Admiral Neighborhood Association’s biggest question for City Councilmember Lisa Herbold

Transportation questions dominated Q&A with City Councilmember Lisa Herbold at this month’s Admiral Neighborhood Association meeting.

Top of the list – the Admiral area’s dearth of Metro service, compared to West Seattle’s other urban areas. More than one attendee wondered why residents aren’t seeing return on the additional city taxes they’re paying for transit service.

Herbold said the city decided to go along with the county’s spending guidelines when the city-county partnership began, so right now, Metro’s priorities are focused on adding services to busy routes, and there’s no discussion of what to do about underserved areas. She thinks better metrics are needed to identify who needs better service. One suggestion: Invite Metro to Admiral for an open house, which could be a step toward showing what the area needs.

As she’s done at other community meetings, she also talked about the Alki-and-vicinity community survey that showed major concern about vehicle-noise issues; SPD is due to send a report to the council in March that will pave the way for working on enforcement, or on changing the laws to better facilitate it. Enforcement of the existing cruising ordinance is in the spotlight too.

And as she told the Southwest District Council last week, Councilmember Herbold mentioned the possibility of a West Seattle town hall with new Mayor Jenny Durkan. She says she’s confident it will happen, so watch for updates.

Also at the ANA meeting (which was held Tuesday night at The Sanctuary at Admiral):

SUMMER CONCERTS AT HIAWATHA: Planning for this year’s series is about to begin; committee members are needed to help out. The first concert is set for July 19th.

MEETING SCHEDULE: ANA’s been talking for a long time about cutting back on the slate of monthly meetings, and is now looking at meeting every two months.

19 Replies to "Admiral Neighborhood Association's biggest question for City Councilmember Lisa Herbold"

  • dsa January 11, 2018 (1:30 am)

    Yup, bring rapid ride to  admiral so they can enjoy the gigantic building boom too.  The reason we heard their zoning didn’t change much is because of transit transportation.

    • seaopgal January 11, 2018 (8:45 am)

      Yes, Admiralites need to understand the steep price that the “other” urban areas are paying for “more” transit and be thankful that they’ve been spared (so far).

  • newnative January 11, 2018 (8:54 am)

    ” so right now, Metro’s priorities are focused on adding services to busy routes, and there’s no discussion of what to do about underserved areas. She thinks better metrics are needed to identify who needs better service.”

    This keeps happening. We are under-served so we seek alternatives, including traveling down to the Alaska junction and using those already “busy routes”. Thus, perpetuating the myth that we don’t need more services.  

    • Ride more buses January 11, 2018 (9:27 am)

      If the existing Admiral buses had lots of constant ridership they could justify expansion. It’s the same thing that burned the old #21 in Arbor Heights: those of us who needed it loved it, but the vast majority choose foolishly to not use it so it was cut. Put those Admiral buses to capacity in terms of ridership and you’ll get more service.

      • newnative January 11, 2018 (11:17 am)

        Have you been riding those Admiral buses lately? That is, when they’re not cancelled or so late that they arrive after the next bus?  I ride everyday Monday-Friday and I used to ride the 56 on the weekends way back.  They are always full nowadays, except for some Fridays. In the afternoon, there are a backlog of buses returning to West Seattle and distrust of the punctuality means that often people will get on the first WS-bound bus they can-even those buses not going directly to Admiral. The other day the afternoon 56 was cancelled without warning, which meant I waited half hour for the next 56 while 3 or 4 55’s and 3 (C)rapidrides went by. That is crazy for an express commuter route. 

        • Molly January 11, 2018 (11:47 am)

          One of my neighbors works for Metro and she told me that the problem with the 56/57s etc is that they may be full going TO downtown in the morning, they are empty on the ride from downtown coming back to WS, so they aren’t considered “full routes” or something like that. While it makes sense, I know that the 57 that is by us is always jam packed in the morning and on the way coming back to WS at night. They sometimes just cancel the bus in the morning and sending an email or tweet usually 40+ minutes after they’ve canceled it (thanks metro 🙄). 

          • newnative January 11, 2018 (2:47 pm)

            Molly, the reason they are not always full is because of the above stated reasons (not reliable, cancelled, back2back). I have reluctantly taken a 55 due to the unreliability of the 56/57s only for it to get stuck on Fauntleroy and/or behind another 55. I have been on a 55 that for whatever reason is so slow it gets passed by another 55. 

            Another problem about reliability is the lack of connection between OneBusAway and realtime information. Sometimes late buses display as already departed or they simply disappear. So, again you’re possibly boarding another WS-bound bus just to get away from the Belltown riffraff. 

            One of the solutions I have brought up is trading a few 55’s for a few more 56/57s.

        • Chris January 12, 2018 (11:05 am)

          That seems rather foolish to wait that long when so many other options to get to West Seattle passed you by. Why are people so afraid of a two-seat trip? Just transfer in the Junction…

      • Pip January 11, 2018 (11:19 am)

        The 56/57 are packed most mornings; not quite to the C-line sardine standard but getting hard to squeeze more on.

        One of the reason ridership isn’t booming further is metro keeps cancelling service on these runs, leaving folks with unreliable bus transport options in the morning; its no fun waiting for non-existent buses in the rain.

        It would be nice just to have Admiral area buses that could be relied on.

  • West Seattle Transportation Coalition January 11, 2018 (10:17 am)

    Previous commenters are probably right on the money… Increased service is being targeted currently towards neighborhoods seeing rapid growth and density increases. Additionally, service is being targeted towards overcrowded routes and areas where demand is consistent all day long and alternatives do not exist for many residents. A mostly high income neighborhood that historically showed demand for services simply to commute to and from work but not for most of the rest of the day isn’t likely to see much increased expenditures either.

    Folks are always welcome to stop by monthly meetings of the West Seattle Transportation Coalition to learn more, meet Metro reps when we have them out, and/or speak to us about how we might lobby for more service. One of our top legislative priorities is addressing connections between the West Seattle peninsula and Downtown. And it might be good to press for increased service as part of HALA proposals for the Admiral Urban Village

  • My two cents ... January 11, 2018 (11:33 am)

    She thinks better metrics are needed to identify who needs better service.”

    Thanks Councilmember Herbold for being so “action orientated”! (Note the sarcasm) … I’m sure this will involve a “study” followed by “analysis” which will lead to a “review” in order to move forward with a “workshop” that will identify the “options” for a “committee” to “recommend” a “proposal” that will … you get the idea.  All the meanwhile, Councilmember Herbold will boldly state how much is “being done” by her tireless hard work and effort.

    Once again, we see that the issues facing the majority of the representation of the district (i.e. taxpayers, families,  business owners, etc.) get a polite brush-off and promises to do more research. Wish we had representation that was more action-orientated.

    • Joe Szilagyi January 11, 2018 (12:28 pm)

      Lisa Herbold is only 1 of 9 Councilmembers, and unless you have 6 of 9 (to overrule possible Mayoral veto) no Councilmember can just unilaterally kick butt. It’s kind of the point of the system and a feature. 

      • My two cents ... January 11, 2018 (2:20 pm)

         … but Councilmember Herbold represents this specific community within Seattle. It seems to me that her M.O seems to be focused on paying lip service to the issues that impact the various livability issues that we care about, that impact us.  Tired of the “all talk – no action” approach.

    • KT January 11, 2018 (3:50 pm)

      “One suggestion: Invite Metro to Admiral for an open house, which could be a step toward showing what the area needs.”  Your point exactly I think “My Two Cents”, more talk.   I completely agree with your comment as to what appears to be the Councilmember’s lip service only to a lot of quality of life issues.

      • Larry Wymer January 11, 2018 (8:17 pm)

        KT – I will look into doing that.
        Larry Wymer – Admiral Neighborhood Association President

    • Jon Wright January 11, 2018 (3:54 pm)

      It sounds like your expectation is that Lisa makes a few phone calls and just like that, Admiral gets more bus service, Without hard data (How many people are likely to ride the bus? Where do they live? Where are they trying to go? When do they need to go?) I don’t see how it is reasonable to expect increased service. Vague anecdotes like “Everyone in Admiral wants better bus service!” are not always borne out by the facts.

  • Wes C. Addle January 11, 2018 (11:53 am)

    Herbold knows the Admiral busses are crowded as I often see her on these Sardine packed busses when I leave downtown.

  • MJ January 11, 2018 (5:30 pm)

    How much car tab fee for bus service is generated by Admiral residents and where is our added service?  The City needs to mandate that some minimum, say at least 50%, of the car tab revenue be used to enhance service in the area the money is raised.

    My bad its the City’s goal to ensure car tab revenue by not improving service in areas where the money is raised

  • Bill January 13, 2018 (5:29 am)

    Walk up the hill like we all do.

Sorry, comment time is over.