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800 Maynard Ave S, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98134
800 Maynard Ave S, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98134
Wait... what parts of the cities are not designed for pedestrians? Well realistically I guess there are parts but I thought the only places that were not *supposed* to be designed for pedestrians were the freeways.
I've had four near misses on 11th and 12th. Then two days ago a contractors van side mirror clipped me and just kept on going. The flag person just chuckled and shrugged.
I felt like fucking choking them (I swear if I hadn't had my dog with me I would have tossed one of those guys in the open pit there on 11th).
I tried complaining but nobody at the city could even tell me who to talk to.
It's only a matter of time before somebody is struck and killed. And I hope the city and the construction company get the shit sued out of them.
randy, i've heard you've done pretty good for yourself since leaving the M's and D-backs. Way to go! A photographer, whoa, that takes talent! Maybe you and Dominic Holden's brother can trade secrets toward helping make the world a wonderful screen-friendly paradise.
That is a hit and run. I know it's two days later, but it may be worth it to try to recall the details and report it to the police.
You know, people who can't even vote in Seattle.
Seattleites are serfs, not citizens.
(this is why I go one block West at that location)
It's worse to be ignored than hated.
I mean in terms of feeling slighted, not in terms of government policy. In terms of government policy, I'd rather be ignored than subject to outright antipathy.
Also, any pedestrian inconvenienced can easily alter her or his patterns and take another route.
If you want the density and apodments that you're salivating for; it's best to not make an issue out of this.
The Seattle pedestrian paradox.
"Call the our Violation Complaint Line at (206) 615-0808 for time-sensitive complaints"
I have to say, though, right now that part of Capitol Hill in particular is clusterf**k in terms of street closures, because there are so many projects being built in a small area. I don't think anywhere else in the city is that bad.
And until SDOT figures their shit out, pedestrians can always suffer the crushing inconvenience of re-routing to streets that are open. An incontrovertible truth of increased urban density is that a LOT of construction will take place, and while the folks involved in building these project have a responsibility to keep pedestrians safe from construction hazards, it's not necessarily their responsibility to make it convenient for everyone who doesn't feel like walking an extra block to find an open sidewalk.
That's a major sticking point for me on streets that don't have a lot of controlled intersections but are basically uncrossable without one (i.e. Denny). That retirement project just below Capitol Hill, for months, had a Sidewalk Closed sign way the hell down the street at which point it was impossible to cross Denny unless you backtracked to Stewart. That project also basically took up two city blocks, making it time consuming to go around.
Tell that to pedestrians in *real* cities. I lived in Manhattan for four years. Development projects were common, but so were pedestrian walkways. I almost never had to cross the street to get around. These things matter.
I agree with you about that, and, even though I loathe development projects that don't include mitigation for pedestrians, I don't want to be a martyr for my cause.
That said, pedestrians will do what's most convenient for them. I remember one pedestrian advocate noting that these days we invest all this money into figuring out migration patterns for animals and accommodating that in new highway designs so deer don't get flattened, but when it comes to pedestrians, we just completely ignore pedestrian patterns. Where people walk, where people cross the street. And then we're surprised when they don't walk a half mile out of their way to cross a street safely and instead put their lives on the line running across a busy street.
If you're talking about the pedestrian situation in much of the developing world, pedestrian fatalities are rampant there. They account for at least 40 percent of road deaths: http://r4d.dfid.gov.uk/Output/5076/
In my first nine hours in Saigon I saw a lady get her ankle crushed by scooter when she was crossing the street and later an overloaded taxi van (a Nissan with maybe fifteen people in it and piles of shit on the roof) plow into a group of kids (I don't think anybody was killed). After a couple weeks you just realize that shit is so common you stop even noticing.
How is it that it's kosher with SDOT to allow projects to drag on in perpetuity without citing the property owner or the lazy-as-fuck contractor?
I don't think it's a convenience issue at all; it's a safety issue, period. Most of us seem to be thinking like ableists here. It's more than a matter of inconvenience to ask someone with mobility difficulties, whether because of age or disability, to take a three-block detour. Same if they are not sighted, and probably some other disabilities, too.
How can I obstruct the sidewalk in front of home of the developer for weeks and months at a time?
I've changed my route, but I still have to squeeze by traffic and then plant my self in the midle of the lane in front of a car. No problems, but I expect I'll get some attitude from an idiot (maybe Kinison?) sooner or later.
What REALLY gets my goat is when the construction site blocks the sidewalk but street parking is unaffected. Pedestrians can go fuck themselves, but hey, God forbid you should temporarily take those five parking spots away.
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Here in Vancouver Canda as in many other cities covered walkways go up before any construction. I have been to Seattle many times and noticed they do not do this.
That said most all the cars I've encountered at that intersection have been understanding and aren't jammed up close to that chain link fence (West bound along 34th), so I pass them safely (when the light is red, and it almost always is, no one is moving and it's easy to scoot past).
Do you mean using the other sidewalk across the street that is also blocked off due to construction?
And the people in the middle of the street are walking around the construction site.
In addition to the example in this post, on Republican between Belmont and Boylston, the sidewalks were closed on both sides for a spell. It's open now but I can't understand how that's allowed/ tolerated at all. They should be required to put up a protected walkway!
The author neglected to mention his disregarding of my verbal requests for him to move to the side walk, as I do for the other 450-500 pedestrians that cross my area of operation. I also used hand signals and motioned with my body where he should walk to to be safe. The author chose to ignore me and walk behind me further into the traffic zone...ostensibly to take rage photos of a carefully framed and out of context nature to hammer home his sensationalized point. Again, I had to close the entire corridor while he was searching for the money shot-- which he got by standing on the road in a spot where pedestrians aren't even supposed to be.
Nice reporting, man. Next time, why don't you stay longer than three minutes and soak in a little more than your petty rage pic. You'll have to face the fact that our traffic control rocks, and when people choose to Follow Directions from a licensed traffic controller (ahem), there is a decidedly awesome and sincere concern for every Single pedestrian--including the author..out in the road.
Sincerely ,
Big Mark on 11th & E Pike.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2…
The city didn't build sidewalks south of 85th, the original developers did and that has been factored into the homes' values every since. If homeowners north of 85th want sidewalks, they have to pay for them themselves, the way we have south of the line.