TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: Friday alerts; West Marginal/Delridge Way protesters

(SCROLL DOWN for updates on protest near T-5)

(Four WS-relevant views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
6:39 AM: Good morning. We start the day with word that the entrance to the bridge on Delridge Way is or has been affected by anti-Shell protesters (thanks for the text). We had mentioned here earlier this week that “land blockades” were promised starting today; one subsequent update had said protesters would be gathering at Delridge Community Center Park this morning and heading toward Terminal 5 right about now. Per what we’re hearing on the scanner, police are with them. We’re on our way to find out more.

6:58 AM UPDATE: We’re on scene; about 30 protesters are blocking West Marginal on the north side of Spokane, the side that leads to Terminal 5, not in the eastbound direction.

This is NOT currently affecting travel unless you are T-5 bound. Note that you are likely to see/hear TV helicopters in the area as they get word of this.

(Also note, looking ahead, as we reported on Wednesday, a nighttime demonstration flotilla is planned off Don Armeni tonight.)

7:22 AM UPDATE: We’re continuing to monitor the rest of the commute, too, and it’s quiet so far. Meantime, the West Marginal protest on the north side of Spokane St. (east of Chelan Café) continues. Organizers had said this weekend is pivotal because the Shell vessels could leave for the Arctic as soon as next week. They also have protests scheduled Saturday and Monday.

7:47 AM: The five-way intersection there is important as a bicycle route to the low bridge.

Our crew confirms that bicycle riders are getting through just fine, too (photo added, above).

8:15 AM: The group is now heading BACK south onto Delridge; bicycle and motorcycle police are accompanying them to try to keep roads from being blocked. So if you’re heading toward the bridge via Delridge, you might consider waiting a bit.

8:43 AM: All clear now. Potential repeat this afternoon according to this Facebook event page.

4:01 PM: Protesters were planning to gather near the west end of the low bridge to strategize about possibly trying to blockade Terminal 5 before a shift that they say starts at 4:30 pm. Police on bicycles were spotted heading that way about an hour ago. We’ll have a separate story IF anything happens affecting general traffic. Otherwise, check back here.

GoBacktoWork June 5, 2015 (9:05 am)

How is it legal for them to block the flow of traffic during rush hour? I travel this way to work every day and this certainly slowed down my commute. Do these protesters not realize that actions like this that prevent normal, middle-of-the-road, people from just getting on with their day is really counterproductive to winning those people over to their side? The weekly grind is tough enough without haven’t to deal with this kind of BS. Effect change via the political and free market process, not by being a general annoyance to the masses…

Momof4 June 5, 2015 (9:39 am)

totally agree! really annoying….

ktrapp June 5, 2015 (10:11 am)

I caught the protest on the news just before leaving for work. As my normal route goes right through that intersection, at least I was able to take an alternate route to avoid it. Of course, by doing so, I used more gas. So, good work there protesters.

cj June 5, 2015 (10:40 am)

Blocking busy street not good. Bad idea protesters. I’m all for protesting Shell but blocking necessary traffic no. I noticed in another news article the kayaktivist are under legal attack now too. Don’t know if that has anything to do with it or not. At any rate Shell’s not supposed to be hear oil derrick is still there.

Interesting June 5, 2015 (10:59 am)

Being frustrated with not being able to get on with your day is absolutely understandable. However, that’s part of the point. The protesters aren’t just protesting Shell, they are trying to raise awareness of oil production/consumption and the effects on the planet. Part of the point is to get the “normal, middle-of-the-road, people” to also see that they are affected by the decisions made by Shell/Gov and other entities that regulate and control the oil industry. Life isn’t all about our day-to-day tasks and responsibilities, it’s also about our communities and our future as a species as a whole. Perhaps your irritation and annoyance could be a catalyst for understanding that maybe you should care a little more about the world in general and not just your daily commute.

ChefJoe June 5, 2015 (11:33 am)

Interesting idea to raise awareness by inconveniencing others.
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So, should those of us who think the I-35 project is misguided “raise awareness” of that by organizing a blockage of some of the lanes they want to eliminate ? Maybe toss several miles worth of cinderblocks off the back of a truck in the inside lanes ?

Anne June 5, 2015 (11:34 am)

Interesting– how do you – or those protesters presume to know how much anyone cares about our world in general?
Being annoyed at not being able to get to our job- school – doctors appointment- whatever- in no way translates into not caring about our fellow man our community our world.
For many however – it does translate into not caring one whit about what THEY have to say.

Lonnie June 5, 2015 (12:25 pm)

Civil disobedience has a long and successful history of effecting change. Yes, it may inconvenience you, and that is partly the point. Civil disobedience that inconveniences the public applies pressure to politicians to address the protests, and in so doing are forced to address the grievances of the protesters. Don’t forget that they are knowingly breaking the law and in so doing assume a huge amount of personal risk.

As a point of comparison, events at Safeco frequently cause far worse traffic problems than this protest did. How do you react when that happens?

Smitty June 5, 2015 (12:25 pm)

Not to mention people with medical emergencies or fire response.

Lord knows that Chris Christie was lambasted for (although since cleared) for slowing down traffic on the George Washington bridge. Heck, it’s all MSDNC talked about for months. How many people died as a result!

Wonder if that ever comes up when traffic is blocked because the “cause” is a righteous one?

JanS June 5, 2015 (12:28 pm)

as I read these comments, I am reminded that many of my fellow community members did not come of age in the late 60[s…. I was caught in the riots after MLK was killed. I lived during the protests of the late 60’s in Wash, DC. This morning’s protest?? Small time, if not important, to wake up some people. But, really, how late to work were you all? 15 minutes, 30? Oh, heaven forbid we should be a little inconvenienced. :(

Phil Mocek June 5, 2015 (12:28 pm)

ChefJoe: If you feel that strongly enough about an I-35 project to dedicate your time to protesting it, then please do go out and protest.

alkiobserver June 5, 2015 (12:37 pm)

All of this “protest” against the supplier of fossil fuels seems so utterly misguided. I would be far more impressed if these folks protested outside the Metro bus base. Shut down the county’s abomination of a bus system that demands massive amounts of fossil fuel to operate. Without demand, there will be no need to drill. I would rather see the energy go to attempting to force the city to get serious about real mass transit solutions. Shut down Metro instead. Buses are the past, trains are the future. Dow, the mayor and all the city’s imbecilic blowhards that hypocritically posture about expanding Metro bus service on one hand and then against their fuel for it on the other are just embarrassing.

WestofJunction June 5, 2015 (12:40 pm)

Interesting, maybe we are tired of the “holier than thou” crowd. You have a right to make yourself heard. You do not have the right to delay and disrupt others. You win no friends.

wscommuter June 5, 2015 (12:44 pm)

@interesting – what an arrogant, self-absorbed view … to think that it is okay to impose – yes, impose – your world view on others by deciding who can and can’t go about their own private business.
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This isn’t a hypothetical nuance … many of the truckers who cannot get though depend on completing their work to get paid – they are paid per load. So this act of protest is actually hurting real human beings.
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The kindest thing I can say is that you must be ignorant, notwithstanding your lofty faux-idealism. Because the alternative – that you and these protestors are okay with depriving blue-collar workers of actual income to indulge your political views means that you are scary crazy, and just as bad as the right wing nut jobs who say “drill, baby drill”.
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God save us from the zealots.

Jim June 5, 2015 (1:15 pm)

Actually life is all about day-to-day tasks and responsibilities. This entire Shell problem is caused by the daily decisions we as individuals make. Shell reacts to our choices. Grandstanding and demonizing abstractions only distracts people from that fact.

WSB June 5, 2015 (1:25 pm)

A little accuracy here as the discussion goes on:
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#1 – Yes, it was illegal to block a road, and police chose not to arrest anyone for that. However, again, the road they were blocking was not a busy commute road. Still illegal. Still inconvenienced somebody. But this was even less of an impact on traffic than the announced-days-in-advance protest a couple weeks ago, which blocked the low bridge in both directions. Probably the biggest impact this group (also about a tenth the size of the one from two weeks ago) had was when walking down Delridge to the 5-way intersection at 6:30 am, which is when somebody texted us (thank you). By the time we arrived a short time later, they were on the spur road. Again, illegal, but this is snowballing into a game of “telephone” as if it were a massive traffic jam. We were there for almost two hours, until they left, and it was not. Don’t know if they INTENDED to have more impact, but as we noted in the early going, especially on Twitter, police basically corraled them there.
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#2 – Regarding Metro fuel. From http://kingcounty.gov/elected/executive/constantine/News/release/2014/August/21_battery-buses.aspx “… two-thirds of its buses now all or partially powered by electricity …” I’m sure the rest of the fleet uses a lot of gas, but a lot less than the thousands of people riding them would be using unless they all walked and/or biked. (Or worked from home!).
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TR

dsa June 5, 2015 (1:18 pm)

The mayor supports this disobedience or those cops would not also be blocking traffic.

Jeff June 5, 2015 (1:32 pm)

“All or partially” is mealy mouthed nothingness. It’s like promises up financial gains “up to 30% or more!”

Editing: that’s harsher than I need to be, I’m actually a big user and supporter of Metro. But it truly is a meaningless statement. If he had said something more like “as you know x% of our fleet is exclusively electrically powered, and another y% are diesel electric hybrids, which are z% more efficient than purely diesel powered buses. With these measures we have cut fuel use by n% while increasing transit hours k%” That would be a real and meaningful statement, instead of something that belongs in a late night commercial for a weight loss miracle drug.

WSB June 5, 2015 (1:41 pm)

Sorry, I don’t have time to research further. Just seemed to me that attacking Metro for its fuel use was bizarre – almost every bus I see is CNG or hybrid. And that’s what “partially” would mean to me, like a Prius or something. No? If anyone has time to look up specific numbers of the Metro fleet breakdown, please do. Really just a matter of testing google terms but I gotta move on.
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(ADDED) Per edited-by-poster comment below, there’s a LOT of info here.
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http://metro.kingcounty.gov/am/reports/2014/metro-sustainability-plan-2014.pdf

dsa June 5, 2015 (2:25 pm)

CNG is a fossil fuel.

I. Ponder June 5, 2015 (2:35 pm)

Seems ENVIRONMENTALIST is a bad word to some people. Environmentalists have done so much good at great personal risk and no personal gain. Often their tactics seem foolish or incomprehensible, yet change has happened. Rivers that were once used as toxic waste dumps are now cleaner and continue to be cleaned. Think about efforts to clean up the Duwamish and Puget Sound. There was a time we dumped untreated sewage and allowed factories to spew toxic waste into our rivers. You have environmentalists to thank for curbing those practices. If you support cleaning the Duwamish in any way shape or form you are an environmentalist or at least support the cause of environmentalism.

Jim June 5, 2015 (2:54 pm)

The point of civil disobedience is not to cause everybody else to be inconvenienced. It is about breaking a law that you perceive to be unjust so that you either get your head knocked in (Ghandi) or thrown in jail (MLK). Then society is forced to address the issue of whether or not your punishment was warranted and therefore just (think Rosa Parks). That’s how change happens and that is why the cops need to arrest the protesters – otherwise they are just annoying.

GoBacktoWork June 5, 2015 (2:56 pm)

Lonnie: “Civil disobedience that inconveniences the public applies pressure to politicians to address the protests, and in so doing are forced to address the grievances of the protesters.”

If anything, it will prompt me to pressure politicians to enforce the laws that are on the books, not encourage them to do more grandstanding.

WSB: “However, again, the road they were blocking was not a busy commute road.”

I was there; it slowed traffic on adjacent roads, not just the road the protestors were on. Beyond that, what is your point? It impacted other’s commutes, period. It seems like you are interjecting your personal opinion on the subject rather than providing unbiased media reporting.

miws June 5, 2015 (2:56 pm)

One data point: Metro doesn’t have any CNG buses; just hybrid diesel-electric, pure electric trolley buses running on wire, and the pure diesel, which are being phased out over the next few years or so.

Mike

miws June 5, 2015 (3:02 pm)

Jeff, if you are this same “Jeff”, you seem to have a fondness for the phrase “mealy mouthed”:

https://westseattleblog.com/2013/10/west-seattle-development-3-morgan-junction-houses-proposed-to-make-way-for-apartments-rowhouses-more/#comment-1121084

https://westseattleblog.com/2015/05/followup-shell-oil-rig-polar-pioneer-now-on-its-way-here/#comment-1918804

Mike

WSB June 5, 2015 (3:06 pm)

Apologies, apparently it’s Sound Transit with the CNG. By the way, big line of police bikes just headed back toward scene of this morning’s demonstration; protesters may make good on their 4:30 pm shift change threat. If so, it’ll be a separate story, depending on how it affects traffic, or not.
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https://twitter.com/scruffydiver/status/606941415138992129

Jeff June 5, 2015 (3:28 pm)

Nope, just an odd coincidence Mike. I’m not either of those Jeffs, and I’ll say so knowing that if I were lying IP addresses would easily show it. While I won’t claim to be an always sunny kind of guy, I hope I’m at least a little more pleasant than those two :)

ChefJoe June 5, 2015 (3:47 pm)

Re: emissions of mass transit… I’m not sure what it is in Seattle where we’ve got a lot of mass transit use, but with the national average of bus use, bus-based mass transit is any more green than everyone driving, according to Eric Morris, assistant professor of city and regional planning at Clemson University (the lead author of that study about bicyclists being happier than car drivers and mass transit riders).

http://freakonomics.com/2012/11/07/can-mass-transit-save-the-environment-right-wing-or-left-wing-heres-a-post-everybody-can-hate/
“Still, even taking this into account, a bus produces more CO2 per passenger mile than the car for most trips.”

miws June 5, 2015 (4:55 pm)

Thanks, WSB.

I guess I haven’t been keeping up with Sound Transit goings on (don’t ride the 560 so much anymore—only the Link Light Rail occasionally), but was not aware (or forgot) that they are running some CNG.

Mike

miws June 5, 2015 (4:56 pm)

Sorry Jeff! :-)

Mike

Felix June 5, 2015 (5:01 pm)

I am so annoyed with all those protesters, they kept me up all night and then hey threw all the tea in the harbor, and now I’m tired and have to go to work and there is no tea to drink, how rude.
signed.
Grumpy Loyalist.

Smitty June 5, 2015 (5:58 pm)

Stretch.

crizal June 5, 2015 (8:11 pm)

Just so everyone is clear, where the protesters chose to set up their blockade actually blocked access to terminal 5 and 7. So the hard working, blue collar workers at terminal 7, which has nothing to do with Shell, were blocked from getting to work. Just like dropping concrete anchors in octupi habitat, no respect for the people/animals that live and work in the area. It was more import to get on TV than block the one terminal involved with Shell.

alkiobserver June 9, 2015 (2:10 pm)

From Page 6 of Metro’s sustainability plan…
Under “Energy efficiency and conservation”
Metro uses more energy than any other King County division, accounting for more than 50 percent of King County’s total energy use. Approximately 90
percent of Metro’s energy (primarily in the form of diesel fuel) is used to power buses, trolleys, commuter vans and other transit vehicles, while the remaining 10 percent is used for heating, lighting, and equipment at transit bases and
other facilities (see Figure 2).
Pretty compelling info about how huge of a consumer of fossil fuels Metro actual is. Just 10% electric and accounting for over 50% of King County’s total energy use.

Sorry, comment time is over.