City budget hearings

September 22, 2010: published by Troy Heerwagen at 6:49 am - Closed

As some of you may know, Seattle has a Pedestrian Master Plan to make Seattle the most walkable city in the country. However, this plan won’t accomplish much until it is funded by the city. Conveniently, the Seattle City Council is currently considering its budget priorities for next year and the Pedestrian Master Plan might be something worth reminding them of.

Here are a couple things you can do, if you’re so inclined:

  1. Send an email to the City Council – Streets for All Seattle has a form and a template to make it easier to share your thoughts with the City Council.
  2. Attend a public budget hearing – Scheduled for the evenings of Sept 29, Oct 13, and Oct 26, attend and encourage the council to fund the Pedestrian Master Plan.
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SDOT releases Seattle Walking Map

September 20, 2010: published by Troy Heerwagen at 9:42 pm - Closed

SDOT has announced a city-wide walking map:

Planning to get out and walk for fun and/or exercise? Now SDOT has a map just for you! The Seattle Walking Map was designed to help you choose a walking route that best suits your interests and fitness level. Now there’s no reason not to get out and explore Seattle. Whether you are new to Seattle or have lived here forever, the map will help you view the city up close and personal.

The walking map shows various routes throughout the city, along with an estimated number of minutes it takes to walk each segment of each route. You can download and print PDFs to take with you, or pull up the site on your phone when you’re out and about.

Clip of SDOT's Walking Map

Clip of SDOT's Walking Map near Loyal Heights and Golden Gardens Park

At first glance, this appears to be a pretty good guide if you’re looking to explore another neighborhood or just want to try a new route to walk near home or work. Most areas of the city are covered well and the routes appear to be worth taking. Strangely, there are almost no routes in Magnolia, and the greatest density of walking options is in West Seattle.

Still, this seems to be another cool tool for people who like to walk in Seattle, in addition to walking routes on this blog and various books on the subject. What do you all think about this?

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Putting peds on Pike/Pine

September 20, 2010: published by Troy Heerwagen at 7:00 am - Closed

A couple months ago Sally Clark brought up the idea of closing Pike and Pine streets to vehicle traffic in the evenings to make for a more exciting and pedestrian-oriented nightlife environment.

There’s been some discussion of this at Capitol Hill Seattle. Sounds good for nightlife, possibly not so good for residents who live nearby, and maybe good for pedestrians, or maybe not.

Dan Bertolet says that removing cars from Pike St isn’t worth it:

One of the likely targets is Pike Street between Broadway and 12th, but the thing is that strip works just fine with cars in it. The striped crosswalks are fairly well respected by drivers. Because there is so much activity around the street, car speeds tend to be relatively slow. Cars and pedestrians and bikes all coexist to create a healthy urban street energy.

If the cars were removed, however, the space would be much too big, and all that energy would lose its punch because it would become too unfocused and diffuse. Pike is a wide street—about 80 feet from building face to building face—and that’s a formidable swath of empty pavement (check out the photo at the top).

I’m not sure if this idea will go anywhere, or if it should. The sidewalks are a little narrow along Pike, so having a whole street to walk in seems like it would be nice. And there’s not really a need to keep the road open for vehicular flow. There are some logistical issues that would need to be figured out, such as paying for additional clean-up. It does seem like it would be good for pedestrians, though, even if it’s not the most ideal pedestrian mall. The comments to the linked articles above have some more thoughts – most of them seem to be in opposition to this idea.

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Walking Union Bay Natural Area

September 19, 2010: published by Troy Heerwagen at 7:58 pm - Closed

This trail through grassland takes you near wetlands that are popular with bird-watchers.


View Union Bay Natural Area Loop in a larger map

Start near where Union Bay Pl NE changes to NE 41st St. There is street parking in the area, or a parking lot nearby if you will also be attending the UW Botanic Gardens. The 25, 65, and 75 buses stop about 1/4 mile away from the beginning of the path on NE 45th. The land is owned by the State of Washington and under the care of the University. It’s important to stay on the trail to protect local habitat. Union Bay Natural Area is mostly managed by volunteers who continually work to remove invasive species.

Where the street (Union Bay Pl NE) curves, there is a trail perpendicular to the sidewalk. Take this trail away from the street, passing by a small landscaped area with flowers and bushes.

Shortly after passing the building, you’ll pass a informative kiosk on your right, with information on the restoration in the area. Shortly after you reach the grassland and descend down a small incline, you will turn left when you reach the next path.

Union Bay Natural Area trail

Grassland of Union Bay Natural Area

This loop passes the water of Union Bay, with lily pads and different varieties of birds who make their homes near the wetlands. There’s also a view of the Rossellini (520) bridge and Bellevue.

View from Union Bay Natural Area

Bellevue and the Rossellini Bridge past Lake Washington

Continuing on, Husky Stadium will loom large in the distance. At a couple spots, the trail splits briefly into two trails just a few feet part. One of the paths seems newer, so volunteers working to restore the land may be planning to decommission the trail that is closer to threatened area. In any case, it doesn’t matter much, take whichever path you’d like.

You will soon return to the main trail turn right at the trail and head back to the entrance.

You’ll pass a trail leading to the left, which you might think would take you somewhere interesting, but it doesn’t really go anywhere worth going in a way worth getting there. So, continue back to the starting point at Union Bay Pl NE.

highlights: diverse natural habitats, view to east, gravel trail in good condition, birds in the area
lowlights: little shade, not much of an escape from the city as UW is visible at all times

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Mercer West Kick-Off Open House

September 18, 2010: published by Troy Heerwagen at 9:15 am - Closed

The city is hosting an Open House next Tuesday on the Mercer West project. This project will provide two-way access for vehicles between Elliott Ave and I-5, among other things:

  • Widening Mercer between Dexter Avenue N and Fifth Avenue N, including the underpass at Aurora to provide three lanes in each direction, left-turn lanes, wider sidewalks, and a bicycle path;
  • Converting Mercer Street to two-way operation with two lanes in each direction and turn pockets between Fifth Avenue N and Queen Anne Avenue N;
  • Converting Roy Street to a two-way street with bicycle lanes between Fifth Avenue N and Queen Anne Avenue N;
  • Creating a new Sixth Avenue N connection between Mercer and Harrison streets; and
  • Closing Broad Street to re-connect the street grid between Ninth Ave N and Fifth Ave N.

This project is largely vehicle-oriented, but wider sidewalks along Mercer, and reconnecting the street grid will be much-needed improvements for getting around the area by foot.

To learn more about the project and offer your feedback, attend the kick-off meeting this Tuesday from 4:30 – 7 pm at Seattle Center. More information can be found on the project page.

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Thornton Creek Nature Walk

September 16, 2010: published by Troy Heerwagen at 5:09 pm - Closed

This Saturday, join Feet First for a nature walk at Thornton Creek at 10 am:

This two hour walk is guided by Ruth Williams, Thornton Creek Alliance and Chas Redmond, Boardmember of Feet First. The walk begins at Meadowbrook Ponds and ends at Mathews Beach. Enjoy two parks, the creek, and the learn about the many creatures that call the watershed home.

There is a $5-10 suggested donation and the walk begins and ends at Meadowbrook Community Center, 10517 35th Ave NE:

View Larger Map

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PARK(ing) Day this Friday

September 15, 2010: published by Troy Heerwagen at 9:00 pm - Closed

Almost 70 parking spaces around the city will be turned in to temporary parks this Friday for PARK(ing) Day this Friday. According to the PARK(ing) Day website, “PARK(ing) Day is an annual, worldwide event that inspires city dwellers everywhere to transform metered parking spots into temporary parks for the public good.”

If you’re able to be out on foot this Friday between 9 am and 3 pm, you might see some of these miniature parks. There will be several downtown on 2nd Ave at University St and others throughout the city.

Afterward, the organizers of the event, Feet First, Streets for All Seattle, and the People’s Parking Lot will be hosting an after-party from 5 – 10 pm at 500 E Pine St.

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Stairway improvements

September 10, 2010: published by Troy Heerwagen at 7:55 pm - 1 Comment

SDOT maintains more than roads and sidewalks, but also the many public stairways in the city.

Most of Seattle’s stairways were built between 1920 and 1950, at the time the city’s street system was being completed. Where grades were too steep for a street, stairways were built. Now 70 to 80 years old, many need repairs and upgrades to meet today’s safety standards. Bridging the Gap funds enable safety improvements (such as proper step height, tread width, rail height, and distance between landings) in addition to repairs.

There are five stairways being rehabilitated this year by SDOT, as shown below:

View Stairway improvements in a larger map

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Illegal to park vehicles on sidewalks

September 9, 2010: published by Troy Heerwagen at 12:00 pm - 1 Comment

In case there was any question, the PI’s Seattle 911 blog clarifies that it’s illegal to park a vehicle, either a car or a motorcycle over any portion of a sidewalk:

It’s illegal to be parked on any portion of the sidewalk, Seattle Department of Transportation spokesman Rick Sheridan said.

He cited section 11.72.360 of the Seattle Municipal Code, which states: “No person shall stop, stand or park a vehicle on or over a sidewalk, whether constructed or not.”

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Map of stairways on Queen Anne Hill

September 7, 2010: published by Troy Heerwagen at 12:35 pm - Closed

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/outdoors/2008757914_nwwsteps19.html

Seattle has many urban stairways, with quite a few of them obscured and only known by the people who use them. Queen Anne Hill, which accounts for more than a hundred of the 550 stairways in Seattle, has its own map of the stairways.

To proud Queen Anne resident, architect and newly minted mapmaker Thomas Horton, there are some stairways in Venice that are “almost” as cool as Queen Anne’s steps.

“One of the jokes on my map is that the stairways are ‘oft’ pedestrian,” Horton says. “Obviously, they’re for feet, but the other meaning of pedestrian is mundane or everyday, and this is not always true with stairways … sometimes they’re really quite exciting.”

Horton likes the “hidden in plain sight” quality of Queen Anne stairways — how the delightful is revealed in one simple backward glance over the shoulder on a well-placed landing; yielding an unexpected view, or framing a historic detail hidden in stone.

You can buy the map for $5 from Queen Anne Books or buy a poster-sized version for $10.

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