A few weeks ago, Google released a neat tool that allows you to see how frequently words appear in literature published since 1800.
After a significant decline in popularity in the first half of the 20th century, “walking” is appearing more often in literature now than ever before. Seattle is also on the rise. Click here for Google’s Ngram Viewer.
There is a map that shows all stairways in the city of Seattle, at around 650, including suggested walking routes and more information.
This was part of a blogger’s New Year’s resolution to map, climb, and photograph all stairways in the city in 2010. Seattle All Stairs has a map of all the stairways in the city as well as 29 different walks to take.
For those of you who love to get out and participate in urban hiking, Jake and Cathy Jaramillo’s Seattle Stairway Walks blog shares some great routes for exploring Seattle’s pedestrian stairways. The blog shares walking routes on stairways in various parts of the city and includes history, photos, and more. Here’s an excerpt from a recent post about a walk through Laurelhurst:
On this stairway walk you might try to imagine the childish voices of the Duwamish kids who played here 150 years ago, when this little peninsula jutting into Union Bay was a seasonal Indian camp. You might think of the sound of heavy machinery gnawing on the last of the old growth forest, when Yesler Town with its gritty little mill stood here in the 1890s. Or you could consider the ‘thwack’ of a golf ball being struck on Seattle’s first course, laid out here around the same time as Yesler Town was built.
All of this is almost unimaginable nowadays. By 1910, when Seattle annexed “Laurelhurst,” it was a small community of less than 20 homes, isolated by water and rough terrain. Now it’s known as the neighborhood where Bill Gates Jr. grew up, and where Senators Magnuson and Evans retired. It’s very family-oriented, too: the percentage of households with kids is twice that of Seattle as a whole, and many residents who grew up here returned eventually to raise families of their own.
Laurelhurst is sited spectacularly on winding, hilly streets overlooking Union Bay and Lake Washington. You’ll explore a lengthy stairway ending at the Lake Washington shore, right next to the Laurelhurst Beach Club (you can join if you live south of NE 50th Street). You’ll discover a hidden stairway disappearing down a shadowy arbor just off someone’s driveway, and pay a visit to an unexpected pocket park tucked between shorefront homes. If you do a stairway walk here in April, you might be lucky enough to witness the carefully tended landscaping exploding into flower, saturating the neighborhood with sweet perfume.
The blog has appeared in Sunset magazine and the West Seattle Herald, and is a great part of Seattle’s growing walking movement.
There’s been a rash of bad news to report lately. We’re a little late to report this, but a Belltown resident was struck and killed at 2nd and Bell during the last week of December. A 48-year-old woman was walking with the signal when a car failed to yield and struck her. The woman died the next day. From the Times article:
In a safety meeting this week, Noel House clients said the corner has been a longtime safety threat, [program director for Noel House Eileen] McComb said in a message to City Councilman Tim Burgess.
The corner is tree-shaded and a magnet for petty criminals, though McComb said conditions have improved lately. There is busy pedestrian traffic because of a minimart, on-street parking and nightlife.
“There’s a lot of visual noise with restaurants and activities going on,” McComb said. “I sense that people driving through, who may not be familiar with that area, don’t understand how dense the population is.”
A $2.5 million city project is planned this summer to transform four blocks of Bell Street into a parklike mini-boulevard, with lights, play structures, plants and wider sidewalks. Meanwhile, Burgess said he’s asked city transportation Director Peter Hahn to look at immediate safety and lighting improvements. Council members Nick Licata and Sally Bagshaw, with utility and police officials, also have shown interest, McComb said.
The driver who struck three pedestrians at Pike Place Market while under the influence has pleaded not guilty:
SEATTLE – The man who hit three pedestrians at the Pike Place Market last month has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
Published reports say 39-year-old Travis Lipski pleaded not guilty to two counts of vehicular assault.
Lipski admitted that he’d smoked synthetic marijuana just before he drove toward a couple on the sidewalk, clipping the woman and then hitting her husband. He then hit a second woman, pinning her against a truck.
From the Seattle Times (hat tip Seattle Transit Blog)
The King County Medical Examiner’s Office says a 49-year-old man who died after he was struck by a Link light-rail train in Seattle’s Industrial District on Thursday committed suicide.
This is the second suicide-by-rail since the opening of Link, and according to the comments at Seattle Transit Blog, near misses with light rail aren’t uncommon.
Total Crisis Panic Button by Jason Eppink
Some crosswalk buttons in LA have been labeled Total Crisis Panic Buttons. According to the artist:
The Total Crisis Panic Button initiative replaced Los Angeles crosswalk instruction signs with more relevant and useful instructional graphics. (Nobody walks in Los Angeles, and who doesn’t know how to use a crosswalk anyway?)
I can’t think of anywhere in Seattle that has signs for a crosswalk push button (not even a sign with a slightly less authoritarian bent), but maybe I just overlook them. This is an open thread.
A man walked in front of a moving Link light rail vehicle and was struck and killed earlier today.
Preliminary investigation indicates that a 49-year-old male pedestrian was crossing the light rail tracks westbound against multiple warning signals, which included flashing lights, traffic closure arms, and the sound of the horn of the approaching northbound light rail vehicle (LRV).
The LRV operator saw the pedestrian and applied the emergency brakes but was unable to stop in time and the pedestrian was subsequently struck. SFD medics responded to the scene and transported the pedestrian to Harborview Medical Center where he later died.
From SDOT:
The sidewalk on the south side of Pine Street from Ninth to Boren avenues, by the Paramount Theater, will be closed until May for Sound Transit’s light rail construction project. The closure is needed to prepare for tunneling under I-5 so the rail line can be extended from downtown to Capitol Hill and then on to the University of Washington.
Enforcement actions have begun downtown to keep pedestrians safe as part of the Holiday Pedestrian Safety Campaign.
As part of the Holiday Pedestrian Safety Campaign, targeted enforcement efforts by the Seattle Police Department will occur at high collision locations in the Center City area from December 29, 2010, to January 19, 2011.
The main goal of enforcement is to deter unsafe behavior by drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists, and to encourage people, whether they are driving or walking, to obey traffic laws and share the road safely. The effort will not detract from other policing duties or require additional funding, but will be part of the regular duties of the Seattle Police Department’s Traffic Section.
Drivers and pedestrians are both at risk of being cited for breaking any of these laws:
SMC 11.66.060 Blocking intersections and crosswalks
No person who is responsible for the operation of any railroad train or car shall stop the same within an intersection or on a crosswalk except to avoid accident or upon direction of a peace officer.SMC 11.53.400 Further limitations on overtaking and passing
Whenever any vehicle is stopped at a marked crosswalk or at any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection to permit a pedestrian to cross the roadway, the operator of any other vehicle approaching from the rear shall not overtake and pass such stopped vehicle. (RCW 46.61.235(4))SMC 11.50.270 “Walk” pedestrian-control signal
Pedestrians facing a walking person symbol signal may cross the roadway in the direction of the signal. If pedestrians have begun to cross a roadway while facing such a signal, all approaching vehicle operators shall stop to allow them to complete their crossing.SMC 11.50.280 “Don’t walk” pedestrian-control signal
Pedestrians facing a steady or flashing hand symbol signal shall not enter the roadway, but if pedestrians have begun to cross before the display of either signal, vehicle operators shall stop to allow them to complete their movements.
It’s good to see enforcement like this, even if it is only for a small part of the year.
