Comments

1
Don't bother asking Ed Murray what he stands for. He has no idea.

There is a public meeting regarding the Westlake Cycle Track at BF Day School in Fremont on Monday, October 28 at 5pm. Mike McGinn will be there, Ed Murray will be invisible.
2
Making Westlake a bike route should be a priority. It's a hill-free connection between Fremont and Downtown! Total no-brainer!
Sure, I love battling my commute-mates while sprinting up Dexter, I'm not always in the mood for good old fashioned cat 6 fun.
3
You guys realize that 85% of the people in Seattle don't give a shit about bike lanes, right?
4
That sign normally says awesome things.
5
The other side endorses Kshama Sawant, so it's not all bad.
6
@3
So what? I'm still going to advocate for what I think is right. Bicycling is becoming more popular, and I foresee no developments to change that trend.
7
Ah, the Marine Industry fundraiser thing. I know it doesn't mean much, but FWIW, Publicola asked Murray at the time about the fundraising group's apparent assumption he'd fight any proposed cycle track. ""I support cycle tracks. I used them in Europe. If they think I am opposed, then they'll be surprised." http://www.seattlemet.com/news-and-profi…
8
@6, sex is popular, too, so they should go ahead and create a fucking bike lane, making both opponents and proponents correct when they exclaim, FUCKING BIKE LANE!
9
Murray is sounding more and more like the Seattle Times editorial board...an out of touch east sider who believes there is such a thing as a war on cars.
10
@3: Wrong.
11
i know of a large number of folks that are super-pissed that they had no say, and were actively ignored input, in the establishment of bike lanes on streets in their neighborhoods.

at one point i even bothered with: "y'know most of these plans were in place when Nickels was still in office"... "i don't care! - i hate McGinn's 'my way or the highway attitude!'"

so, i'd say that if Murray -was- running "anti-bike-lane" that would be very politically wise indeed' but i don't think he is. nor does he have to; McGinn lacks the essential ability to fake native humility.... he's comes off a pushy bastard and folks around here don't like that.
12
@3: I don't give a shit about parking, but that doesn't mean I can't acknowledge that it's important for other people. See, there's this thing called a community wherein it's most beneficial for people to look out for each other, instead of just themselves. I don't ride a bike or drive, but I know it's good for the city to make space for bikes and cars. In return, I hope that the other members of my community recognize that sidewalks and public transit are important, even if they never use them. Everybody wins!
13
With no Republican candidate running, it is funny to watch the Stranger try to dismantle Murray. Only in Seattle...
P.S. Murray already won.
14
r.e. 75th, a street i drive nearly every day: the restriping project "demanded" by the neighborhood DID remove all parking between 35th & 15th. it also removed a rush hour driving lane each direction and replaced it with a center turn lane, which is about as useful as tits on a hog.

now traffic fucking crawls down the street at rush hour, and why? because the neighborhood & SDOT overreacted to a terrible tragedy that had nothing to do with regular commuters.

it was a chronic alcoholic, wasted to the gills at 4:30 in the afternoon, driving in direct violation of a court order to put an ignition interlock on his vehicle.

yes, something needed to change, and that was providing funding for enforcement of ignition interlock orders, not collectively punishing drivers who had nothing to do with it.

and the bike lanes? have you been on 75th? it's fucking STEEP son. bike traffic goes N-S, not E-W.
15
Does it really say "Wake Up AMERICA"?!! That's a bit of a stretch.
16
As for Westlake, Kaushik notes that "Ed's said publicly he's not opposed to the Westlake" bike lanes. So, there you go.

so there ya go, Dom, let's make up a column a non-issue because, umm , your bear is going to get his butt kicked...
17

So much fun to watch Libs get trapped inside their own agenda.
18
@15, it always says that. Usually there's a Snowden/NSA message after.

You can easily ride a bike up Dexter. Seattle can't spend a ton of money on Mercer, and then take cars off Westlake. Actual community would be expanding rail for people outside of downtown. The Stranger is just bending over backward to return the favor of McGinn attacking the Seattle Weekly, and should be transparent about that.
19
@13: Murray's not a Republican, but he's a dolt. He's going to be a terrible mayor, so he'll probably win three terms.
20
Fuck Murray...vote for McGinn.
21
@15 That sign has said "WAKE UP AMERICA" for years (here it is during the Deepwater Horizon spill: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rustblue/47…). He just changes out the message under it depending on what's up. Here's an anti-Bush one: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/21/251598… and a much funnier anti-Bush one: http://www.mackron.com/random/wakeup_fin…
22
the auto-loading daily show clip is EXTREMELY ANNOYING!
23
@3 15% less cars on the road should make the other 85% pretty happy. Unless they're also stupid.
24
Oh dom...you're such a silly girl
26
That sign always says "Wake up America" followed by various topics, usually simplistic bullshit.

Fuck Westlake parking.
27
@10's link got a little corrupted.

Should be: http://www.thestranger.com/binary/f7cf/n…
28
Two things I think are hilarious: 1) The Stranger thinks running against bike lanes is a losing strategy, and 2) you cite the totally unbiased good people at Seattle Bike Blog (!) to back up a pro argument for Seattle bikes. I love you guys, but your heads are outrageously far up your asses here.
29
@14, even better is that they did a horrible job of removing the old striping so when you're driving into the sun you see a crazy patchwork of "shiny areas" ahead. Seattle must use absolutely no reflective color beads in their lane stripe paint.

That's Mayor Mike though, never afraid to try to turn a tragedy into something his personal agenda wants (be it gun sticker programs and buybacks, criminals defacing public property with guerrilla bike lanes on Cherry).

My circle is filled in next to Ed Murray.
30
Ah, but Captain..the superior mahhn rides his bicycle on grass and gravel, not on...paved roadway...built for schoolchildren!

http://tomwhahappen.files.wordpress.com/…

31
@14 People always drove like maniacs on that stretch of 75th. It doesn't surprise me that bike lanes are awkward, but it was a goddam 4 lane freeway in front of a middle school in a residential area. I hated what they did at first, but came to see it as a reasonable approach to the problem of traffic at that site.
32
LOL!! I'm expecting Dominic to start calling Murray a Log Cabin Republican by the end of next week. Hell, he may even claim he's more dangerous than Bush.

The Stranger's coverage has always been slanted but the current crop of writers are so less talented than even Josh or Erica at this point...it's kinda sad to see really.
33
And BTW, I'd like to point out that the bike lanes on 75th were put in AFTER people were killed, not before.

Not sure how that shows preventive leadership on the part of McGinn but there you go. Oh, and the bike lanes were put in a couple of months before an election.

There's a reason McGinn is going to lose worse than Mark fucking Sidran in two weeks. Yeah, Seattle hates McGinn more than Sidran. I'd like to see Dominic explain that reality
34
@33 I have no problem incorporating bike lanes into the safety measures taken with the traffic flow on 75th. First of all, next to noone was using that strip of 75th for parking anyway. Second, people could hit that the top of that hill at 50 and suddenly barrel into view in front of the middles school - same on the other side of the rise and in both directions. I think what they did there was a pretty creative response to at least try to do something constructive given that the Seattle City Council and the mayor couldn't hang people on their 3rd DUI conviction.

Given how controversial bike lanes are, I'm impressed McGinn has stuck to it. Murray, when has he ever risked anything. Finger to the wind all the way, but I guess that what Seattle likes. I foresee three terms!
35
Little editing: Given how controversial bike lanes are, I'm impressed McGinn has stuck to it. Murray? When has he ever risked anything? Finger to the wind all the way, but I guess that is what Seattle likes. I foresee three terms!
36
Ha! I used to go past that sign on the 17 bus all the time. Back then it was always something about W and the war in Iraq.
37
Way to play on worst case scenario paranoia! Even if all the cyclists in the city vote for McGinn, its not enough to sway the vote. McGinn has done such a polarizing job at mayor, that anyone is better than him right now.

38
Even though I moved to Kent in August, McGinn still wants my vote. Wife wasn't too thrilled being labeled as Ms.

http://i.imgur.com/2s9JhIi.jpg

I was a tad miffed by getting this mailer as I never filled out a mail forwarding form since all my bills are emailed to me.
39
@ 21, thanks for the links.

@ 38, what's wrong with your wife?
40
Pardon me, I phrased that very insensitively. I mean to ask why your wife is offended at the unassuming prefix "Ms." Is she old fashioned?
41
@ 38, what's wrong with your wife?

Er, she makes bad choices?
42
Everyone keeps talking about style and personality with Mayor McGinn but no one can point out anything specific about him. They just don't like him.

-- the Stranger's editorial review board

This has nothing to do with bike lanes. It has to do with progress. Murray supports the bike lanes but resists the temptation to impose them on neighborhoods willy-nilly without including or listening to all the relevant stake-holders.

Let's assume Broadway needed a cycle track and less parking. T businesses that rely upon Broadway as a major arterial and source of transient parking feel rightfully shunned by the Mayor McGinn.

My Way or No Way McGinn won't lose because his ideas suck. He'll lose because he doesn't believe anyone besides him should be allowed to add input on projects. He doesn't want to be mayor, he wants to be Seattle's Only Sensible Dictator.

This, not some spoiled city council, is why people bring up style when they talk about McGinn. He's a know-it-all, lying short-tempered little prick.
43
@12 Seattle's own Sightline Institute has just finished a series of posts which details the high cost of parking -- that cost almost always being passed on to those who don't benefit from it. I.e. the larger community.

The post are long, but they are backed up with good data and Sightline's usual sharp analysis.
44
WAKE UP AMERICA!

Turns out the Westlake "WAKE UP AMERICA!" sign guy is totally for the status quo when a change may have an impact on him.

Hypocrites in America, whoa-oh.
45
@12 Seattle's own Sightline Institute has just finished a series of posts which details the high cost of parking -- that cost almost always being passed on to those who don't benefit from it. I.e. the larger community.

The post are long, but they are backed up with good data and Sightline's usual sharp analysis.

(sorry for repeat post, now registered user so this actually shows up)
46
@12 Seattle's own Sightline Institute has just finished a series of posts which details the high cost of parking -- that cost almost always being passed on to those who don't benefit from it. I.e. the larger community.

http://daily.sightline.org/blog_series/p…

The post are long, but they are backed up with good data and Sightline's usual sharp analysis.

(sorry for repeat post, now registered user so this actually shows up and with link included)
47
@31, 34: and now it has created mile long rolling backups through a school zone in a residential neighborhood twice every weekday. i've seen a grand total of 3 bikes in those lanes since the re-striping. i've never seen a car use the center turn lane. parents now block the only westbound driving lane to let their precious pumpkins hop out of the car.

people can drive like maniacs anywhere they want anytime. the speed limit is 20 in front of the jr. high, so virtually no one did. one drunk did once, with horrific results. one drunk could tomorrow, too. a drunk could get to 50 in the turn lane.

there is nothing inherently wrong with 4-lane arterials that alternate parking sides. the city is full of them. many cities are full of them. this city's response was hasty and poorly designed. which will be apparent after tomorrow's husky game.

48
@47, "i've never seen a car use the center turn lane."

Maybe you should spend more than 3 minutes on the street before calling it a study. I use that turn lane all the time, and I'm beyond ecstatic they repaved that street. Approaching 15th NE on 75th from both directions is dangerous. That's where the one god damn car would be parked, 50 feet from the unprotected left turn which would force a mass migration of cars to move from left to right after being pinched. At least now you can turn safely on such a steep street.

Yes, driving by a school during school hours is slow, that's part of safety. Removing bike lanes so you can speed by a school during school hours is non starter.
49
@40. Nothing wrong, its probably a mistake on McGinns staff. But its odd to get mailers in Kent, for an election in Seattle. I guess if you live in Seattle for most of the year, you still get to vote in that election.
50
It's the Seattle process. We lurch forward and then elect someone who promises to undo everything. And then later we're all like, where are those bike lanes we were promised?
51
@10 what was that link supposed to go to?
52
@51, see @27, where rob! corrected the link. It's an excellent chart.
53
@6 @12 @Bike Lane Proponents

The issue isn't do bike lanes contribute to healthier city over all. Maybe they do? In many cities they do. But will they here? With our climate and terrain?

Eh. I walk to work. So it's irrelevant to me, personally.

The issue is will constantly harping about bike lanes re-elect McGinn?

I doubt it.

All this bike lane bullshit is superficial pandering — not to the electorate — but to a tiny sliver of the Stranger's 20 something demographic. A demographic that doesn't reliably vote in local elections and doesn't have any money. If The Stranger is banking that it will galvanize this demographic enough to make difference in the election the polls don't reflect that.

And as for the issue itself? Seattle is broke. We're just recovering from a down economy. We have serious problems to fix in this city like a growing and near permanent impoverished undereducated class of people that are in dire need of underfunded city services. Bike lanes are a yuppie extravagance in comparison. Bike lanes won't elect mayors.

I'm skeptical commuter biking in Seattle is ever going to grow much beyond the niche it is now and frankly that money is better spent on mass transit that can appeal to everybody. The reason biking has grown as it has is more to do with the poor economy and the lack of better mass transportation options.

54
P.S. Publicola reports this morning that Cascade Bicycle Club just hired Washington Bus cofounder Thomas Goldstein to be the club's new advocacy director.

Goldstein's a very strong Murray supporter, who " helped start the pro-Murray People for Ed Murray independent expenditure group and appeared in their ad."
http://www.seattlemet.com/news-and-profi…
56
@53 what a contradicting post. First, you state that bike lanes are only for yuppies and then at the end you state that it's only grown because of a poor economy implying that people that can't afford to drive to work are using them.
57
@56 It's not contradictory.

Bike lanes are perceived as an extravagance in comparison to more dire poverty issues. This is because before the recession most urban bike commuters in the Northwest certainly were overwhelmingly white young urban professionals. I'm not sure how much percentage-wise that has changed. But this perception, accurate or not, still persists.

The recent growth commuter biking (if indeed it has grown as much as some claim) also has to do with people not driving for all sorts of reasons, including not being unable to get car loans (which used to be much easier to obtain before the 2008 crash). A percentage of that has been in younger people effected by the recession. But bike commuters are STILL largely white college educated. So demographically not poor people.

So Yeah. For lack of better word: commuter bikers still look a lot like YUPPIES.

On a personal note I commuted on a bike in Seattle 22 miles every god damn day for five years. I was bike yuppie. You know what? It sucked.

The lack of bike lanes was only one small part of why it sucked. It sucked mostly because of the rain, the dark, and because of the hills. My experiences are not some fringe experience.

More young people are wisely opting out of car ownership in general. However, I doubt very much that many of them would rather utilize a bike to commute in rainy, hilly, Seattle over say good rail transit.

This idea that Seattle will be an Amsterdam bike utopia as promoted by Stranger writers is delusional. The money is not there. The bike culture is not there. Voters know this. And making bike lanes a major reason to elect one mayor over an other is a stupid platform.
58
What @1 @2 @9 and @20 said.

Frack taxpayer-subsidized car parking
59
Mike McGinn, friend of the machete wielding vigilante bicyclist. Obviously they need a bike lane.
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/P…

Shortly after 5 p.m., the man was driving home when he pulled behind Briganti, who was riding in the middle of the residential street.

Speaking with King County investigators, the man said he came alongside Briganti and suggested he ride on the right side of the road. According to the man’s account, he was concerned Briganti might be struck by a passing car; the sun’s position made it difficult to see Briganti.

Irate, Briganti cursed at the man, according to charging papers. The driver pulled past Briganti, drove a short distance and stopped at his home.

Writing the court, a King County detective said Briganti stopped at the man’s van and drew a machete that had been strapped to the frame of his bicycle. Briganti then swung it at the man, the detective continued, narrowly missing him.
60
@3: You mean the people who live in the burbs and don't vote for Seattle's Mayor? Good for them.
61
Is this the most liberal city in the whole USA? Why are there no conservative or at least republican candidates? Sometimes this city embarrasses me - almost as much as O'bozo.
62
Fuck bike lanes they do not pay the street taxes they are intrusive and dont obey any of the street laws so fuck bikers

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