25 Replies to ""Summer Streets" on Alki this Sunday: The practical details"

• Cait May 26, 2009 (9:13 pm)

  This picture looked for about .5 seconds like the Seafair Pirates and the Moby Duck. Summer wishful thinking has set in officially…

• GC May 26, 2009 (10:27 pm)

  Oh god, this again?

  I hope the businesses have the sense to shut their doors for the duration, after last years debacle.

  Low to no business, and still paying full payrolls – sensible thing is to close for the day and give staff an unpaid holiday courtesy of the Mayor.

• slammy May 27, 2009 (6:02 am)

  This is so stupid. And it’s only one day anyway.

• Marge May 27, 2009 (8:32 am)

  I hope there won’t be as many police officers. I appreciate the police, but I think they have better things to do then watch cyclists, walkers, and skateboarders.

• Dennis May 27, 2009 (9:35 am)

  Without police how do we keep the motorized vehicles out? Q. What is the number one reason more people do not go to enjoy and patronize the businesses on Alki Beach? A. Lack of Parking!
  Solution: Provide a Water Taxi Shuttle Stop at the Spokane Street Park-N-Ride. Monitor the parking and when all available parking along Alki is taken a LOT FULL sign could be displayed at the exit of the W.S Bridge or entrance onto Harbor Ave and those still desiring to go to Alki Beach could park in the Park-N-Ride and be shuttled, delivered to the doorsteps of every business on Alki Beach without wondering if they are going to find parking or being stuck in a long line of traffic for a very long,long, time before they arrive to the beach.

• Ken May 27, 2009 (11:04 am)

  Marge, I don’t know you but I’m pretty sure you would be the first to complain if something happened to you and no police were around. If you are not breaking the law the SPD should be non issue to you. You only have to worry if you are trying to do something against the law. I’ll make it simple for you having a strong police presence keeps the criminals away… not sure if you noticed but we have a little issue with type of crowd that is trying to make Alki their hang out.

• tsunaminw May 27, 2009 (12:11 pm)

  Less police? Are you insane? get a life!

  Yes business was terrible after speaking with 4 business owner friends right here in the strip.

  The parking all along the strip could be opened up which is shown as a no parking zone now, but the condo owners at the point keep voting against it, thinking if they keep it no parking it will limit traffic, which never works ever.

  The perfect bike and pedestrian paths arent good enough that they need to ride and walk in the middle of the street all day, forcing homeowners who park on the street to drive somewhere else just to go home? That doesn’t really make sense considering the objective is curbing global warming(which is a bunch of crap anyway).

  Nickels and another one of his insane ideas pandering to the tin foil hat wearing patchouli crowd

• elliott May 27, 2009 (12:34 pm)

  Hey, I live in an Alki condo. And a day without amplified thug cars and Harley bikers wearing Nazi helmets and skull masks is alright by me. Hooray for the mayor.

• Sid May 27, 2009 (1:09 pm)

  I used to live in Alki. This would have been welcome relief to the horrible traffic, blasting car radios, unmuffled motorcycles, drag racing and the cruising. Imagine the peace on the beach, just the sound of people having fun, walking, running, blading and biking. I hope businesses see this as an opportunity, because frankly, I see no reason to return to Alki on any “normal” weekend, but I will be there on Sunday.

• Dennis May 27, 2009 (3:19 pm)

  Q. How do we get a handle on the crime, cruising and noise problems that seem to only occur at Alki on busy sunny days when there are many vistors going to Alki beach?
  A. Shut it down! Allow only emergency vehicles, local residents, delivery trucks and owners and employees of local businesses to enter the area. All others may enter via their own 2 feet, riding a bicycle or Water Taxi Shuttle. Non-residents can park at the Spokane St. Park-N-Ride when available parking at the beach is full.

  The city has an obligation to keep Alki & Harbor Avenues clear of traffic and moving freely to allow emergency vehicles to enter the area quickly if need be and not obstructed or hindered by long lines of traffic. The extra time it could take for an aid car to reach a stroke or heart attack victim on a busy weekend could be the difference between life or death or permanent brain damage.
  Businesses will also be better served with customers who are delivered to their doorsteps instead of going elsewhere to avoid waiting in long lines of traffic only to find no parking available when they finally do arrive.
  Residents have a right to be able to access their homes easily without feeling held hostage to leave or return to their homes by non-residents just hanging out!

• Save Our Beach May 27, 2009 (4:30 pm)

  This handful of comments is all? I was looking forward to more ideas about how to stop people from intruding on Alki residents’ private beach, road, parking, and commercial district. Oh well.

• West Seattle Resident May 27, 2009 (4:47 pm)

  What about West Seattle residents with disabilities? Last year there were exceptions for vehicle access and parking allowed for people with disabilities but it took some investigating to find out. I never did see anything publicized about it last year, and don’t see anything this year either.

  I use a car to get close to wherever it is I am going. I don’t have a wheelchair or scooter but do use a walker and/or cane. I cannot stand for more than a couple minutes so the bus doesn’t work for me generally.

  Metro transit as I recall doesn’t even serve Alki on the weekends, nor after 5pm on weekdays. So transit isn’t a viable option for most people who work during the workweek and want to come to Alki.

  Any serious attempt to restrict vehicle traffic on Alki — which I admit is a considerable detriment to visiting anymore — must include reasonable transit options.

  Alki is a jewel of the city but it has become a nightmare for most people to get to and enjoy.

• WSB May 27, 2009 (4:53 pm)

  WSR, I will ask the city folks who responded yesterday and will post as soon as I get info. Excellent question and shame on me for not asking it – TR

• WSB May 27, 2009 (5:33 pm)

  … and I got a fast reply:

  >>>People with disabilities can use the transit lane to travel in if needed. Those requiring parking should work with the police monitoring traffic to locate a spot that does not pose a safety issue.<<< Will also include this in a standalone update later, since I have some other miscellaneous information and whatnot to share

• High Point Dog Walker May 27, 2009 (5:38 pm)

  I coasted my bike downhill to this last year and yes, it was quiet. i also recall quite a few condo residents were still able to drive/ access. also, for those of you worried about the impact to business, hey, it was the first year, so wait for this to catch on.
  it was wonderful, having full use of the street and only the sound of bicycle bells to harken one’s presence. you can actually hear the crashing of the waves for once. niiiice.
  little disclosure: i didn’t plan this, promote it in any way just now. folks, you gotta try it.

• Amy May 27, 2009 (8:06 pm)

  It was so quiet and peaceful last year like really being “at the shore,” I’m disappointed that some of the businesses are having music and bands. Still looking forward to checking it out though.

• alki_2008 May 27, 2009 (8:41 pm)

  There’s a rather lively discussion about this issue in the forums, if anyone wants to jump in there: https://westseattleblog.com/blog/forum/topic.php?id=5132
  .
  Dennis – you have good ideas, but seems your solution would be too complicated and require too much organization by the city to be feasible. Plus, it would probably be complicated to infrequent visitors that don’t know “the system”.
  .
  I’ve already helped out plenty of folks that get off the water taxi at Seacrest and can’t determine from the posted signage how to get to Alki. The water taxi service could use some improvement to make it more useful for ‘visitors’, rather than just another commute option for residents.

• tsunaminw May 28, 2009 (1:05 am)

  “A. Shut it down! Allow only emergency vehicles, local residents, delivery trucks and owners and employees of local businesses to enter the area. All others may enter via their own 2 feet, riding a bicycle or Water Taxi Shuttle. Non-residents can park at the Spokane St. Park-N-Ride when available parking at the beach is full.

  The city has an obligation to keep Alki & Harbor Avenues clear of traffic and moving freely to allow emergency vehicles to enter the area quickly if need be and not obstructed or hindered by long lines of traffic. The extra time it could take for an aid car to reach a stroke or heart attack victim on a busy weekend could be the difference between life or death or permanent brain damage.
  Businesses will also be better served with customers who are delivered to their doorsteps instead of going elsewhere to avoid waiting in long lines of traffic only to find no parking available when they finally do arrive.
  Residents have a right to be able to access their homes easily without feeling held hostage to leave or return to their homes by non-residents just hanging out!”

  Parking can be found in the long no parking zones kept as they are by the condo owners around the point who dont want to share the beach.
  Your ideas are selfish and you obviously have never lived near a beach anywhere else but Seattle.
  The shuttles are helpful and the water taxi is great, but not enough. The businesses have half the radius of customers when on the water that a normal business does if you were to draw a circle around them assuming this would be the area they serve. They need every bit they can get.
  Aid cars can get through fairly easily even in traffic and many times I see them intentionally going a long route when going Admiral would circumvent the traffic.
  One thing that would help is making sure bicycles use the damn bike path we pay for instead of being in the street. But they dont like using the bike path because ignorant people want to walk in the bike path and refuse to move and get rude when you try and tell them to use the walking path. A problem that greenlake doesnt fight because it is enforced. Most of the police here sit in their cars with the engine idling rather than get out, meet people, walk the paths, see the issues, and even get to the areas where speeders gun it once they get past the place where cops predictably sit.
  You arent being held hostage by others who are here to enjoy the beach, lets not get melodramatic. Every tourist destination has the same mentality, despising the visitors yet needing what they bring in revenue so badly. Its self centered and silly.
  They have no obligation to keep it “clear of traffic” but they should work to keep it moving freely. Enforcing the anti cruising ordinance would help that, but not allowing anyone but homeowners business owners emergency and delivery? Wow, thats the most absurd thing I have seen on this blog yet, and that says alot.
  People who dont like to share the beach dont deserve to live here, and if they are that crotchety and grumpy about visitors then a quiet nursing home in the country might be in order.

• alki_2008 May 28, 2009 (1:26 am)

  Dennis – was your idea for EVERY day, or just special occasions (like car-free day)? Definitely doesn’t make sense for EVERY day.

• Dennis May 28, 2009 (9:43 am)

  My idea is for every day that the demand for parking exceeds the available parking spaces and traffic backs up and becomes a continuous line of congestion. Certainly this does not happen every day! It usually only happens on sunny weekend days. These long lines of congestion most certainly do hold the residents of Alki hostage in traffic that can sometimes take as much as 30 minutes to escape from and they can never escape from the street noise if they in their homes.
  Q. How is it good for the businesses on Alki if customers cannot get to them because they are stuck in long lines of traffic and when they do arrive they cannot find parking? Park in the Park-N-Ride, take the Water Taxi Shuttle, be delivered to the doorstep of the business that you desire to patronize, No Parking Required, it is a simple solution. Yes it is a cultural change that I am suggesting, a change that will require people get out of their cars and leave them in a Park-N-Ride and that won’t happen without alot of kicking and screaming here in America.
  The most important benefit of shutting down Alki when traffic volumes build because demand for the available parking is exceeded would be the increased safety and security that would be provided to this community. I don’t think the thugs and punks that come to the beach to play with their cap guns would be so inclined if they couldn’t thump their way to the beach in their thump-mobiles violating noise ordinances that our police do not enforce and will not enforce unless a citizen makes a complaint. This works very well for SPD because by the time a citizen can make a complaint the perp is gone!
  My idea is not a selfish idea. For the record I do not live on Alki. 18 years ago I lived there and the same problems occured then. I now reside in a quieter N.Admiral neighborhood. My idea is about making Alki a better place, a different place, a special place for everyone who lives or visits or works there to enjoy. Without all the noise and congestion that motorized traffic brings to the beach every sunny day!

• tsunaminw May 28, 2009 (10:02 am)

  phooey, you cant block people from coming to the beach. In every way this city doesn’t know how to run things efficiently and continues to think small and act too late. Half this strip is a no parking zone, open the damn areas up and let people come.

  You can travel and see many other cities run things better, and they don’t try silly things like this.
  The one thing you dont see if you go to other bigger better run areas is a beach that is closed to traffic.

  You go to Vegas at New years and see how well they run things, keep traffic flowing and clean things up immediately after an event, s fast you dont even notice. Many things contribute to this and could be done here, but we have a city and a bunch of old farts that think if we keep the roads narrow and crappy it will limit traffic and if we expand them, more people will drive cars”which is eeevvviiilll”, so we continue to have congestion.
  We have half the strip closed because of selfish residents who dont want the traffic, the result is?
  Traffic jams due to no parking.

  Why ignore a solution staring you in the face and bother talking about one that makes no damn sense?

• Dennis May 28, 2009 (12:03 pm)

  No one is being blocked from coming to the beach! Only motorized vehicles are being blocked from coming to the beach. More parking is not a solution it is a self-fulfilling problem, once the parking is full the traffic congestion problem returns. The problem is clearly that on any sunny day the Alki Beach community cannot accomodate the number of motorized vehicles that desire to travel on Harbor & Alki Avenues. The solution is to restrict the number of motorized vehicles that enter the area and encourage people to come to the beach via other modes of transportation.
  I have visited many cities at have permanent car-free zones in them. These areas are the most pleasant, desireable and peaceful districts in these cities. An upgrade if you will from the noise, stink, and congestion that plagues the areas where motorized vehicles are allowed.
  I am not suggesting that it is necessary or even possible for Alki to become a permanent car-free zone. I am suggesting that we consider improving the quality of life at Alki by restricting the number of motor-vehicles that are allowed to enter the area on any given day when demand exceeds the supply of parking and traffic begins to congest. And on occasion like this coming Sunday just for the pleasantry of it prohibiting all motorized vehicles from entering the area and encouraging people to come and enjoy the beach without their beloved motorized vehicle stinking and noising and congesting up the beach, but instead smelling the salt air, listening to the waves lap the shore and the seabirds songs and moving about freely without a care or concern of finding a parking place or crossing the street to enjoy a cold one at your favorite establishment on the beach. Cheers!

• West Seattle Resident May 29, 2009 (9:22 am)

  Thanks, Tracy, for checking on the disability access.

  As a lifelong Seattle resident, it disappoints me that the City routinely seems to forget the needs of its residents with disabilities in its anti-car zeal. I had hoped that this year they would have incorporated such information into their press releases and other community relations efforts. Sadly, that is not the case.

  It is as if the City staffers are unaware or oblivious to the needs of residents who are physically not capable of self-propelled transportation (i.e., walking or bicycling). How disappointing for a so-called liberal city.

  I am grateful to have WSB to rely upon for such information!

  On a more general note:

  Like many other West Seattle residents, I have long avoided Alki during the warm season because of the congestion and the noise, as well as the difficulties in finding parking once I finally get into the area.

  I’m not against closing the street to car traffic per se but have issues with the lack of coordinating planning that our City routinely displays. I agree with posters who have complained the many visitors will simply park in other neighborhoods rather than forgo their vehicles entirely.

  Increased shuttle buses and preferably increased transit would go a long way towards a realistic solution, not just for a one-day event but rather for an everyday real solution. Some allowances could be made both for disabled parking and for the parking needs of residents (perhaps through zone parking permits?)

  But again, any such efforts must be coupled with realistic improvements to transit if real change is to occur.

  And the police department DEFINITELY needs to start issuing noise violation tickets to the loud mobile boomboxes. It detracts from everyone’s enjoyment!

• West Seattle Resident May 29, 2009 (9:24 am)

  I should add that having to push to discover the disability access for this event makes me reluctant to take part. I can easily forsee having to argue with event officials given that the City has not chosen to publicize how people with disabilities can also enjoy the event.

• WSB May 29, 2009 (9:28 am)

  FWIW, the disability access info was on one of the pieces of collateral that was distributed – we posted it in a different story – so at least the neighborhood’s been papered.

Sorry, comment time is over.