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Friday, July 30, 2010

City What You Missed at Last Night's Streets for All Seattle Party

Posted by Cienna Madrid on Fri, Jul 30, 2010 at 1:09 PM

The best part* about last night's Streets for All Seattle kickoff fundraiser at Nectar was the massive 40-bike capacity rack parked out front. It was packed. Other bikes were chained to trees and smaller racks down the block.

"The rack was provided by Cascade Bicycle Club," said Craig Benjamin, spokesman for Streets for All Seattle. "It filled up faster than expected. We should have brought more."

It shouldn't be striking to see so many bikes chained in one public place, but it is. Benjamin says that will change if Streets for All Seattle meets its goal of raising $30 million annually in new, dedicated revenue to make roads more accessible to bike, pedestrian, and transit use.

McGinn, talking and gesturing

Mayor Mike McGinn, who spoke at last night's event, agrees with the need for change—and making people see that this change is vital for Seattle's growth. "People have a certain vision of what the future should be," he said, like a good job, access to parks, a nice place to live. He said comprehensive transportation system is key to this vision, but most people don't think of it as an means to an end. For example, he said, "Maybe you shouldn't have to buy a car to get a job."

City Council President Richard Conlin also rallied for change. "These are tough budgetary times," he said, but "they're also times of opportunity. Time to think about when people don't have much money, walking, biking, and transit are the modes the have to use."

This might be stating the obvious, but then obvious hasn't gotten get much funding. Which is why "we have to put our money on the table now," says Benjamin.

Streets for All Seattle hasn't yet counted the money raised at last night's event. The next step is to meet with residents and stakeholders over the next couple months and talk about future funding options for these projects because, in the end, "We're just a group of people who think that walking, biking, and riding should be the most important ways to get around Seattle," says Benjamin.

*The worst part was when City Council Member Tim Burgess refused to do shots of Jagermeister with me. He said he was too old and it tasted like shit. I agreed. He still wouldn't do it. Also, Jeopardy was entirely too sober. City Council Member Sally Clark ended up winning ~~it all~~ a T-shirt.

Comments (15) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

So, did any one call them on their (Conlin, Burgess, etc) bullshit for "supporting" Streets for All , "it'd be nice, but gee, there's no money..." while simultaneously DOING ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING THEY CAN to ram a $3.2 billion CAR ONLY tunnel down our throats?

Posted by Lose-Lose on July 30, 2010 at 1:14 PM

Seattlebikeblog.com posted a picture of the bike rack on their twitter last nite:

http://yfrog.com/0g4hjxj

Posted by i canz post link? on July 30, 2010 at 1:15 PM

Had a fun time hanging out with Tim Burgess and his wife.

Yes, Richard, I'm gunning for you ...

Posted by Will in Seattle

on July 30, 2010 at 1:30 PM

And yet half of us in the southside don't have sidewalks.

Posted by Rotten666 on July 30, 2010 at 1:49 PM

@2, thanks! I've added a link to the pic in my post.

Posted by Cienna Madrid on July 30, 2010 at 2:10 PM

@4 and as they said last night, you're not going to get them until 2030, unless they kill the Billionaires Tunnel.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on July 30, 2010 at 2:36 PM

Never seen so many entitled white middle class people in my life.

Posted by Spandex boy on July 30, 2010 at 3:00 PM

@7 white?

I'll tell Yusif and everyone else you think they're white. People tend to clump together.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on July 30, 2010 at 3:07 PM

@4 South Seattle is of no concern to the Mayor or his bike rider fans. Very few of the people at Nectar last night have ever set foot in South Seattle.

Posted by xian99 on July 30, 2010 at 4:01 PM

Wow, that must have been some party. Really bummed I missed it.

Posted by seandr on July 30, 2010 at 6:28 PM

Hey, 9, you're wrong. The Mayor and Deputy Mayor took a 3 hour walking tour of Rainier Beach a few weeks back. Plus, RB is one of only 2 neighborhoods getting a neighborhood plan update. & did you notice that SE is where the Fed's money is going to be spent on energy retrofits?

Posted by Talk SE, Walk RB on July 30, 2010 at 7:44 PM

The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Complain often and loudly about the need for more sidewalks and other pedestrian improvements. We have a really good ped master plan with no money behind it--which is the key thing that leads these plans to succeed or fail.

http://seattle.gov/spab

Posted by JonSM99 on July 31, 2010 at 12:23 AM

Let's be honest. Does McGinn have the body of a cyclist?

Posted by Spicy McHaggis on July 31, 2010 at 10:49 AM

@13 cyclists come in every shape. Riding a bicycle for transportation just isn't "that hard", and unless you really push yourself regularly and consistently can be a tough way to shed pounds.

I found the Nectar that evening by accident, we were just riding out for a drink. It was a huge surprise to run into the mayor in front of the bike racks as he was preparing to take off for the night.

Posted by SofaKing on July 31, 2010 at 4:13 PM

You're talking to a bike commuter SofaKing. Found it to be one of the most effective ways to lose some excess pounds. That's why McGinn strikes me as a phoney. I'm told he only rides his bike when there's a photo-op.

Sorry if I ruined you illusion of the man.

Posted by Spicy McHaggis on July 31, 2010 at 4:44 PM