By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
If you have something to say about the draft Seattle Transportation Plan, you have one more week to say it – October 23 is the deadline.
One West Seattle man is not only commenting – he’s proposing a neighborhood transportation transformation as his feedback, and he’s inviting you to travel along.
Maybe you’ve seen the flyers Jack Conness has posted in Highland Park and South Delridge, pointing you to his Highland Park Public Transformation Plan website:
After a reader saw one of Jack’s flyers and told us about it, we contacted Jack to find out more, and sat down with him for an early-morning chat at Fresh Flours Bakery in South Delridge. Jack is a relatively new arrival – two years ago – to south Highland Park, a former Californian who is originally from “90 miles west of Chicago.”
While he landed here with the thought that it might be a stepping stone to another area of Seattle, he says he’s “fallen in love with this neighborhood” and that’s why he is proposing a plan to make it safer. “I thought I could put something out there that might sway decisionmakers (and) instead of just submitting a comment myself, I could submit a comment with lots of people.” He also admits he’s a “bit weird and wonky” at heart.
His experience of getting around started with arriving here as a UW graduate student – during the West Seattle Bridge closure – and having to get to UW. That put him in the public transportation system, taking the bus to light rail to get to school. (He’s enamored with how Seattle is expanding its light-rail system, even knowing that’s more because the region is trying to catch up, than leaping ahead.)
He works in climate-change policy, so he’s interested in that aspect of transportation too, aware that to get people onto buses and rail they have to be more safe and available.
But right outside our doors, being able to walk and bike safely in neighborhoods is the first step (literally). So he’s outlined some ideas.
He lives near 14th and Roxbury, and crosses the latter “all the time” to get to the “incredible food and nightlife options” in White Center. “It’s a nightmare” and was even more so when the bridge closure made Roxbury another major detour route, leaving drivers “sitting on the crosswalk in their vehicles.” Another street that factors into his plan, SW Henderson, for which he proposes reconfiguration:
“It splits north and south Highland Park and feels like a freeway – built for speed.” No place to truly safely cross between 9th and 16th, he says, but families in south Highland Park have to cross it to get to Highland Park Elementary on SW Trenton. No kids in his family yet, but he and his wife cross with their dog. “It’s dangerous. Our neighbors have kids – not a fun trek to make. So how do we make it safer and friendlier” for everyone to cross? He also has ideas for Thistle, 16th, Roxbury, and 10th, with some raised crosswalks in the mix too.
Getting to Westcrest Park is another challenge. “It’s a great park but there’s no safe way to get there unless you’re driving.” And to those who are skeptical because they’re not seeing many people walking or biking now, Jack offers a line from a movie about professional baseball (in which he worked): “If you build it, they will come.” And that means more chances to interact with your neighbors.
He started getting the word out via posters because he figured people already walking and biking would be those most interested in his ideas. They had been barely up a week by the time we talked on Friday, and he’d already received almost 50 signatures. The first one, he recalled, “was an incredible feeling – somebody else feels the way I do.” He’s also already met with some interested residents who are “trying to find ways to get involved … I didn’t expect this outcome so quickly, I thought I was the only weird person out there.”
Jack has also talked with people who have long been involved and heard about “the battles they’ve had to fight.” He hopes he can add new energy to the fight. He is also encouraged by the new leadership in SDOT – this is the first year for director Greg Spotts – “I’ve been following what they’re up to … (things) can’t change overnight but I’m very much excited and motivated, so that’s part of why I wanted to get involved.” He’s requested one of the neighborhood walking tours Spotts has promised to attend.
But right now, he wants to find out who else is interested in signing on to his plan before he sends it to the city for consideration before the draft Seattle Transportation Plan becomes the official Seattle Transportation Plan. That won’t be the end of his efforts, though, but just the beginning. “The intent is, low-cost, low-barrier moves that can be made. This is step one of many more.”
We ask, if just one part of your plan can become reality for starters, what would it be? SW Henderson, Jack replies, seeing it as a “simple fix” with stop signs and bicycle infrastructure.
His plan also suggests a bike path araund Highland Park Elementary and the park next to it – “imagine if you could safely send your kid out on that bike path … It’s an incredible community that’s continuing to grow (and) invite more people in.”
And the people, he believes, is who should take precedence on the streets – it’s not good enough, in his view, to have “greenways” which are supposed to be shared streets where “you have to trust drivers” so the signage confers “a false sense of security.” Other halfway measures aren’t enough, either: “Crosswalks with a flag are a policy failure.”
You can see Jack’s full proposal here. Here’s where you can sign on, if you support it. (Or if you want to submit your own comment on the draft Seattle Transportation Plan, you can go here.) Wherever his ideas go, he’s optimistic: “The future is bright.”
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