That video is from our chat with Abby Suplizio, who leads the West Seattle chapter of CoolMom — the group that got first word of the September 7th Alki “Car-Free Day” (as reported here last Friday). We talked about their potential ideas for the big day, right after it was officially announced today at a beachfront news conference along Alki. Our first report from this morning has full details, including a map of the Harbor/California Way-to-Alki/63rd closure zone (direct map link here). Suplizio’s group members are not the only ones now brainstorming plans for ways to make the six-hour event (noon-6 pm) special — so are Coastal owners Christy Pudduck and Sarah Steere; at the news conference, Steere said they’re hoping not only to see new customers, but to entice West Seattle locals to really come enjoy the beach area:
Coastal, in fact, had a sandbox event out front of its Alki store back on May 31st to celebrate the 5th anniversary of their business (WSB photos here). So what about the operational specifics of the fact that that the September 7th “Car-Free Day” will not be entirely “car-free” along Harbor/Alki? Just ahead, what SDOT director Grace Crunican — who, like the mayor, lives in West Seattle — told us, plus a city request for help:
During the event noon-6 pm on Sept. 7, the interior lane – curb-side on what’s normally the eastbound direction – will be reserved for the Water Taxi shuttle and for Alki residents who can’t get to/from home any other way. We asked Crunican exactly how it would be blocked off:
She echoed the “this is an experiment” point during another part of the news conference, saying the results of the three car-free days – besides Alki on September 7th, it’ll happen on Capitol Hill 8/24 and in Rainier Valley 8/31 (details here) – will be reviewed before decisions are made about next year. Meantime, checking the city website, we discovered a request for volunteer help “to make sure the Water Taxi shuttle can safely move along Alki” that day — find out more here.
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