Seattle Council Candidates Propose Citywide Streetcar System
The SLU line at its southern terminus. (Photo by the author)
Two at-large candidates for the 2015 Seattle City Council election, John Roderick and Alon Bassok, have jointly proposed a vision for a citywide municipal rail system. Documents released on Wednesday propose a 75-100 mile network built within a decade and funded with a $1 billion property tax levy. It harkens back to the streetcar system Seattle had before it was dismantled in the 1940s. The bold concept goes far beyond what any local transportation agency is planning, and until the election in November it’s uncertain whether the idea can gain momentum.
Posted in Government, Rail, Transportation Tagged Alon Bassok, candidates, district 8, district 9, election, funding, head tax, historic, history, John Roderick, length, levy, map, municipal rail, neighborhood, plan, position, property tax, proposal, Seattle City Council, streetcar 2 Comments
SDOT Studying High Capacity Transit for the Roosevelt Corridor
Roosevelt Way NE is just one part of the corridor being studied. Photo by the author.
The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is studying options for transit improvements in the Roosevelt corridor between Downtown and Northgate. Although Sound Transit is currently building Link light rail in the same area, the City’s Transit Master Plan (TMP) identifies this parallel corridor with high ridership potential. It includes South Lake Union and Eastlake, which Link will not serve. At a project open house last week, SDOT staff and their consultants from CDM Smith presented background information and early thoughts on speeding up transit service between these growing neighborhoods.
Posted in Rail, Buses, Roads, Transportation, Land Use, Walking, Biking, Parking, Cars Tagged BRT, bus rapid transit, costs, downtown, Eastlake, HCT, high capacity transit, Northgate, options, project, rapid streetcar, Roosevelt, route, SDOT, Seattle, South Lake Union, study, transit master plan, Westlake 2 Comments
First U-District Parklet Opens
The U-District parklet on 43rd Street opened during the neighborhood’s popular street fair. (Photo by Andres Salomon)
During the University District Street Fair last weekend the neighborhood welcomed its first official parklet. Located on 43rd Street at University Way, the parklet replaces two parking spaces and complements a Pronto bike share station outside of an ice cream shop and near several restaurants. It’s the latest example of the City of Seattle’s efforts to create open spaces in public right-of-way, and another is on the way just across the street.
Posted in Biking, Parking, Parks, Policy, Public Space Tagged bike share, City of Seattle, Cory Crocker, design, features, First, materials, neighborhood, Park(ing) Day, parklet, pilot program, Prono, streaterie, street fair, streetfair, U District Square, U-District, university district 1 Comment
Metro Refines 2016 U-Link Connections Proposal
Traffic congestion at Denny and Stewart. Photo by the author.
Today King County Metro released a more refined “Alternative 3″ for how bus service can be restructured around Seattle’s two new light stations opening early next year. This proposal is a hybrid of two earlier options and incorporates a wide variety of public feedback. And, critically, this version includes Prop 1 service hours approved by Seattle voters last year. Throughout May Metro and Sound Transit are conducting another round of public outreach to see where tweaks can be made, and then a final proposal will be sent to the King County Council this summer and implemented March 2016. Check the Metro website for more information.
Posted in Buses, Rail, Transportation Tagged alternative 3, Capitol Hill, Central District, changes, connections, deletions, Eastside, frequency, light rail, Link, metro, northeast Seattle, proposal, restructure, routes, service, sound transit, Sounding Board, SR-520, summary, U-District, U-Link, university district 3 Comments
New Protected Bike Lanes Coming to Northeast Seattle
Eastbound on Ravenna Boulevard. Photo by the author.
Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) staff hosted an open house on Tuesday to present conceptual plans for improving bike routes in northeast Seattle between East Green Lake Way N and 20th Avenue NE. Most of the project will simply be the installation of standard plastic posts between the existing bike lanes and vehicle lanes on Ravenna Boulevard. The project will also extend protected bike lanes (PBL) east to 15th Avenue NE, install new PBLs on Cowen Place and the Cowen Park Bridge, and create a two-way route for bicyclists on NE 62nd Street.
Posted in Biking, Cars, Schools, Transportation, Walking Tagged 15th Avenue, 62nd Street, Boulevard, budget, Cascade Bicycle Club, Cowen Park, Cowen Place, department of transportation, features, Green Lake, improvements, intersections, Olmstead, Parks Department, PBL, project, protected bike lanes, Ravenna, Ravenna Park, redesign, safety, SDOT, Seattle, timeline, University Greenways 2 Comments
CascadiaCast Episode 3: Michael Maddux
In this episode I sit down with Michael Maddux, a paralegal and Democratic Party leader running for Seattle City Council in District 4. Michael helped spearhead the formation of permanent parks and recreation funding through the voter-approved Seattle Parks District in 2013. And hailing from Eastlake, a neighborhood that has not seen its fair share of public investment over the past two decades, Michael has a vision for a more vibrant and equitable city. His ideas include reforming the land use code to better protect neighborhood character while increasing housing stock, improving how police officers and construction workers are recruited from within the community, creating a more progressive tax structure, and investing more in schools as the city grows.
Michael closed by referencing the uncertainty around Sound Transit funding, saying, “We don’t need Olympia’s approval to be a great city. When we thrive our whole area thrives.…the last time we had massive, bold investments in the area was the 1960s and 1970s, Forward Thrust. Let’s do it again. Let’s do it for housing, for transit, and parks”.
Map of Seattle’s new City Council districts. Seats 8 and 9 are citywide. Click to enlarge. (King County Elections)
Posted in Biking, Buses, CascadiaCast, Demographics, Government, Housing, Land Use, Parks, Policy, Schools, Transportation Tagged candidate, City Council, district, district 4, Eastlake, funding, growth, interview, Michael Maddux, Olympia, parks, podcast, Seattle, state, transit, university district 1 Comment
King County Metro Launches Broad Planning Effort
People discuss transit issues at the visioning workshop. Photo by the author.
On Tuesday night King County Metro kicked off public outreach for a Long Range Plan that will outline the future of public transportation in the Seattle region. It’s the next in a series of past plans that guide the agency’s provision of services, this one prompted by the region’s rapid growth and recent funding debacles. Last night’s event at the Seattle Central Public Library started with a brief workshop and moved to a panel discussion of notable figures in the transit world. Their remarks offered direction for Metro’s efforts in equity, technology, and community.
Posted in Buses, Government, Land Use, Transportation Tagged buses, Dow Constantine, engagement, equity, event, integration, involvement, Jarrett Walker, kick off, King County, light rail, Long Range Plan, metro, participation, Planning, public, Seattle, service, sound transit, technology, transit, vision, visioning, workshop 1 Comment
Internship Opening at The Northwest Urbanist
Update: This article is an April Fool’s joke.
The Northwest Urbanist has an outstanding internship “opportunity” for the qualified individual interested in city planning news and events in the Seattle region. The position is flexible and can be fulfilled at home or a real place of employment; occasional non-SOV travel may be required for strategy meetings. The intern will work directly under the supervision of the founder/writer/editor/graphic designer/director/manager. Compensation is dependent on leftover funding from student loan payments.
Responsibilities:
- Observe and report
- Write 1,000+ word articles on anything, anything at all related to cities
- Manage the Facebook page with an eye for like-generating potential
- Attend City Council meetings with zest
- Research growth potential and new markets for one-man blogging operations with zero budget
- Create snazzy graphics when the time is right
- Smile and nod during explanations of the benefits of freeway lids
- Manage logistics of spare batteries during podcast recordings
Desired qualifications:
- Internet connection
- Proficiency in the Adobe Creative Suite, Paint, Microsoft Office Suite, SketchUp, and iTunes
- Typing speed of 500 words per minute
- A high school diploma or 10 years experience in city planning, or some combination of education and work history that fulfills competency needed for the position
- Appropriate taste in Instagram filters
- At least one week of experience in blogging, tindering, tweeting, texting, snapchatting, and whatever else is cool these days
- Mild tolerance for online comments; strong tolerance preferred
- Ability to check the ego at the door
Submit the following to apply in a single PDF to northwesturbanist [at] gmail.com:
- Resume
- Cover letter
- Photocopy of Pronto! bike share membership card and/or ORCA card
- Essay on how your life came to this point
- Answers to the 17 essential city planning questions
Posted in Uncategorized 1 Comment
On Growth, Transit, and Bikes in Vancouver B.C.
Vancouver’s entire city center is wrapped by a continuous multi-use shoreline trail, making for an excellent transportation, exercise, recreation, and people-watching amenity. Photo by the author.
A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of visiting Vancouver, B.C. again and have finally gotten around to writing about it. I managed to stay for a weekend instead of 30 hours and had a real excuse to go: the SCARP Symposium. Planning students at the University of British Columbia (UBC) put on the seventh iteration of this annual one-day event about urban issues in Vancouver and the greater region. First up, the most important things I saw and heard at the symposium that other Northwesterners may be interested in. I’ll tie that into the city’s ongoing transportation referendum and my experience of the city by bike, which I hauled up via Amtrak.
Posted in Biking, Climate, Event Writeup, Government, Public Space, Sustainability, Transportation Tagged biking, bioregionalism, bus, cities, funding, government, highways, light rail, Planning, referendum, regionalism, resilience, resources, SCARP, sustainability, Symposium, transit, UBC, Vancouver, vote Leave a comment
Top Apps Emerge from Seattle’s Commute Hackathon
Candace Faber of Whoa Strategies emceed the event. Photo by the author.
At the end of Seattle’s Hack the Commute on Sunday night the judges selected three potentially game-changing software applications for further development. Over the weekend 14 volunteer teams of data scientists, transportation experts, designers, and software developers created prototypes of smartphone tools that could improve the travel experience across all modes in the city. While nearly all of the teams’ work was innovative, the top three discussed here will get additional support and will refine their presentations during a championship round next month.
Posted in Government, Transportation Tagged applications, apps, bikes, buses, championship, design, ferries, Hack the Commute, hardware, integration, King County Metro, parking, results, Seattle, smarthphone, software, sound transit, teams, transit, transportation, users, WSDOT 2 Comments
Seattle to Ask Voters for $900 Million in Transportation Funding
4th Avenue in downtown Seattle. Photo by the author.
In November the City of Seattle will ask voters for a property tax levy to put money where their mouth is on the Move Seattle transportation vision (PDF). Approval would supplant the expiring $365 million Bridging the Gap funding with an ambitious nine-year $900 million levy. Earlier this month Mayor Ed Murray unveiled the list of priority projects this money would go to, with a little something for everybody. Half of the Bicycle Master Plan network would be built out, 16 bridges would be reinforced, 250 lane-miles would be repaired, and 100 blocks of new sidewalks would be built, for starters. In conjunction with the City’s new Vision Zero target, Move Seattle has the potential to radically transform Seattle streets for the better.
Posted in Biking, Buses, Cars, Parking, Rail, Roads, Schools, Sustainability, Transportation, Walking Tagged 2015, arterials, bicycle master plan, bike parking, bus rapid transit, complete streets, cost, Ed Murray, election, freight, funding, levy, light rail, mayor, mobility, Move Seattle, neighborhoods, new stop, projects, property tax, repaving, road diets, SDOT, transit, vote, walking 2 Comments
CascadiaCast Episode 2: Cory Crocker
This week I’m joined by Cory Crocker, an active University District resident who helps head up U District Square. The group is working to secure parks and open space amenities as the 
neighborhood rapidly grows and faces a population boom with the arrival of a light rail station in only six short years. The U-District has a dearth of open space that the city is trying to address, and Cory is passionate about the option of a large central plaza. He’s also been working on a streetscape project with a new parklet and possible sidewalk cafes. We also discussed the medley of transportation and housing options in the neighborhood and recent trends in the design and management of public space.
neighborhood rapidly grows and faces a population boom with the arrival of a light rail station in only six short years. The U-District has a dearth of open space that the city is trying to address, and Cory is passionate about the option of a large central plaza. He’s also been working on a streetscape project with a new parklet and possible sidewalk cafes. We also discussed the medley of transportation and housing options in the neighborhood and recent trends in the design and management of public space.
I’m still learning as I go and it’s now much more obvious a noisy coffee shop isn’t the best location for recording audio; headphones may improve the listening experience this episode. But as promised, the series is now available on iTunes (search for “CascadiaCast”). You can also subscribe via RSS: http://northwesturbanist.libsyn.com/rss.
Episode 2 | 28 minutes | Download (16.3 MB) or stream below.
Cory’s model of a possible NE 43rd Street design. Photo courtesy of Cory Crocker.
Posted in CascadiaCast, Density, Housing, Land Use, Parks, Public Space, Transportation Tagged Cory Crocker, density, eis, environmental impact statement, forum, height, housing, model, open space, Partnership, plans, plaza, public space, square, streetscape, U-District, university district, upzone, vision Leave a comment
Open Letter: Build a Green Lake Supertrail
Members of Seattle City Council and Parks Superintendent Christopher Williams,
I write to you with sincere concern for the well being of my fellow citizens using the three mile long trail around Green Lake Park. It is consistently overcrowded, and slow ground-walkers often spill over into the area intended for those on wheels. This letter is sparked by several incidents during an afternoon leisure tour last Sunday, when clear skies drew residents out of the Craftsman-style woodwork and I nearly destroyed several small children and excited dogs while riding my bike.
Fear not, I have a novel idea for solving this dangerous situation. I will preface by saying there is no urban problem that cannot be solved by the proper application of asphalt. Let’s widen the trail, but not leave it at that. We need to divide the trail into zones suitable for each type of trail user. The joggers, stroller-pushing mothers, and high-speed two-wheelers such as myself all have very different spatial needs.
Now, Council, I know what you’re thinking. Dogs and babies don’t pay taxes, so why should they get their own lanes? And surely, lone meanderers could save space by holding hands with strangers instead of traveling solo. But consider that us cyclists don’t even pay for roads! Surely we can all enjoy a little freeloading now and then together as a community.
Another innovation here is that the trail will be made one-way, in the counter-clockwise direction, because that is the current predominant flow. Why that is I cannot say, but it would be a fascinating experiment to compare with a similar park in the southern hemisphere. Nonetheless, there are many nonconformers who travel in the opposite clockwise direction, so they will require their own basic lane. This also begs a question: is it possible that, symbolically, these people are moving forward in time, and that the rest of us are the backwards savages? Perhaps we will all eventually come around to circumnavigating the lake in the other direction, having been enlightened by some noble naysayer. Thankfully, this proposed design is inherently adaptive to a contraflow configuration, contributing to “future proofing”, “resilience”, and “climate change mitigation”.
I appreciate your consideration in this important matter, and look forward to hearing your thoughts. I will be in touch next week about further reducing congestion with a cross-lake floating bike bridge.
Best Regards,
Scott Bonjukian, Founder, Concerned Cyclists of Seattle
Scott Bonjukian, Founder, Concerned Cyclists of Seattle
Posted in Biking, Editorial, Parks, Transportation, Walking Tagged bicycle, bike, biking, Green Lake, letter, park, path, satire, Seattle, supertrail, trail, walking 3 Comments
Metro Proposes Bus Restructures Around New Light Rail Stations
UPDATE: Metro released formal alternatives on Thursday. The new information and maps have been updated throughout this post. Check the Metro website for full details.
This week King County Metro and Sound Transit will jointly release two alternatives for bus service restructures to happen in 2016. The effort is intended to better connect riders with two new Link light rail stations opening one year from now, nine months ahead of schedule, in Capitol Hill and the University District. I’m a member of the citizen ‘sounding board’ on the project but the opinions here are my own.
Posted in Uncategorized 11 Comments
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