@ Southwest District Council: Aligning for Avalon alternative

(Displays from recent Avalon project “open house,” starting with the current proposed alternatives for lane reconfiguration)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

With two days left to answer the SDOT survey about rechannelizing SW Avalon Way when it’s repaved in ~2019, local merchants and bicycling advocates are backing an alternative route for new bike lanes
– one that’s not currently part of SDOT’s proposals.

That was the major agenda item at last night’s Southwest District Council meeting.

AVALON RECHANNELIZATION: John Bennett and Angela Cough from the Luna Park Merchants Association first recapped the back story – as reported here two weeks ago – of being surprised to find out that what was announced as repaving was also going to include rechannelization.

SDOT contacted merchants to ask for a meeting at which they learned “they’re redesigning the whole street .. their plan was to take away a big chunk of parking on (the east side of) Avalon Way, which merchants rely on for customers.” Five years earlier, they had lost parking in the morning (for the 6-10 am bus lane). Now, 25 to 28 parking spots further south would be lost permanently. Cough, who owns Shack Coffee, explained that they’re also concerned about losing the center turn lane, which area businesses need for everything from deliveries to tows (Alki Auto Repair). The center turn lane also assists pedestrians, Cough pointed out, since there is no crosswalk in the area (the city removed one by her shop, then Java Bean, 10 years ago), and the rechannelization/repaving project so far doesn’t include one. And it’s used by Seattle Fire vehicles and other emergency personnel when there are incidents.

Cough noted that more housing is under construction further south/west along Avalon, some without parking, and they’re “seriously concerned about the ability of people to” live and do business in the area.

Bennett talked about the crash that injured a Java Bean barista there years ago. He says he often sees families with kids running across the street to get to the businesses.

“One of the things we started to discuss while standing there with the city,” Cough said, “was, what alternative routes might you have discussed” for bicycle routes in the area. She asked them if the previous projects elsewhere in the city had increased ridership at all.

SWDC member Pete Spalding, who lives on Pigeon Point, said many bicycle riders detour down Yancy from Avalon, to get to Delridge. And the Avalon contingent is indeed suggesting the city should consider improving that route instead. Bennett said Yancy should be the protected bike-lane route while the parking remains on Avalon.

Jodi Connolly from West Seattle Bike Connections then spoke. “From what Don (Brubeck of WSBC) and I communicated with (Bennett), we agree that there are times you need the protected bike lane, and it feels weird to pull away from that … we would agree that it would be important to have a dedicated, protected bike lane to Yancy to route people to the Delridge crossing there. … I agree that the people continuing through (on Avalon toward Harbor) would be traveling to Alki, or take the lane, if someone is comfortable with that.”

Cough said utilizing the sidewalk along Avalon, which “really isn’t utilized (northbound) beyond the bus stop,” was another proposal of theirs.

So to get SDOT to consider this, they need support from people filling out the Avalon repaving/rechannelization survey, which is open through tomorrow (Friday, June 9th). In the “comments” area (on the survey’s second page), they would like people to say they support SW Yancy bike lanes as an alternative, support retaining parking on SW Avalon, and also ending the current bus lane an hour earlier – at 9 am instead of 10 am – which they say is standard elsewhere at the city.

“This is super-important,” Bennett emphasized.

SWDC agreed to write a letter regarding the Avalon project saying that the desired outcome should retain the center turn lane and the parking on the east side of Avalon, while designing a better bike lane.

Also at the meeting:

CRIME UPDATE: Southwest Precinct Lt. Ron Smith provided an update for the SWDC coverage area (mostly western West Seattle). Robbery’s up 44 percent – 39 so far this year and more than half are “shoplifts gone bad,” explained Lt. Smith – if a shoplifter turns to force, such as a weapon or strong-arm tactics, it’s classified as robbery. Aggravated assault is up, 1 more than last year. Domestic violence is 1 fewer than last year. Arson is down 33 percent, 2 so far this year (3 to this point last year). Residential burglary is down 23 percent. Commercial burglary is down 19 percent. Larceny theft is up 35 percent – 405 incidents up from 300 – car prowls are down three percent overall, down 19 percent in all of West Seattle. Right now the North Admiral area and The Junction area are where they’re most concerned. Vehicle theft is down by 2 – 127 so far this year, 129 last year – up overall in the precinct jurisdiction. Stolen vehicles tend to be found full of stolen items; “we are not finding a significant amount of chop shops.” He addressed the “shots fired” issues – with 21 incidents throughout the city last two weeks, two of them are in West Seattle (for comparison, nine in Rainier Valley) – that means incidents confirmed by property damage and/or casings, without injury. Shots-fired incidents tend to be based on a regional gang rivalry, Lt. Smith said, as has been noted in other community briefings.

YOUR VOICE, YOUR CHOICE: The vote to choose which street/park projects will get funded is on – as reported here last weekend. At last night’s meeting, paper ballots were circulated. Some in attendance weren’t familiar with YVYC. The ensuing backstory discussion included the observation that the former process of vetting these proposed projects via district councils enabled more information to be available – because the community members who proposed the projects were present. Some in the room also noted that ironically many who showed up to participate in the “new” decisionmaking process to choose projects for voting turned out to be district-council members anyway. One person did a public-disclosure request for nomination-meeting attendance, “and the demographics were strikingly similar to district council meetings.” SWDC member Tamsen Spengler said that there were only nine participants at the meeting she attended. Many had questions about the projects on the ballot (here’s the official “guide” for the proposed projects in District 1, West Seattle/South Park).

PORT VISIT: Spokesperson Mick Shultz sat in on the meeting and said he was there in case anyone had questions about port issues such as truck traffic or Terminal 5. Nobody did, but they did ask to schedule him for a later meeting. (We did talk with him about those two ongoing issues after the meeting. No tenant for T-5 yet. Meantime, a separate update on truck traffic is in the works.)

The Southwest District Council meets first Wednesdays most months, 6:30 pm at the Senior Center/Sisson Building (4217 SW Oregon).

3 Replies to "@ Southwest District Council: Aligning for Avalon alternative"

  • Chris Stripinis June 8, 2017 (10:26 am)

    Tracy –  Your link to the survey says “Roxbury” in the text

    • WSB June 8, 2017 (10:35 am)

      Same time frame, different survey, linked to the right place, at least, fixed now, thanks.

  • adr June 9, 2017 (11:03 pm)

    Thanks for the update. I just submitted the survey indicating strong support for increased bike facilities on Avalon. It’s very dangerous as is.

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