Q & A with City Council Member Tim Burgess

Walking in Seattle is running a series to showcase the perspectives of prominent walkers in the city. This week’s Q&A is with Seattle City Council Member Tim Burgess:

Walking in Seattle: Where is your favorite place in the city go for a walk?

Tim Burgess: I do my exercise walking in my Queen Anne neighborhood, usually very early in the morning. I have a 3.1 mile loop that I walk three or four days a week, most of it along park boulevards that loop around the hill.

I also walk downtown almost every day as I move from meeting to meeting; walking is often quicker than checking out a car from the City motor pool, driving, and finding a place to park.

WiS: What do you like most about walking in the city of Seattle?

Burgess: We have a great cityscape, lots of parks and boulevards, and urban density that makes walking fairly easy. Joleen and I can walk from our house to nearly all of our favorite shops and restaurants, our church, and friends in our neighborhood. But not all neighborhoods in Seattle are so amenable to walking because they lack sidewalks, aren’t perceived to be safe, or don’t have the level of density that makes walking attractive.

WiS: What is the top thing you’d like to see improved for walking in the city of Seattle?

Burgess: More sidewalks in those neighborhoods that don’t have them, better pedestrian lighting, better way finder signs, especially in the greater downtown area, and more traffic calming efforts like our very successful road reconfigurations.

WiS: One last question – be honest, do you wait for the crosswalk signal?

Burgess: Absolutely. I think all Council members are quite sensitive to obeying the crosswalk signals all the time! We certainly wouldn’t want to get “caught” crossing against the signal.

If you’d like to nominate a local walker to be included in this Q & A series, or volunteer to participate, please use our contact form.