And if the price of gas hasn’t reduced your driving …

summeroff.jpg… the city is trying to do it with a new campaign called “Give Your Car the Summer Off.” (Official news release here.) One of the related webpages says the city will identify certain streets that can be closed to cars for a while at different times during the summer. Any street(s) in West Seattle where you think that would work?

31 Replies to "And if the price of gas hasn't reduced your driving ..."

  • austin May 21, 2008 (1:55 pm)

    I think this is an awesome idea. I’d like to see alki car-free for at least one nice summer day. Not in WS, but for a while I’ve wanted to see pioneer square closed to motor vehicles as well.

  • pam May 21, 2008 (3:08 pm)

    OH. My. God. Car free Alki? I am officially in love with commenter Austin. Oops! Did I say that out loud?

    We had a bit of a chat about the whole trip reduction thing and we were lamenting the lack of easily walkable shopping in Gatewood. We just got back from walking to the Westwood Village QFC – it’s easily 45 minutes each way. We walk to the Thriftway – that’s a mere 20 minutes but it’s uphill the whole way home. Okay with just bread and salad, a bit more work with weighty dairy products.

    Though our fondness for Bakery Nouveau treats means that the walking is, um, useful.

  • Bob Loblaw May 21, 2008 (3:09 pm)

    didn’t pike or pine used to be closed near Westlake? I thought that was a nice idea. And, as evidenced during festivals and such, the Junction can live without vehicle traffic.
    .
    Agree with Austin about Alki. I’d bike down there if it was closed one day.

  • Johnny Davies May 21, 2008 (3:17 pm)

    How about including motorcycles & scooters as alternative lower carbon footprint modes of transpo in this campaign?

    Smaller motorcycles & scooters sip on gas (I get 70mpg in my scooter) and reduce congestion on roadways. I’m a scooter commuter as much as I can – I’d rather leave the car at home.

    How about closing streets to cars & trucks, but opening them to pedestrians, bicycles & two wheeled powered vehicles?

  • JenV May 21, 2008 (3:42 pm)

    I would love to see the Junction closed to traffic, with trees planted down the middle…benches…a park-like setting..make it like an outdoor mall. Lots of bike racks. I am thinking like in Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. OOh, and an arcade! Tear down a set of condos and build a parking garage…light rail stops….ok, time to stop dreaming…

  • Venkat May 21, 2008 (4:00 pm)

    Bah – Seattle is bound to be a car-driven city.

    It’s not even worth the effort on their part.

    (grumpy non-public transit user)

  • OP May 21, 2008 (4:07 pm)

    I’d love to see all streets closed and re-routed down Mayor Nickels street. Then have him strapped to the hood of car like a 10-point buck and driven out of town to be dropped off at the nearest Walden Pond-esque mid-19th century-Fairyland with the rest of global warming alarmists and feel-good environmentalists.

  • JenV May 21, 2008 (4:08 pm)

    yeeeee-haw OP! You bring the tar, I’ll bring the feathers and a rail to ride him out of town on!

  • Fauntleroyfem May 21, 2008 (4:11 pm)

    Please…. close Fauntleroy!

  • JenV May 21, 2008 (4:14 pm)

    (in all fairness, I should point out that I am a feel-good environmentalist. I just don’t like Hizzoner…)

  • SusanG May 21, 2008 (4:25 pm)

    The occasional car-free day on Alki would be heavenly, although it would probably make California and Admiral into nightmares. But in practicality, it would certainly help if the bus routes here made more sense. I live near Duwamish Head, which is a transit dead zone: the blithering buses run in only one direction at a time, so that if you want to backtrack to 63rd and environs, you have to take an hour’s tour around West Seattle. You can get downtown from here in the morning and back in the afternoon, but not vica versa, and you can get to the Junction only before 4pm…etc. That’s absurd! If the city council would like to encourage less car use, it might help to create better transit routes.

    Also, as much as I’d adore a traffic-free minute on Alki at times other than between 2am and 5am…it’s not practical to make blocks on which people live into car-free malls, because the folks living there need to get in and out.

    I think to support car-free areas, our whole car culture has to change to include things like shuttles to centralized parking…which in long run might not actually do anything productive toward cutting car usage.

    It sounds like a great idea, but there is a domino effect of dependencies that have to be dealt with.

    And in response to another post…”global warming alarmists”? I don’t think the “global warming alarmists” are the ones living in Fairyland. Would that you were right and there is really nothing to worry about.

  • d-san May 21, 2008 (4:34 pm)

    I would say close California at the junction(s). Not getting run over (even in a crosswalk) = fun!But you know what’s not “fun” — the surrounding neighborhoods that would take the brunt of the traffic. I guess it’s not realistic.

  • barmargia May 21, 2008 (4:46 pm)

    If Alki were closed then people would end up parking all over the residential areas down there, I don’t live down there but wow that would be a freaking nightmare. Same thing with the junction, like d-san said. I think the closed pike pine area worked because there places to park. Especially since so many people in WS complain about people that aren’t them parking in front of their homes.

  • herongrrrl May 21, 2008 (4:52 pm)

    Amen, SusanG! I live in a bus “dead zone” too, and need to walk a mile to the next nearest bus route stop or a mile uphill to the nearest grocery store. I would LOVE to stop driving, for environmental as much as economic reasons. And don’t get me started on why I don’t bike…I tried, had too many near-death experiences with crappy drivers, and I value my life too much to do it now where there are no dedicated bike lanes.

  • austin May 21, 2008 (5:25 pm)

    We need a rickshaw fleet!

  • Scott B. May 21, 2008 (5:28 pm)

    Why go for small steps when closing streets (that are made for cars to drive on) to cars?

    Close I-5, I-90, and Hwy. 99 at the city limits. Don’t allow the car ferries to go to or from city docks. Don’t allow any city vehicles (including police cars) to drive anywhere within the city limits.

    Try that for a few days then see how green you feel.

  • austin May 21, 2008 (5:41 pm)

    Moderation in all things, Scott. Try to see the middle ground between a carless society and a society which produces limitless waste and pollution. That is what is being encouraged with this sort of initiative. Perhaps I am naive but I don’t see what is so polarizing about an attempt at eliciting positive changes in behavior.

  • JE May 21, 2008 (6:01 pm)

    I second the Junction as pedestrian mall, and closing Alki to all cars except those that live there–and better and more transit.

    I also second the second part of OP’s suggestion, but for JenV’s reasons. Despite his “green” image, Mayor Gridlock is our biggest stumbling block to real rapid transit in this city.

    OP and VenKat need to wake up and leave their gasoline-fume induced dreamlands.

  • WSB May 21, 2008 (6:26 pm)

    The Daily Weekly notes that the mayor drove to today’s announcement (and his spokesperson explains why):
    http://www.seattleweekly.com/news/blogs/dailyweekly/2008/05/nickels_drives_to_carfree_rall.php
    Never did get an explanation about why we saw his porch light on during Earth Hour. Although we admit, we didn’t ask for one.

  • barmargia May 21, 2008 (6:40 pm)

    Now I personally like driving, I don’t right now because I take the bus downtown to work, but I miss my car every time I’m standing there waiting for the bus that is 30 minutes late. But the reasons for the mayor not taking the bus, way to go…do as I say, not as I do…

  • AlkiResident May 21, 2008 (6:54 pm)

    Ahhhh, when is election …….I can’t wait to vote against Nickels. We need someone who sees reality.

  • JE May 21, 2008 (9:59 pm)

    On reflection, I feel a need to apologize for my flip comment to OP and VenKat. I hate it when people resort to ad-hominem arguments, and here I catch myself at it! Please accept my apology.

    I still disagree with them, however; they have provided no evidence to back up their assertions that those of us who take global warming seriously are “alarmists”. Those of us sounding the alarm are backed up by evidence elsewhere conservatively presented by the IPCC. If they wish to discount this evidence, they should present solid grounds for refuting it, rather than the ad-hominem “alarmist” epithet.

  • wsgirl May 21, 2008 (11:08 pm)

    I’d like to see the Junction closed to traffic as well as all of California Ave.

  • Denny May 22, 2008 (7:44 am)

    Easy to target hizzoner, but hard to pick a leader in City Council or elsewhere that will run successfully and do a better job.

    And does anyone remember the incompetence of Paul Schell?

  • CMP May 22, 2008 (8:20 am)

    I don’t get it…is this an honor system thing with pledging to take alternative transportation? If so, I’m totally lying about it to get discounts. I’m so sick of hearing about being green and carbon footprints, it’s just nauseating how everyone is jumping on the bandwagon like OP implied. My primary incentive for riding the bus or my bike is purely economic so I won’t blow money on gasoline, plain and simple.

    Also, what’s with these crazy ideas of closing off the Junction to cars? I can see closing off Lake Washington Blvd every now and then since cyclists have taken it over, but no other roads in Seattle seem to need it. We have enough problems with moronic pedestrians down on Alki so the last thing they need is more room to get in the way of people on wheels.

  • m May 22, 2008 (9:02 am)

    I’m sure glad my tax dollars are being put to good use on this stupid campaign. Why can’t this city focus on other more important problems, like education, health care, homelessness, mass transit, etc… Is there some nationwide contest going on for cities to see who can be the ‘greenest’ that the mayor is trying to win?

  • Frank May 22, 2008 (9:25 am)

    The city missed the chance to make a rapid bus route between WS, Ballard and all stops in between, when the monorail was shut down. Now I’m not talking about the trains here. What COULD have been done was instead of using the trams, cut them out and turn the elevated pathway for buses ONLY.
    One lane of traffic in each direction with the monorail stations as bus stops. That would have removed the buses from the surface streets and only made them stop at loading and unloading points. They would not be caught in the mess of traffic on the bridge or 99. The cost would have slashed because there would have only been a roadway and not all the infrastructure that is required to support a “train.”
    Think about it for a sec – the trip to downtown would be quick, the roads would move a bit faster, the bus lane on the bridge could be returned to full use, which would alleviate the ‘dance’ of cars at the Spokane/Delridge on ramps that are the main cause of back ups in the morning.
    There are ALOT of things that could be done to increase the flow of traffic in the city, and thereby decreasing the amount of time cars are on the road. Unfortunately there is the goal of “Social Engineering” by FORCING people OUT OF THEIR CARS by making the roads so congested and impassible that people will not have a choice.

  • flipjack May 22, 2008 (10:12 am)

    Close California Ave. in the junction to traffic for good. A nice Euro-style brick plaza would be so awesome there. FOr those of you who have never spent time in Europe, well, you might not get how friendly to humans and businesses this really is.
    While we’re at it, close Westlake Center to traffic again and do the same with Market street in Ballard, or at least Ballard ave in old town Ballard. They could use all those empty condo parking lots that they have on their hands and put them to good use.

  • kirida May 22, 2008 (10:14 am)

    I don’t know if a car-free Alki would work, but I could do without the loud, obnoxious cars with their Lamborghini doors winged up.

  • Admiral Janeway May 22, 2008 (6:04 pm)

    My friends from Vancouver B.C. are surprised that Seattle doesn’t have a version of Robson Street. A car free street would be a good start.

  • nunya May 22, 2008 (7:44 pm)

    I wouldn’t need my car if I did not have to pay my property taxes, B&O taxes, the customer charge on my utility bills, my car tabs, the sales tax on my natural gas bill, the tax on my cell phone, sales tax, etc, etc, etc……

Sorry, comment time is over.