At its October meeting, the Alki Community Council became the second neighborhood council in two nights to go on the record as officially supporting the West Seattle Transportation Coalition. And one mode of transportation was high on the list of the night’s other hot topics:
WEST SEATTLE WATER TAXI: Michelle Allison from King County Councilmember Joe McDermott‘s office visited by request of ACC leadership. She says the 2014 work plan for the Ferry District Board (which McDermott chairs) includes an analysis of the shuttle routes serving the Water Taxi to see if they can be improved and/or restructured in hopes of boosting WT ridership. “That’s something we’re really going to engage the community on … we need to know if we’re losing people because it’s not operating the way it should. What can we do to change it to have you guys use the Water Taxi?” They’ve done some analysis so far and note that people are using it on weekdays to get home FROM Seacrest, but not necessarily for getting TO Seacrest. 63rd/Alki and Admiral/California are hot spots for where people are getting off the shuttle, she notes.
They might ask for opinions on possible alternate routes that could better serve people trying to use the Water Taxi – look for questions like that, “what neighborhood do you live in and would you use the Water Taxi if the shuttle came there?” She also pointed out that the Water Taxi system is not part of Metro. And they also will look at the current “no charge” operation of the shuttle. “The board is really going to wrestle with that,” Allison said (the board is the County Council under another name).
Later, the group discussed formally letting their representatives know that they want Metro and the Water Taxi shuttle to work together.
Speaking of transportation:
WEST SEATTLE TRANSPORTATION COALITION: As was the case at the Morgan Community Association the previous night, the group sent a rep to ACC tonight. Interim WSTC board member Tod Rodman explained that potential Metro cuts and the future Viaduct-to-Tunnel transition are the two biggest issues WSTC is dealing with right now. They want to get everybody on the peninsula signed on, he stressed. “Come to our meetings if you can … show a unified face to the various people who run the transportation systems, and look at the West Seattle peninsula as an entity. … We’re not partisan; we just want to get some answers from the city and county.” WSTC is asking groups for support, ACC vice president Randie Stone said it sounded good to her because “West Seattle is unique and we need some special attention.”
11-UNIT ROWHOUSE PROJECT APPROVAL: One of the neighbors was at the meeting and a discussion ensued about its proposal (reported here earlier that night). Parking remains a concern; the neighbor talked about the process in which they engaged, and noting that the city only looked at “does it meet the code?” so, she said, “The problem might be in the code.” Could a group like Alki Community Council get behind pushing to change it, so that a site like this might be maxed out with fewer townhomes rather than a project like this?
LUNA GIRLS ON ALKI: Artist Lezlie Jane came to talk about the new site planned for her sculpture, with a public meeting coming up next Monday, as noted here. She brought photos of the new proposed site, and some ACC members agreed it’s even a better spot than the originally proposed spot at Alki Bathhouse. Jane says they will be set in a cobblestone base, and that the site strikes her as “elegant.” ACC voted to send a letter to the city declaring enthusiastic support for the proposed site.
The Alki Community Council meets on third Thursdays, 7 pm, at Alki UCC.
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