4 Replies to "West Seattle Friday: Free jazz, free hike, sidewalk sale, more ..."

• no to 22 route change March 26, 2010 (9:07 am)

  I am strongly against the route change. Below are some reasons why. Please fill out the online survey. It is the only chance we have of stopping this waste of taxpayer money.
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  1) Proximity to the community. The current bus route (along 41st) minimizes walking distance to the bus for most residents of Gatewood Hill. Moving route 22 west to the western fringe of the block of homes that stretch from Northrop to 35th would increase the average walk time from home to the nearest bus route.
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  2) Bus travel time. Especially during rush hour, the stop sign at California and Thistle can create a backup that stretches up past the Rose intersection, and also up along Thistle. While reducing turns may save time in theory, a consideration of traffic backups at California and Thistle reveals that the California Ave route would be much slower.
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  3) Car travel time and safety. Buses will not be able to pull completely out of the traffic lane when they pull into bus stops because California Ave is very narrow at its southern end. This will a) increase travel times for cars as they have to wait for buses to finish loading, or b) decrease safety as the cars go into the opposing traffic lane to get around the bus.
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  4) Intersection safety. A Metro reason for moving the bus line to California Ave is to eliminate blind intersections along 41st. But traffic along 41st has right-of-way (intersecting traffic is stopped by stop signs). Cross-traffic that intersects 41st is almost non-existent.
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  5) Passenger safety. All of Gatewood Hill will have to cross the very busy California Ave SW in order to access the bus. Because of heavy traffic and speeding cars, this will decrease passenger safety. There are no lights, stop signs, or crosswalks along the south stretch of California Ave SW.
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  6) Parking spaces will be replaced with bus stops. Homes along California Ave SW are less able to deal with lost parking because most of the homes have shared driveways, thus off-street parking is limited to one car. In comparison, most homes along 41st have off-street parking for two or more cars. Bus stops on 41st are in front of corner homes, so those homes have parking on the other “front” of their homes. Most of the west side of California Ave SW has no corner homes.
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  7) Money is tight and changing bus routes is expensive (new bus stops, removing old bus stops, etc). In this tight economic climate, shouldn’t we be focusing on actions that have clear benefits? I think changing the 22 bus route will make it worse.

• coffee March 26, 2010 (12:47 pm)

  Stopped in the new liqour store, it is nice! I was their first lotto ticket sale, maybe that will win me some money!

  • WSB March 26, 2010 (12:54 pm)

    They have lotto tickets? Do all liquor stores? I didn’t know that – we don’t routinely buy booze, would be just our luck to have a drink and then bam! the 5-alarm fire breaks out, requiring continuous coverage … P.S. Good luck with the drawing! – TR

• coffee March 27, 2010 (10:57 am)

  I believe all liqour stores have lotto. More revenue! Alternating drinking evenings?

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