CommEn Space People

This is a photograph of (most of) the people I work with. Tim was visiting from our Montana office last week and I thought it would be a good idea to photographically memorialize this rare and wonderful event. Unfortunately Jessemine is not in this shot (she was--and is still--on a surfing trip in Mexico) but I'm planning on Photoshopping her in later.

The people in this shot are, from left to right: Sheila, Tim, Karsten, Yours Truly, Fly (the border collie), Chris, Christopher, and Alex.

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with Andy and Lynna in Packwood. We always love visiting those two, and it is nice to get out of the city and enjoy the woods and mountains. There were no salmon in the backyard stream this year, but plenty of elk in the front yard. We made it up to White Pass for some sledding (Liam was ready to go to the summit after the first run) and did a nice hike in some old growth lower down in the valley. And one evening, to Liam's extreme delight, Andy got a little Scottish on us.

Liam's Halloween Costume

I know I'm REALLY late on this, but here is the costume that Amy and I made for Liam. For the record, this was 100% Liam's idea--when we asked him what he wanted to be for Halloween, he said "green backhoe!!"

2 Great Quotes

"All models are wrong. Some models are useful."

--George Box

"Errors using inadequate data are much less than those using no data at all."

--Charles Babbage

MIT

The new Stata center on the MIT campus, designed by famed architect Frank Gehry (apparently he is famous for his inability to draw right angles). When Liam saw this building, he said "building broken. Has boo-boo. Sad." Well put, my son.

One of the lecture halls inside the Stata center. This one has sloping walls covered with boards that are full of regularly spaced holes, like peg-board. The effect is rather nauseating, and the school had to cover the lower portion with white boards so the students wouldn't fall over in their chairs. Neat idea though.

The "Infinite Corridor." This hallway is 1/4 mile long and is chock full of brilliant people learning about complicated things.

The Stata Center has many chalkboards in the halls, most of which are covered with incomprehensible (to me) mathematical and scientific notations.

Harvard

Liam demonstrating his reverance at the T station

Amy and Liam in Harvard Yard. It is smaller and less imposing than I had expected.

The statue of the 3 lies. It says: John Harvard/Founder/1638. However, the statue is of some random 19th C. student; John Harvard was not the founder but an early financial contributor; and Harvard was founded in 1636. And the motto inscribed above one of the gates is "VERITAS." Hah!

Woods Hole

Liam and his grandpa smiling beautifully for the camera on the waterfront in the village of Woods Hole. Unfortunately the museums etc were shut for the holiday (I think it was Columbus Day)

A very rare photo of your truly and Amy unaccompanied by Mr Little Guy, overlooking the harbor in the village of Woods Hole

One of the many architecturally interesting store fronts in the village

Cape Cod--On the Beach

Horseshoe crab we found in a big patch of pickleweed.

Liam and Grandpa Stevenson on the beach

Liam and Grandma Stevenson on the beach

The Wedding

Liam in his MacDonald kilt, just before attending the wedding ceremony of Julie Fitzpatrick and Scott McGlone

Here is the whole crew in the big wedding tent (from left to right): Liam, my father Dan, mom Nancy, Me, and Amy

Cape Cod

The blog has been on a bit of a hiatus, due primarily to our recent-ish trip to Massachusetts (and all of the extra work before and after the trip). My cousin Julie Fitzpatrick married Scott McGlone in Dennisport, right on Nantucket Sound. We made the trip out for the wedding but also to see our friends Jamie & Natalie DeNormandie and Kimberly Karish. We met all three of them when we lived in Logan, Utah 7 years ago.

The wedding was great, and I've never laughed more at a wedding ceremony. Unfortunately I was not able to take a decent photo of Julie and/or Scott because Amy and I were scrambling to keep the Little Guy distracted and quiet. It rained more or less the entire time we were in Massachusetts, and the wedding and reception took place under a huge tent, but it didn't matter--everyone had a great time. It was really wonderful catching up with all of the Reiss relatives I haven't seen in a long time. More posts with more pictures to follow!

Methow Valley

Two weekends ago Amy and Liam accompanied me to the Methow Valley. I was there with my boss Chris Davis to make a presentation to the Methow Conservancy--we're working on a parcel-based development risk model that they will use to inform their conservation prioritization. The presentation was 3 hours long (!), and our modelling effort was very well received. We still have a few tweaks to make, but it's pretty close to being done.

We stayed at a cabin (ha!--this cabin is bigger and nicer than our house in Seattle) owned by a couple of UW professors that are friends with Craig and Sandy, a married couple who are also working as consultants with the Conservancy. We stayed in the Valley for an extra day and went for a delightful hike around a beaver pond just up the road from the cabin. We shared most of the hike with an Italian couple and their son Luka. We caught another red-legged frog for Liam to check out, and Luka was pretty interested in it as well. Best of all, the fall color is starting to kick in.

Packwood Report

Amy, Liam and I drove down to Packwood this past weekend to visit with Andy & Lynna and help them prep their house for painting. We also spent a fair bit of time visiting the enormous Packwood Flea Market (which happens every Labor Day), picking black berries, walking in the woods, catching frogs, and just running around outside. It was a nice visit.



Liam on his first ever pony ride. He was beaming the entire time.












LG wearing Dad's hat and looking cute.












Picking black berries! Andy & Lynna's property is covered with black berry bushes and they were all laden with delicious fruit.












The bounty from the harvest.











Liam and Uncle Andy indicating their approval of the flavor.










Aunt Lynna gettign friendly with Liklik.










Liam's first encounter with an actual frog (in this case a northern red-legged frog), captured by his dad and Uncle.










The eponymous legs, visible through the bottom of the mason jar we kept the critter in before we released him back into the creek.










Andy's bridge. He made this himself with some of the trees his neighbor cut down. The bridge crosses the creek that runs through their property and makes it easier to access several forested acres along the river.

Lake Talapus

In a fit of planned spontaneity, we headed for the Cascades this weekend and hiked into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area. We made it up to Lake Talapus, a beautiful little gem in a heavily wooded valley. The sky was brilliant blue, the huckleberries were ripe, and the lake was cold. It was a great day.

And for the record, the red hat Amy is wearing is a hard-won trophy given to us by my dad. The poor guy had to drink EIGHT Alaskan Ambers during the cruise he and my mother recently took up through the Inside Passage.

Urban Forestry

We had a huge volunteer holly tree on the side of our house that we've wanted to get rid of since we bought the house. Fortunately my brother is a forester and is the possessor of TWO chainsaws and a considerable amount of tree-felling skill. He took that sucker out in about 45 minutes and further cemented his image as a hero in Liam's eyes.

Liam is Two Years Old

The Little Guy is now two years old. His birthday was a couple of weeks ago, and we had a pretty low-key celebration with just the three of us on the day of and hosted an all-out bash with 8 other two year olds the following week. It was a good time, and the little guy really enjoyed himself. Favorite present: chainsaw, by far.

The top picture shows three shots of me and Liam--from left to right, Liam is a newborn, one year old, and two years old. The kid is growing fast!




The "Gang of Seven" (a couple kids went missing when the cameras came out) are, from left to right: Rowan, Emma, Amelie, Liam (with eyes closed!), Lucas, Niko, and Iska. As she was leaving, Iska asked Liam to kiss her three times. He's already a blue-eyed heart breaking devil!

Detroit as Ecotopia?!?

As frequent readers of this blog already know (ah, that's a joke) I am a big fan of Ernest Callenbach's book Ecotopia. Yesterday I read a news article about some elements of his book apparently coming to life in the most unlikely place: Detroit, Michigan.

As reported in this article, there are currently 12,000 vacant homes in the city of Detroit and 1,500 to 2,000 new homes are abandoned each year. The City does not have enough money to tear all of them down and they can barely keep up with new abandonments. A professor of urban planning at University of Detroit Mercy has proposed converting a large swath of the abandoned City back into farmland.

I think this is a brilliant idea, but it does not go far enough. I think it would be fantastic if the City that spawned the Age of the Autombile--and has subsequently been cannibalized by the very technology that it created--capitalized on this opportunity to emerge as the global center for sustainable manufacturing and transportation. It makes sense--there is plenty of open land, an enormous trained work force that is chronically unemployed, underemployed, or in imminent danger of becoming so, two world-class universities adjacent to the city to train the engineers and MBAs to design and innovate, and all of the industrial infrastructure for shipping and distribution. Think about it: Detroit as the world leader in wind turbine manufacturing, maglev train design and production, large volume heat exchange systems, and on and on. I think it could work.

North Cascades National Park

Amy and Liam taking a break on the Thunder Knob trail.











Liam and Matt at the Diablo Lake overlook on a VERY windy afternoon.









Liam showing his affection for an enormous western red cedar along the banks of the Skagit River.







Liam, obviously feeling somewhat conflicted now about his relationship with the trees.













Amy and Liam cooling off in Diablo Lake.

Ghost Cycles

There is a group here in Seattle called GhostCycle that is placing completely white bicycles at locations where cyclists were struck by automobiles. It's a pretty powerful reminder that despite Seattle's relatively bike-friendly atmosphere it can be pretty dangerous out there.

Case in point: this morning I'm riding to work, and some jerk in a Subaru starts honking his horn while I'm riding down 5th Avenue under the monorail. I ride this road every day, and it can be pretty sketchy--there are giant concrete pillars to support the monorail on the left hand side, cars parked on the right hand side, and numerous parking lots and other driveways where cars are likely to come out of or turn into. In order to protect my neck I ride right in the middle of the travel lane, so I can see and be seen. This is perfectly legal, and in any case, the lights are timed so it isn't possible for a car to go faster than a bike. So the guy in the Subaru races past me, dangerously close, flipping me off. I raced up next to his car and we had a little argument, but I was not able to persuade him that he was behaving unreasonably.

Then, to top it all off, after I turned onto Union, a woman in an SUV crossed two lanes of traffic, completely cutting me off, and jammed on her brakes. I more or less saw it coming and was able to jam on my brakes, but I still got up close and personal with her spare tire. She heard the noise and her passenger stuck her head out and asked if I was OK. I said I was, but that it would sure be nice if she would check her mirrors then next time she had to change lanes.

Here are My Teeth

The Little Guy has almost all of his teeth. Only four more to go! And then, of course, they start falling out, but then the Tooth Fairy gets involved so it's all good.

Bicycle Quotes

I rode in to work in the pouring rain today, but I still enjoyed the ride. For some reason being on a bicycle just puts me in a great mood. I dug up some quotes on cycling today and thought I'd put them here to share with others:

"Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of mankind" - H.G. Wells

"The bicycle, the bicycle surely, should always be the vehicle of novelists and poets."

- Christopher Morley

"The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man. Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart."

- Iris Murdoch, The Red and the Green

"When I go biking, I repeat a mantra of the day's sensations: bright sun, blue sky, warm breeze, blue jay's call, ice melting and so on. This helps me transcend the traffic, ignore the clamorings of work, leave all the mind theaters behind and focus on nature instead. I still must abide by the rules of the road, of biking, of gravity. But I am mentally far away from civilization. The world is breaking someone else's heart."

- Diane Ackerman

"[T]he bicycle is the most efficient machine ever created: Converting calories into gas, a bicycle gets the equivalent of three thousand miles per gallon."

- Bill Strickland, The Quotable Cyclist

"Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride."

- John F. Kennedy

"You never have the wind with you - either it is against you or you're having a good day."

- Daniel Behrman, The Man Who Loved Bicycles

A Random Thought About Vision

The best way to see something clearly is to not look at it directly.

I was switching out the audio cords in the back of my machine in preparation for a conversation via Skype with my colleague in Bozeman, and as you might imagine it is somewhat dark under my desk. It was really difficult to see anything in the dim light when I looked directly at it, but when I looked off to the side I could see much more detail. This reminded me of the Observational Astronomy course I took my sophomore year of undergrad, when Dr. Odell told us that one can observe much more of the night sky with the naked eye by looking just to the side of the object(s) of interest. My recollection is that rods are much more light sensitive than cones, and rods predominate in the peripheral vision--so dim objects are much clearer when you are not looking at them.

Oil-Spill response

Last weekend I traveled to San Juan Island with Amy and Liam so Amy could attend an oil-spill response training. The free weekend session was organized and sponsored by Islands Oil Spill Association, a community response group that organizes volunteers for responding to any and all oil spills in and around the San Juan Islands. Amy has always wanted to get certified to assist with cleaning oiled wildlife, and she finally got that certification over the weekend.

Liam and I had a good time hanging out on the island while Mom was attending class. For Liam, it was a bit of a grand-slam: the training took place at the fire station so he saw lots of big fire engines and real-live firemen, we saw a medi-vac helicopter take off from the airport (we got within about 50 feet!), there was a back hoe in the lot in front of our hotel, and we hung out at a skate park near the play ground we visited. What more could a 20 month old boy want? And I managed to get some hiking in with the wee lad at Lime Kiln State Park and the American Camp National Historic Site. All in all, a pretty nice weekend.

Ecotopia, 30 Years Later

In the current issue of the Seattle Weekly there is a great interview with Ernest Callenbach (warning, link is not Firefox friendly), the author of Ecotopia. This is one of my all-time favorite books, and I find Callenbach's futuristic vision of a politically independent, ecologically sustainable Pacific Northwest inspiring on many levels. It was interesting to read his take on the current situation and his assessment of our future prospects. Favorite quote: "So this has to get through our thick skulls somehow, that what makes for a good life is not goods."

Holy Mode Split, Batman!

I just listened to Svend Auken on The Conversation on KUOW. Svend Auken is the former Danish Minister for Energy and the Environment and helped to implement many of the policies that led to Denmark's energy independence. Most of the program was focused on Denmark's efforts to generate electricity with wind and biomass, and a caller pointed out that in the United States we drive so much that any efforts to move us towards energy independence will have to address our automobile usage. Svend responded that in Copenhagen the mode split for home-work and home-school trips is 1/3 transit, 1/3 private car, and 1/3 BICYCLES. I found this pretty staggering, but also incredibly inspiring. It should be noted that Denmark also has a 200% tax on private automobiles, and this is undoubtedly pushing many people out of cars and on to trains and bikes. Although that kind of policy is probably not realistic in the near term in the U.S., it does make me think that we could certainly adopt policies that would increase the number of people getting around on bicycles.

Sustainable Seattle

It was a pretty good board meeting for the Fremont Neighborhood Council on Monday. We covered a lot of issues, ranging from land use to liquor licenses. We also discussed the application I prepared for Fremont to be one of the additional neighborhoods added to Sustainable Seattle's "SNIP," Sustainable Neighborhoods Indicators Project. The interactive maps for the first three neighborhoods were created by my colleague Tim Schaub. Also at CommEn Space, I'm currently working on the Puget Sound/Georgia Basin Cross-Boundary Indicators study, so it will be interesting working simultaneously on two indicators projects at radically different scales. Hopefully our application will be accepted.

Neptune

I went to a concert with Amy on Saturday night. In addition to the rare treat of being on a date, we also had the great pleasure of listening to Jim Malcolm, one of the finest Celtic singers in the world. He's the lead singer of the Scottish band Old Blind Dogs, but this was a solo performance of (mostly) his own material. I really enjoy Celtic music of all varieties, but the Scottish songs and instrumentals are my favorite. The lyrical content tends towards battles and drinking, which is why it was all the more arresting when Jim performed his song "Neptune." The lyrics were inspired by an impromptu voyage on a commercial fishing vessel (a long story, but it involved unhealthy amounts of whisky on the island of Barra) in the Outer Hebrides. Here are the lyrics, and as you read, try to picture them coming from a big Scotsman, and perhaps you'll see why these words made more of an impact than if they had come from a more stereotypical long-haired dangly-earing flowing-skirt female singer:

Neptune, I think I'm in love with the sea
How do I woo you and make you love me
I'm drenched by your passion
Enthralled by your anger
Becalmed by your beauty
How do I make you love me?
But when he spoke, it was a plea not a roar
If you want my love, then go and tell them all:

Don't oil my beaches, don't slaughter my whales
Don't cross me with diesel, cross me with sail
Give me some time to heal up my wounds
Give me more poison and I will die soon.


Neptune I don't understand what you fear
Here round my island the waters are clear
I live from your riches, your birds and your fishes
I never would choke you, what do you need from me here?
But then he spoke of all the change caused by me
Your damage seems small, but let me recall
That in your grandfather's day there ran salmon
You could walk on their backs
Now what's left of great shoals
Those that slip through the cracks
Now the salmon's in cages, gorged on fishmeal
Sucked from some other sea by cruel profiteers, so...

Don't oil my beaches, don't slaughter my whales
Don't cross me with diesel, cross me with sail
Give me some time to heal up my wounds
Give me more poison and I will die soon.

Not Quite Ecotopia Yet

Amy and I took our son Liam to Gasworks Park to fly his kite. The sun was shining, loads of people were out, and we had a great time. Then he wanted to throw some rocks into the water, and we saw this sign. It made me sad. At least he can't read yet. Sigh.

Sustainable Energy Talk

There's a great talk coming up and I would encourage anyone interested in sustainable building, climate change, and local economies to attend.

International Sustainable Solutions and Greg Nickels are sponsoring a lecture by Svend Auken, the former Danish Minister for Energy and Environment. He is largely responsible for putting Denmark on the path towards sustainable energy independence, and I think he will have a lot of great insights to share.

The event will take place March 18, 2005, 7:00 to 9:00 pm at Meany Hall, University of Washington. Tickets are $7 if you buy before March 11, after that they are $10.

Hope to see you there!

SBFC Report is DONE!

The Northwest Team finished up work in early January and we submitted our report to Dave Janis of the Bicycle Alliance of Washington about three weeks ago. I'm pretty happy with the finished product and I think we made some good recommendations. I had fun with the graphics too, it's pretty fun playing around with City infrastructure (even if it is only in InDesign).

Dave is going to synthesize the reports from all six teams and present Councilmember Richard Conlin with recommendations from across the city. I'm looking forward to seeing the report and I hope that Richard is not too distracted by his reelection campaign to keep things moving on bicycle transportation planning.

I posted a PDF of the NW Team report here. Thanks to my teammates Ron Lindsay and Mike O'Brien for working so hard on this project.

Seattle Bicycle Facilities Collaborative

The big push on the bike front lately has been the Seattle Bicycle Facilities Collaborative. The effort is led by Councilman Richard Conlin and the Bicycle Alliance of Washington (Dave Janis has the point person but Barbara Culp is also heavily involved). The purpose of the Collaborative is to produce a document that details proposed improvements to bicycle facilities in Seattle. Council Member Conlin will use the document to guide future bicycling oriented decisions made by the City. By bringing the bicycling community together, it is thought that we will all be able to focus on a collective set of priorities.

My compulsive volunteer gene was triggered by Councilman Conlin's "Making it Work" email and I signed on to serve as the northwest team leader. There are six teams covering the entire city, and our study area runs from the Ship Canal on the south north to the City limits and from I-5 on the east to Puget Sound on the west. It's a large area, but we were fortunate enough to have Chuck Ayers (the E.D. of Cascade Bicycle Club) on our team and he sent out an email to all of the CBC members living in the NW sector. We received nearly 100 responses, many of which we fed directly into our recommendations. Other recommendations came from a lengthy weekend ride and other day-to-day observations we've all made during our daily commutes.

Our preliminary presentation to Councilmembers Conlin, Rasmussen, and Godden and City Attorney Tom Carr (an avid--almost hardcore--bike commuter) was made on October 12. All of the teams' recommendations were well received. One of our team members, Ron Lindsay, came up with a great proposal called the "Seattle Gem Trails" which is a concept to name the premiere bicycle routes throughout the City and promote the hell out of them to encourage cycling and show people that it is really easy to get anywhere you need to go on a bicycle. It's a great idea, and it was well received. I made a big map showing the location of the different trails, and I think it really helped the Councilmembers visualize the concept.

We are now wrapping up our recommendations and will be submitting our final report to Dave Janis after the holidays. He will be compiling and formatting the final comprehensive six-team report and submitting it to Councilmember Conlin.

I have to admit that it's pretty awesome having a City Council that is so interested in cycling. It makes me feel good about my City and the people who live here.

Back in the Saddle

Well, we lost. I really had high hopes for this election, but apparently my fellow Red-State Americans like all of the wonderful things the Bushies have done over the past four years. Personally, I feel really frustrated by the prospect of continued chaos and killing in Iraq, out of control deficits at home, more assaults on our natural environment, and the curtailment of even more of our civil liberties. I felt pretty depressed for about two weeks after the election. Then I read this article in The Stranger and it cheered me up tremendously. In a nutshell, here in Seattle we are surrounded by people who made the right choice in the presidential election and are just as ardent in their support of our amazing city as I am. It made me feel like we really can make a difference here in Seattle and set an example for others to follow.

So now I'm back, and I feel more energized than I have in a long time. There has been much activity on the bike front, and I will detail as much as I can in upcoming posts.

Cheers!

Matt

Think Small

Check out the Think Small website, it's worth a look.

Beer, Bikes, & Bridges

I will be staffing the Fremont Bridge Approach Replacement Project booth at Fremont Oktoberfest on Saturday, September 18 from 12:00 - 2:00. Come by and say hello. You could even buy me a beer.

Update on the Fremont Bridge Approach Replacement Project

Yes, this update is long overdue but to my knowledge there is not exactly a vast readership clamoring for more information about the status of the cycling/pedestrian facilities on the approaches to the Fremont Bridge. There should be, granted, and I'm doing what I can to cultivate that level of interest, but it's slow going.

The week of July 12 I sent letters to Councilmembers Conlin, Rasmussen, and Godden regarding the FNC's concerns about the lack of adequate (actually, any) disruption planning for cyclists and pedestrians during construction. More importantly, we also expressed our frustration that there did not seem to be any planning for bikes/peds after the bridge project is completed. This is a much bigger deal, because although the disruption due to construction will be a headache for about 18 months, we have to live with the completed bridge for decades.

I also managed to get myself invited to a July 22nd meeting organized by SDOT and PB with the "Seattle Bike/Ped Community." This was an interesting and eye-opening meeting. Due to the overwhelming public support for bike/ped facilities, PB revised many of their plans to address all of the shortcomings identified by FNC, Cascade Bicycle Club, the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board, Bicycle Alliance of Washington, and others. They got it about 90% right, with one major exception--no bike lanes on the bridge approaches themselves, no queuing areas for northbound bikes, and no striping or signing at the Fremont & 34th intersection. Emily Allen (of SBAB) and I eventually fell into a good-cop/bad-cop routine (I think I was the good cop) and eventually got the engineers from PB to agree to put in the lanes, Denver arrows, and other signage improvements we suggested.

Shortly after this meeting I heard back from Richard Conlin, and he said he is also concerned about the project and offered to meet with me. I told him that we are satisfied with the efforts the City is making and that we did not need to meet at this time. I also heard back from Tom Rasmussen's office, and conveyed the same message to them.

Just today I heard from SDOT via email that they are finalizing the revisions that came out of the July 22 meeting and they are scheduling another meeting for sometime after September 7. Hopefully they got it right!

More news when I have it.

Notes from Citizens Advisory Group Meeting

Notes from C.A.G., June 22, 2004


The Fremont Bridge Approach Project can be broken down into three discrete pieces:

1) Approaches (north & south)
2) Mechanical/Electrical upgrades to the bridge mechanism
3) Maintenance shop replacement (south end of bridge)

Questions: Is there a timeline available yet that shows the different phases, when lanes will be closed/altered/affected, when the bridge will be closed entirely, etc.?

Additionally, there is a companion project that will happen concurrently with the approach project, largely centered around improving and adding to the signalization and circulation within downtown Fremont. (more on this later)

The last CAG meeting will happen right around the time of 90% design; there is no date set.

July 21—meeting with Fremont Chamber of Commerce to review design to date; 8:00 am, probably at Red Door but not confirmed yet

July 22—Bicycle Improvements design review meeting. This is a small meeting with experts from the bicycle advocacy community. I found out about it from Rob Gorman (SDOT lead engineer) last week and managed to get myself invited. Other attendees include:

Emily Allen
Dave Hiller
Louise McGroody
Dave Janis
David Levenger
Chuck Ayres
Sarah Kavage

The purpose of this meeting is to review the modifications to the bridge approach designs that are intended to address the overwhelming grass roots support for better bicycle and pedestrian accommodations on the bridge.

If the FNC wants a briefing on the design as well, we can arrange that. We just need to let Rebecca Baker (PRR) or Rob Gorman know.

The city is currently planning on converting the northernmost westbound lane of 34th to a bike lane for the duration of the project, which means there would be striped bike lanes running both east and west along 34th. The representative from the Queen Anne Neighborhood was vehemently opposed to this idea, to the point of claiming that his council would write a formal letter, because “there are a lot of Queen Anne residents who commute to the U District and that would lengthen their commute.” He was the only one who seemed at all opposed to the idea.

There was much discussion about potential overflow traffic impacts on the Queen Anne neighborhood, particularly along Aurora and at the Queen Anne Dr & 4th N 7-way intersection.

I asked about striping bike lanes on Fremont Ave, and said that this would be a natural addition to all of the work being planned in the neighborhood and that the city had approved the idea several times in the past. Rob Gorman said he had never heard of it (!) and Suzie Burke (who was sitting next to me) said that it had never been done because the engineering had not been done, that the city did not know how to “channelize” the street to accommodate the bike lane. This contradicts what I have heard from Toby and Chip, so I would appreciate any additional info about the history of this idea that I can take back to the city.

SDOT also claimed not to be familiar with the Fremont Circulation Plan, which surprised Suzie.

Proposed Signalization changes:

Fremont Ave & 36th: Pretty straightforward addition of a traffic light at the Dad Watson’s/Dubliner death trap.

36th/Evanston/N 36th St (right near Lenin): Evanston becomes one way south with a right turn only onto 36th; a HUGE curb bulb will be constructed out into the street at the intersection, and will be filled with landscaping. Incidentally, the surface parking lot at that intersection has been purchased and a new building will be constructed once design review/permitting has been completed.

Three street trees just west of this intersection (near the funeral home) will likely be removed, according to Marko, because their roots will eventually destroy the sewer directly beneath them.

The intersection at Fremont Ave & 39th (near B.F. Day) will be modified to allow a left turn from Fremont Way onto Fremont Ave. To enable this change several parking spaces on the west side of Fremont Ave will be eliminated, and the stop line on the Fremont Ave north bound lanes will be moved south.

New traffic lights will be installed at Aurora and Bridge Way.

RPZ

Suzie Burke said she is opposed to the RPZ, and at a minimum said she wants the city to delay any action on it until the bridge project is complete. She said she wants the CAG to write a letter to the city stating this position. I said that I would not support that position and would definitely not support the CAG sending a letter until I had checked with the FNC, because it was my impression that there is a great deal of support within the neighborhood and the FNC board for implementing the RPZ ASAP (how’s that for acronym usage?).

The bridge maintenance shop is being completely rebuilt and relocated to the east side of the bridge on the south approach. The current conceptual drawings show a fair-sized public plaza on top of the building, which will likely feature art and a display about the location and history of Seattle’s drawbridges.

Questions: Is there a timeline available yet that shows the different phases, when lanes will be closed/altered/affected, when the bridge will be closed entirely, etc.?

Pay it Forward

One of my co-workers started riding her bike to work recently. I was impressed when she made this decision, particularly because she lives 19 miles from our office (about twice the distance I ride, one-way). Last week she told me that a friend of hers has also started riding her bike to her work. Her friend said, "I just wanted to let you know that you inspired me to do this." My co-worker said that she could not take the credit, because I had inspired HER to start riding to work. I was gratified to have had this effect, but I think the larger point is that our behavior can influence others in unexpected ways, even if we never hear about it.

Why I Love Fremont

So I'm riding my bike home from work tonight and I stop at the "mid-point" light on the hill (39th & Fremont). A pedestrian standing next to me is wearing head phones, looking at note cards, and muttering to himself in German. "Right on," I think, this guy is learning a new language in anticipation of some travel. Or maybe he's just at little different, but either way I don't really care because it was kind of neat to hear.

A few seconds later I'm pedaling against gravity once again and passing B.F. Day School. I hear bagpipes, bongo drums, and what sound like cymbals. My curiosity is definitely piqued at this point, so I stop and walk up the steps to the basketball court and see (surprise) a guy playing bagpipes, some other guys playing bongo drums, and a bunch of women belly dancing.

On Wednesday. At 7:23 pm.

Fremont rocks.

Dinosaur vs Mammal

I put the boy in the backpack after work yesterday and we walked to downtown Fremont to pick up a CD I had ordered from Sonic Boom. Afterwards, we were walking up Fremont Ave towards the playground at B.F. Day (he likes the swings) and we had to stop at the 39th/Fremont Way intersection. A fellow on a bicycle pulled up along side us, then a humongous Hummer (the new version; I think they call it H2?) pulled up along side him. I looked at the guy on the bike--probably in his early to mid 30s, and reasonably fit, as you would expect. Then I looked at the guy in the Hummer--about the same age, but clearly packing a few dozen extra pounds and some additional chins. I looked at the guy on the bike, and I said "Now here's a contrast for you: the most efficient form of transportation ever devised right next to what is probably the least efficient form of transportation ever devised." We shared a laugh, and then the light changed.

As it turns out, this anecdotal observation of mine that SUV drivers tend to be fat and non-drivers tend to be fit has been documented in a new study just released by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology. I find this very encouraging, because not only are the fossil-fuel guzzling behemoths that are clogging our roadways endangered by the inevitable exhaustion of oil, but the drivers are endangered by their own obesity. It is only a matter of time before these dinosaurs are gone.

Incidentally, Tom Toles has an excellent cartoon on the topic today as well.