FoS.blog: The Friends of Seattle blog

Reminder: Tomorrow Is the Sound Transit Expansion Plan Q & A

Tuesday, Sept. 9, 5:30PM
McLeod Residence at (2209 2nd Ave, Belltown)

Have questions on the Sound Transit expansion plan that will be on your November ballot? So do we. That's why we've put together a question and answer session with Sound Transit's Executive Director of Policy, Planning and Public Administration, Ric Ilgenfritz.

Please join Friends of Seattle for an in-depth look at this proposed investment in our bus and rail system. We promise - this is not a lecture. We're going to cut Ric off after 15 minutes and let you ask the questions.

$10 suggested donation includes a drink.

Questions? Contact Anna Boone. We hope to see you there!

Friends of Seattle Endorses the Parks Levy

This November, Seattleites will be asked to vote on a new Pro Parks Levy. We believe this ballot measure deserves your support, and here's why we're endorsing it:

Parks and green open spaces are a vital part of a sustainable, livable Seattle.  This levy includes $24 million for new parks in our urban villages, and $6 million for purchase of green spaces.  It will fund the rehabilitation of 23 playgrounds, 4 new sportsfields, and stream and forest restoration, improve parts of the Burke-Gilman trail, as well as many other major parks projects across the city.  The levy also provides for a robust Opportunity Fund which will allow neighborhoods to access money for additional community projects over the course of the levy.  With the 2000 Pro-Parks Levy expiring, now is the time to make sure Seattle's parks and green spaces keep pace with the City's continued growth.

Friends of Seattle urges your "YES" vote on the Pro Parks Levy this fall.                           

Want to get more involved?

Here are two more great ways to help!

Join the Seattle Parks for All campaign - visit www.seattleparksforall.org You can donate your time or money (or both,) and join with your neighborhood to help spread the word on the Parks Levy.

Meet other likeminded Seattlelites at the Kickoff Party - This Friday, September 12th 5:30pm, 8556 Dayton Avenue North

Friends of Seattle Endorses the Pike Place Market Levy

When you think of what makes Seattle special, no doubt the Pike Place Market comes to mind. This fall, voters are asked to to approve a $73 million Market Levy, and we endorse this ballot measure. Here's why:

The Pike Place Market is the nation's oldest public farmers' market, turning 101 years old in 2008. It provides a public venue for locals and tourists alike, offers a central meeting place along the backbone of the city, and connects farms and craftspeople directly to buyers.

This levy includes largely physical upgrades to the Market: badly needed piping, seismic, and infrastructure improvements, more and better public restrooms, and elevator upgrades and additions.  With the last Levy in the 1970's, it's time to make a new investment in a critical piece of Seattle's past and future.

Please vote "YES" on the Market Levy.

Maybe the City Council Should Pass New Laws Protecting Bicyclists

We're wondering whether the City of Seattle has any special civil or criminal laws protecting bicycle riders from assault and dangerous behavior by motorists. Many of you have probably read about the New York Police Department officer who, without provocation, assaulted a bicycle rider participating in a Critical Mass ride through Manhattan. (Below is the video.) After the offending officer lied in his police report, claiming that the rider was riding dangerously through traffic and tried to ram the officer, the city prosecutor's office filed charges for assault, resisting arrest, and disorderly conduct. Thanks to the video, the charges were dropped. (The officer should be fired and charged with perjury).

In any event, this unfortunate episode in New York got us thinking. Many of our bike-commuting friends have shared stories of being hit or spit on. And motorists frequently get way too close to bicyclists when they pass. To address these dangerous and disorderly behaviors towards bicyclists, perhaps the City Council should pass legislation making it a civil or criminal infraction (perhaps depending on the severity) to harm or endanger bicyclists. For example, perhaps it could be a civil traffic infraction if a motor vehicle gets closer than three feet to a bicyclist. Sure, general laws against assault would apply to certain cases, but surely there are some circumstances that the law says nothing about, but should. Or are we just unaware of laws already on the books?

Windy Seattle: Micro Wind Power May Not Be Economically or Environmentally Beneficial---Yet

It is likely that personal wind farms, rooftop solar panels, and the like will not save the planet, but we have a hunch that they might be one of the many little things that we can do to achieve one big thing---reduce the environmental effects of generating electricity. The Nickels administration seems to understand this, so its proposals (PDF) for revising the multifamily-housing zoning code would allow for small wind turbines and solar panels lower than 10 feet in height to be installed on the top of multifamily housing without violating the zoning code. We like this innovation. Make renewable energy lawful, as opposed to illegal.

[Photo by Glogger from the Wikimedia Commons, published under a GNU Free Documentation License]

But in the Business section of this morning's New York Times we see an article questioning the economic efficiency and the environmental benefits  of the kind of small wind turbines that would be installed on multifamily housing buildings in Seattle.

Tonight Go to an Event About Neighborhood Blogs

This looks like a winner. From the Seattle Works weekly email:

** Neighborhood Blogs: What's All the Buzz About? **

Thurs 9/4 Registration 5:30pm, Program: 6pm, Expert-led blogging time: 7:30-8pm

Seattle Public Library - Central Branch, 1000 Fourth Avenue

Free!

 

From Ballard to Burien, from West Seattle to South Lake Union, and from Capitol Hill to Beacon Hill, the proliferation of neighborhood blogs all around Seattle is changing not just the local media landscape but also how community conversations are taking place in an increasingly digital world. How does the 24-7 nature of citizen-driven blogs impact "traditional" news sources and how people are informed? How do these interactive (and often anonymous) online discussions promote greater civic participation and sense of community? Who runs these blogs and are they profitable

Join CityClub for light appetizers and refreshments and hear from some of Seattle's most active neighborhood bloggers and experts about what it takes to start a blog, some of the hot button neighborhood issues generating the most debate on blogs today and ways to participate in the blogosphere. Stay after to blog with the experts in a library computer lab.

 

Featuring:

Amber Campbell, Editor, Rainier Valley Post

Heather McLeland-Wieser; Manager of Art, Recreation, Literature, History, Travel and Maps; Seattle Public Library

Tracy Record, Editor and Co-publisher, West Seattle Blog

Scott Schaefer, Author, The B-Town (Burien) Blog

MyBallard Blog Representative

Moderator: Monica Guzman, Online Reporter, The Big Blog, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

 

www.seattlecityclub.org

Mayor Nickels Proposes Several Visionary Amendments to the City's Comprehensive Plan

The recent issue of the city Department of Planning and Development's dpdINFO newsletter (PDF) contains Mayor Nickels' proposals to amend the city's Comprehensive Plan. (In case you're wondering, the Comprehensive Plan is something that the city is required to have under the state's Growth Management Act. It plans for growth and lays out the city's policies on several issues---land use, neighborhood planning, housing, transportation, capital facilities, utilities, human development, and the environment.) We see a lot to like in the mayor's proposed additions:

Re-Connecting First Hill and Capitol Hill to Downtown Over I-5
A. Add a policy in the neighborhood planning element regarding opportunities to re-establish pedestrian
connections between Downtown and Capitol Hill/First Hill by constructing lids over I-5.

Livable South Downtown
B. Change the Future Land Use Map designation of land within the Little Saigon neighborhood and
along the northern portion of Rainier Avenue from Industrial to Commercial Mixed Use.
C. through E. Amend three existing policies in the Downtown neighborhood plan to allow establishment
of a transfer of development rights program to encourage preservation of historic properties in
South Downtown.

D.C. Launches Its Own Bike-Sharing Program

Because we support bike-sharing programs, we thought you might like to know that D.C. has launched a bike-sharing program of its own:

Apparently a bike-sharing program was also implemented for the Democratic Convention in Denver, and Ron Sims has reported that a bike-sharing program is currently being planned for King County. Yes, please!

Car-Free Sunday in Columbia City Appears to Have Been Very Popular

The city's first Car-Free Sunday was not treated well by the weather, but according to the Bus Chick the Car-Free Sunday, Columbia City version, was well-attended on Sunday. Of course, Nicole Brodeur famously whined that "Seattle is so desperate to be green and gracious, it's making some of us red with rage." She complained about the city's plans for turning over city blocks to people, letting happy walking, playing, and bicycling take priority over noisy, dirty automobiling. From the looks of the Bus Chick's photos, the people -- including many families -- who visited Rainier Avenue on Sunday's Car-Free Day didn't seem to be "red with rage." Instead, they were enjoying each the city as it's best enjoyed -- as people, as a community. We love the car-free days; now let's take it to the next level and start our own full-blast Ciclovia street festival.

By the way, here's a great video of how they do car-free days in Milwaukee:

Here's one from New York:

The West Seattle Blog posted a great overview of this coming Saturday's Car-Free Day on Alki.

To Make Seattle Child-Friendly, Pass the Parks Levy

We often enjoy reading the columns on Crosscut by the urban demographer Richard Morrill, a former UW professor. While we often don't agree with his conclusions, we find his analyses of different issues to be piercing and timely. He recently wrote about the new data showing that Seattle is perhaps the most child-free city in America. Professor Morrill, like all of us, can only speculate as to why this is the case (the presence of the enormous Univeristy of Washington? nefarious urban planning? educated, professional elites pushing out the middle class?). But we know for certain that Seattle voters have a clear opportunity this fall to at least make the city  more friendly to children, so that if families want to move here or if existing residents want to have kids, they will be comfortable here. We're talking about Proposition 2, the Seattle parks levy. The levy will bring to Seattle 15 new parks and playfields and upgrades to 23 children's playgrounds. Let's get it done.