Comments on: All those arguments about development? Here’s THE meeting to go to; plus, Q/A with mayor re: growth control

By: bolo

bolo — Tue, 08 Apr 2014 05:05:49 +0000

“think about this option: for now, rail from WS only has to go to georgetown. thence, LINK already goes downtown and to the airport. and, in my mind, that is the cheap and expedient solution. better pie-in-the-sky rail solutions involve junction-to-SEA/TAC and junction-to-downtown. but for now, just get us to georgetown.”

You know, I hadn’t thought about that option. Seems simple yet elegant. But where in Georgetown? Are you saying LINK stops in Georgetown?

By: redblack

redblack — Fri, 04 Apr 2014 03:47:56 +0000

wakeflood: but why?
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why pour another dime into fossil-fuel-relying buses – which rely on roads? roads are already beyond capacity and inadequately funded, and the only thing that adding transit to roads will do is add to congestion.
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to be fair, though, i’ll concede that BRT has the added benefit of adding frustrated passengers to congested roadways.
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like i’ve said many times, adding faster buses to beyond-capacity roadways will only get buses to gridlock faster.
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BRT would have merits if – and only if – there were two or more roadways from WS that could handle the dedication. but there’s only one road from WS to downtown that will handle buses, and that’s the jeanette williams memorial bridge. want to add to its capacity by restricting lanes further?
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enough is enough.
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the best solution is to create a new right-of-way that doesn’t allow fossil fuel-reliant transit.
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yes, it’s the most painful; yes, it’s the most expensive way; and, yes, it’s 30 years too late.
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so what are we waiting for? 2035? screw that. we can – and should – do better. not just for posterity, but for ourselves.
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think about this option: for now, rail from WS only has to go to georgetown. thence, LINK already goes downtown and to the airport. and, in my mind, that is the cheap and expedient solution. better pie-in-the-sky rail solutions involve junction-to-SEA/TAC and junction-to-downtown. but for now, just get us to georgetown.
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rail ROW over the duwamish is key for any EFFECTIVE transit solution.
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and frankly, i’m disappointed that a card-carrying lefty like you would so quickly concede to the status quo, and opt instead for the relatively cheap and ineffective expediency of BRT.
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i’ll take this to forums later, if time allows. feel free to start without me.

By: Mickymse

Mickymse — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 23:17:43 +0000

I would love to see the comments thread on an article detailing a proposal to build a 6-story parking garage in The Junction….

By: bolo

bolo — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 00:54:30 +0000

wscommuter is just being a realist here. I personally believe in miracles!

wakeflood, not bad, could work, agreed that we DO need park and ride but::::::::::::: how would you motivate the driving (and trucking) public to shut off a whole lane to them for that route? Plus, not everyone on the road commutes just WSDowntown.

By: wakeflood

wakeflood — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 22:55:05 +0000

Hey wscommuter, tell me why spending $40-$50M sometime in the next 5 yrs. to get a dedicated lane separated Bus Rapid Transit line from AK Jnctn to Downtown running double length buses with 5 minute headways DOESN’T address an interim solution?

You turn the lots behind Husky Deli into a 6 story pkg garage and you design an overpass to get you onto a new cantilevered dedicated lane that picks up by Delridge. You get something approaching rail capacity for a fraction of the cost and you’ll already have your park and ride for the underground station that you’ll have to have to make rail work in WS when it’s politically/economically tenable in 2035.

By: JVP

JVP — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 20:16:03 +0000

I agree wakeflood. Get light rail in planning and increase BRT in the mean time. Even on our current bus lanes, just an increase in bus service would do wonders.
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And clean up the buses. Too many people acting in sketchy or intimidating ways both on the bus and at the stops. Just aggressively enforce fare dodging and loud or drunk/high behavior and it’ll improve. See what they did in NYC. I think the sketch factor of our buses needs more attention and is keeping them from wider use. My wife won’t take the bus because of this, even though she rarely drives and hardly needs a car. It’s a shame.
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I’m not against the density or even zero parking apartments per se… but we need to have real solutions to transport in the works. We don’t right now.

By: wscommuter

wscommuter — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 18:14:41 +0000

I appreciate many of the thoughtful posts here. Personally, I would support light rail – a line that traveled north from Burien and went downtown to connect with the transit lines going north and east.

But in the real world, there is no political will to do this anytime soon. I wish I was wrong. Northlink and Eastlink are still in design/early construction phases. And the financial reality is that the cost of building a bridge over the Duwamish will add spectacularly to the cost of a Westlink route – making this even more challenging.

Not meaning to be doom and gloom – just dealing in reality. We’re not going to have light rail in W. Seattle for 20 years. So we have to look at what do we do between now and then. I wish I had a good answer.

By: wakeflood

wakeflood — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 15:35:39 +0000

Well, R/B, I’m in for rail but I’d sure like some REAL BRT in the ensuing 10-15 yrs. before we can get rail built. And we should be prepared for that spur to cost between $750M/$1.5B as the most effective grade separation in our tight ingress/egress corridor will be underground. Yes folks, if you want rail, you’re going to need another round of Bertha in WS. (They already did it in Capitol Hill and U-District.)

You could spend $40M to build a dedicated BRT lanes from the AK Junction to either the upper or lower bridge. Just sayin’… Anything else has less value add for the $ in my mind.

Like they say, the best time to plant a tree is 20yrs. ago…or today.

By: redblack

redblack — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 11:54:10 +0000

ray:
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Light rail is not the solution. Please, for the love of God, stop bringing that up.
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no.
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what’s your solution, then? more roads? more cars, more development, and less parking? more bus lanes? a second road bridge from WS? ooh! how about a deep bore tunnel?! pneumatic tubes, maybe? teleportation?
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seriously. continually pouring money into road work is the real productivity killer. how many hours are wasted idling in traffic?
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trains have the advantage of taking cars and busses off of the roads, and they have zero emissions.
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besides, if we do get light rail, no one is going to force you to ride it.

By: North Delridge Resident

North Delridge Resident — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 05:04:40 +0000

I would love to hear what people are doing about commuter parking in their neighborhood. It is happening in North Delridge, my best guess is eliminating the street parking on Delridge and Genesee is pushing these people to park in front of our homes all day every day. When I looked in to the RPZ process it didn’t address this kind of issue, where it is only impacting small areas (I think it said a 10 block area had to be affected for an RPZ to be considered?). At any rate, any suggestions the community has for getting the commuters to stop using our block as their own personal park and ride . . . I am all ears!

By: Community Member

Community Member — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 04:49:41 +0000

Thanks, Neighbor. I didn’t know that.
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Oh, and I agree 100% with Lindsey, and I’m surprised the referenced comment is still there.

By: Neighbor

Neighbor — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 03:44:49 +0000

Community Member – I’ve lived in neighborhoods where residents of certain apartment buildings were not allowed to be issued RPZ because the developer chose to not build sufficient parking and it was considered a choice to live there without a car. RZP was in this case, not allowed if your residence was not designated as RZP eligible. It’s also something done in the U District. But generally, such an agreement must be established during the design review process before the building is constructed so that the developer can weigh the costs and benefits of such a policy. It would at least be worth asking the Mayor about… see if he puts his money where his mouth is. Also, given that at least half a dozen people park from other neighborhoods park in front of my house daily to catch the bus, RPZ seems like a good option. Unfortunately, SDOT makes it incredibly difficult for individual residents, or even organized residents on one block, to pursue RZPs – they bury us in paperwork. Thus perhaps the Mayor could weigh in here if he actually represents us and have SDOT do something productive.

By: Community Member

Community Member — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 03:20:30 +0000

Neighbor – I’m pretty sure that in a RPZ, ALL residents get equal dibs, including residents in apartment buildings. The RPZ is designed to keep non-residents from using it as a park-and-ride, and to keep businesses such as movie theaters or restaurants from taking all the parking. In this area, the businesses are providing customer parking, so the only way a RPZ would apply would be to keep people from parking there while they catch a bus downtown.

By: Wendy

Wendy — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 03:07:25 +0000

Look’s more like Ballard everyday :D
When they are done, you should be able to find parking down by Arrow Head Gardens.

By: Neighbor

Neighbor — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 02:52:35 +0000

What about a Restricted Parking Zone (RPZ) like other neighborhoods in Seattle. It seems reasonable to pursue an option where residents get first dibs at parking, and where multi-family housing has limits on the number of RPZs issued to residents of that dwelling. So in this case, the city would only issue say 5 RPZs with proof of residency (via utility bills, etc) to this development and residents would be made aware of such an arrangement prior to moving in to the building. It’s not a perfect solution, but so is saying no to every development just because it might limit a public good–street parking (as opposed to say, parking in your own yard/driveway). The London Congestion Charge seems like a good option in theory, but in practice the implementation boundaries would have to take into consideration port activities. David appears to understand the necessity of incentive structures to deal with an issue that directly impacts many residents. RPZ seems like that would be a better option than paid parking and lining the pockets of Diamond. Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) makes RPZ applications very difficult for community members to organize, but perhaps through discussions with the Mayor and collective pressure, SDOT would initiate the process. Has anyone on this forum attempted to get RZP designations? How has that worked out? We could definitely benefit from it.