep getting funding for a program that won’t get used.
Bike share was killed by Ed Murray in January. Find a new boogie man.
Yes, it was, because it was a ridiculous failure that happened because Murray put a corrupt bike activist in charge SDOT. Of course, that didn’t stop city leaders from trying to start a NEW bike share, but someone snapped them out of their stupor for a moment and they came to their senses and killed the program.
It was a failure because the system was never completed and it was rolled out in October just as the weather was turning (which meant annual memberships were due in subsequent Octobers…just as the weather was turning again).
If stations had dotted the Burke/Gilman Trail, Dexter Ave, Myrtle Edwards Park and other places where people actually ride, ridership would’ve been way up over what it was. Clumping stations downtown during the biggest construction boom in our city’s history was stupid. Hell, the 2nd Avenue bike lane hasn’t been completely opened since the day it “opened”.
Station locations and membership changes should have been implemented when the city bought the service from Pronto last year. Instead they did nothing and Murray pulled the plug, sending out the press release announcing bike share’s demise at 5pm on Friday of a three-day weekend, showing that he’s not just clueless, he’s spineless too.
Pronto was given plenty of time and millions of dollars to get it right. Rob Johnson and Kubly pulled out all the stops to keep the thing afloat. Pronto even lied and artificially doubled it’s ridership numbers to scam more money out of us.
But you’re right about one thing: It was dumb to roll it out in October. And how long does the rainy season last here? About 9 months? So you’re acknowledging that for 9 months out of the year, we’re going to have low ridership because of the weather. (It was actually low ridership year-round, but I digress.) So that means we’re spending all the money, and taking up all those parking spaces (Just like the “parklets,” But again, I digress) in a city that’s already lacking them, for something that for all intents and purposes will be running for three months a year.
You could have put the stations all over the city and you would have seen little increase in ridership. One, because people don’t want to bike in the rain and cold. Two, because we have a lot of huge hills, which is why those Pronto vans were always bringing the bikes back uphill; no one wanted to ride up them in those clunkers. And three, because the people who bike commute already have their own bikes.
1: I rode Pronto more in the winter than the summer. In the summer I’d typically ride my own bike.
2: The hills are the reason that Pronto should’ve focused on the flats: around Lake Union, along the Sound, pretty much anything near water. We have a brand new trail along Westlake Ave, for instance. It’s a great way to get from Fremont to SLU.
3: I have three bikes, but still rode Pronto. People who don’t ride have a difficulty understanding this concept, but it’s similar to folks who own cars still using Car2Go or Uber or the bus. Having your own bike (and gear) with you isn’t always convenient.
That just means you’re a ding dong. You own THREE bikes but insist on paying to ride a clunker? I’ve got a property tax levy to sell you…
I’ve done the same. I own bikes as well however in the winter when I’m in a bind and downtown I use Pronto. For me, it is much better than Uber, or driving and faster than buses. The drop-off spot is close to UW which a tad inconvenient but overall much faster than any other mode of transportation.
Does seem a bit far fetched, don’t it?
Absolutely not. If you find yourself outside of Wallingford, need to get to another location, and want some exercise then it’s a perfectly viable form of transportation. I’d rather pay 10 and burn 500 calories and get some cardio minutes in as opposes to sitting in an Uber and contributing to a questionable company.
Putting aside question of how bike share might actually work in Seattle, I totally agree with Doug that the way the city set up Pronto was a disaster. It was pretty clear that they didn’t seriously research who would use it or how, just charged ahead, theories in hand. Given that a lot of the same players are busy with redesigning the city (Mayor Ed, Rob J, etc.), what reason is there to think that they are any more capable of managing a massive rezone, when they couldn’t put together a relatively simple bike project?
If the cycling community in Seattle wants bike share, you’d be better off doing something with the private sector, or getting a grant for a pilot project. Get the problems ironed out first and then, if you have to, involve the city government.
LOLOLOL OMG yer killin’ me bro. Good one!
Do you own a car and take the bus? Same thing.
Nope!
Not at all. More like owning a car and getting Uber or a rental to go to the store. Get a grip.
Why all the insults RickVid?
Don’t forget rainbow crosswalks! So the oppressed and harassed gay folks on CAPITOL HILL in the intolerant city of SEATTLE can feeeeel safe and welcome. Or some looney tunes crap like that.
RickVid, have you considered getting a Therapy Dog?
Love to hear how it went!
Personally I would have loved to use the find-it/fix-it walk to discuss all the issues in this thread. Unfortunately the Anti-HALA crowd co-opted the event into a protest. I hope the mayor comes back so we can discuss more immediate issues.
All the issues in this thread, e.e.g. poverty, homelessness, drug usage, prostitution, crime, lack of policing, under-funded education and unnecessary growth, …? Kitaro’s, the one immediate specific tangible thing most of us seem to be able to think of, but sadly a private property that the city doesn’t control? If there’s something you want fixed, you can use an Android/iOS cellular phone application to report it, no visit from the mayor needed. The visit from the mayor is political circus, which in Wallingford is naturally going to bring out a bunch of people who wonder why he’d be here fixing Wallingford, when he spends his time downtown breaking it.
Oops, the phone app – https://www.seattle.gov/customer-service-bureau/find-it-fix-it-mobile-app
What is the deal with Kitaro’s, it’s been like what, 6 years now? What’s the holdup?
probably 4 or 4 1/2 years ago Wallyhood wrote an artticle on it and the owner asked the neighborhood to be a little bit more patient. I feel like that could be inferred to be patient for a few months 2-6 at the outside… but almost 5 years!! I am sure the city could if they wanted to– cite the wner and building for graffitti, rats, lack of cleanliness… I hope someone spoke intently to the mayors’ arty about this.
Many of these issues were vetted before the mayor and the SPD. The anti-HALA folks were there in number but were respectful and didn’t derail the proceedings.
“Unfortunately the Anti-HALA crowd co-opted the event into a protest.”
Gee Alex, you apparently missed hearing all those nasty anti-HALA folks talk to the Mayor about our concerns about crosswalk safety, rising crime, our woefully lacking infrastructure like Hamilton School, the potential closure of Evan’s Pool at Greenlake and other public facilities that can’t even handle the current population, never mind how it will be if HALA is shoved down our throats. One would think these are issues everyone on both sides of the issue could get behind.
But more to the point, I’m sorry the “anti-HALA crowd” didn’t turn out to be the good, obedient little subjects for you and the city’s agenda of cramming unwanted development down our throats. I guess it’s not enough your side has the entire city bureaucracy behind your cause. No, we shouldn’t even bring up our concerns about HALA when the mayor comes to visit our own neighborhood, because that’s not respectful, or something.
You want to know who actually was disrespectful? You YIMBY’s with your HALA Yes! signs and your obnoxious posters about “privilege.” Your group rudely shouted at Suzanna Lin when she was trying to give her talk to the Mayor and everyone else.
So pardon me if I’m unsympathetic to your cause. You don’t like how we “co-opted: the walk? Wallingford is our HOME. How about you and your gaggle of agitators stop trying to co-opt it.
I really appreciated the opportunity to have civil discussions with Pro-HALA people. I gained a new perspective and was grateful for the opportunity to talk to people face to face who are not hidden beyond a private profile. Agree that the interruptions were uncalled for and was sad to see that in the Mayor’s closing statement people were still interrupting him.
I thought the impetus of this walk was to talk about near-term issues with the neighborhood – e.g. things that can be fixed in the next few quarters. Until I see the bulldozers running down 45th unabated I’d hope that both sides could find some common ground.
Wallingford is our home too. There’s a whole new generation of people moving into the neighborhood that would love to have constructive dialogs about how to best evolve the city over the next 25-50 years. I look forward to meeting more people like that.
Thanks. I called in my concerns.. I question having Vista/Americorps staff handle issues and represent the Mayor’s Office with the training an dbackground in city management which I experienced. I am curious – what was in the gift bags? What refreshments did you have?
The staff were very friendly and likeable, and far as representing the Mayor, they seemed more than capable. Ok didn’t grab a gift bag, although maybe I should have to se what propoganda was in them. They had donors from Mighty-O.
I wasn’t there, and I don’t know how Vista came to be involved in this program, but from appearances leading up to the event, they seemed more independent than that. In some sense they could be said to have represented the Mayor’s Office, but could at least equally well be said to have represented Wallingford. By most accounts it was a good show, but we’re kind of easy in that we’re already pretty active in that way. Many, maybe most, neighborhoods around the city need more help and encouragement to engage in a process like this.
The 2 names on the sign are Vista/Americorps staff/volunteer/workers.
Trump is taking care of this for you as we speak.
Help me out people, help me understand the anti-HALA mindset. How is preventing more housing being built (via up zones) going to make the housing here more affordable, and more importantly, providing a choice to those who cannot afford to buy? Take a look at San Francisco to get an idea of what happens to the price of housing when development is artificially suppressed by “preserving” neighborhood character. Single family homes here are going to surpass a million on average if the supply of living space is not increased. How is asking the developers, in return for the up zones, to provide a portion of the units to be “affordable”, as HALA dictates, going to result in less affordable housing? Answer my 2 questions, please, and try to change my mind about this. Because all I am hearing from the anti-HALA voices sounds just like “I got mine, F the rest that want to live here”. YES HALA, from a Wallingford home owner seeing 50x more anti HALA signs then Clinton signs before the election (just had to sneak that in there).
Hillary signs in Wallingford were as useless as a white crayon. HALA signs in Wallingford represent opposition to what many of your neighbors deem an an immediate and existential threat to their community. If you are seriously interested in answering the questions in your post you are going to have to invest some time and energy. The answers are not simple. There are good arguments and we’ll meaning people on both sides.
Part of the answer to this is, we are increasing the supply of housing, by record numbers, and there’s plenty of room to build more. No one is suppressing development. Part of the answer is “Ballard.” Some of the rest of it, as Gracie1705 observes, is not simple. You decide whether you want to cling to the simple, but fraudulent, picture you get from the growth coalition where everything would be fine if it weren’t for regulatory constraints that prevent development.
The idea it’s either growth (HALA) or no growth is one of the HALA propaganda factories big lies. If HALA went away tomorrow the construction boom would keep on booming under the CURRENT zoning. HALA does not require a portion of units to be affordable – it gives developers the option to pay a fee, and god only knows how long it would take all the fees from this and that to turn into actual housing projects somewhere (location undetermined – if the city has a bunch of property ready to use they’ve been quiet about it). In the meantime, the folks who get tossed out of their current affordable housing get to relocate, because the existing affordable housing is being torn down to build luxury studios. Wonderful system. Mostly just gives developers an incentive to tear down and replace with more expensive units. Maybe you should read what Nikkita Oliver has to say about HALA.
And just today we learn that they are evicting residents of the Umoja PEACE Center in the CD for what else? A fancy new development that will cause even more gentrification. Yeah, the YIMBY’s are reeeally helping create affordability. Why are the YIMBYs being so “exclusionary,” anyway? Where do they expect longtime residents of the CD to live after it’s all converted to fancy condos and townhomes?
This will be the legacy of HALA, but on a much wider scale.
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/central-area-eviction-of-activist-spurs-protest-as-redevelopment-looms/
“How is asking the developers, in return for the up zones, to provide a portion of the units to be “affordable”, as HALA dictates, going to result in less affordable housing?”
Care to take a guess as to how many affordable units will be built in Wallingford if HALA passes here? If you don’t know, I’d be happy to tell you, courtesy of Geoffrey Wendlandt, City of Seattle Department of Planning and Development.