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August 25, 2008 at 12:38 am #587874
DianeParticipantjust caught briefly on 5pm news
Capitol Hill car free day a wash out
police mostly had to divert drivers
they gave up early and took away barriers
worst part was many cars were towed
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at least Alki has few weeks to prepare after trials in other neighborhoods
August 25, 2008 at 2:27 am #635357
slysideMemberIt’s going to be an ABSOLUTE DISASTER!
August 25, 2008 at 2:47 am #635358
RSMemberOh please. People like to make a crisis situation out of everything. Efforts at this scale are usually a bit of mess the first time they are tried. It really shouldn’t take long to work out the kinks, especially after a few “trials” like Diane said. This car-free stuff works in a lot of other places and it can work here. For example, in Boston, a very large section of a very major arterial road along the river is closed EVERY SUNDAY from Memorial Day to Labor day. People are used to it and have learned to deal with it. Families with stollers, runners, roller bladers, bikers, casual walkers, etc. all enjoy the big open road for one day of the week without having to fight cars. It’s not the end of the world, it can work if people just give it a chance.
August 25, 2008 at 3:20 am #635359
slysideMemberHello! This isn’t Boston!
August 25, 2008 at 3:26 am #635360
RSMemberOh, ya think? My point is that it can be done and has been done in other large cities and people should give it a chance here.
August 25, 2008 at 3:40 am #635361
AnonymousInactiveWhat exactly is accomplished by closing a street off, once or even every week? It does little if nothing to discourage people from driving. It seems it will just make traffic on other streets more congested. And going by the capitol hill model, they wouldn’t even let cars stay parked on the street. Those who forgot to move were towed. So all the surrounding streets have to support the overflow parking too?
Why isn’t more effort put into adequate public transportation (something available in other big cities) so the necessity for cars is lessoned? Wouldn’t that accomplish more than this symbolic feel good measure?
August 25, 2008 at 4:00 am #635362
WSBKeymasterJust saw this – first thing I did upon coming home after a few hours out was start finding coverage of Capitol Hill (before seeing this thread), so watch the home page for more links, will crosslink back here too – TR
August 25, 2008 at 4:37 am #635363
DianeParticipantat least some pretty humorous stories have come out of it (thanks TR for links on home page)
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hopefully lessons learned, better organization for ours (and weather)
August 25, 2008 at 5:34 am #635364
GenHillOneParticipantGood concept, but not a good event – non-event was a good description, mainly because the local traffic will still be allowed through. So there won’t be any cars parked there and there will be fewer cars driving through, but it’s not like the street is going to be completely closed off and filled with walkers, bikers, and strollers. The mayor encourages us to “play in the streets†though, so feel free to let the kids run on out there:
http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/
It’s been years since I’ve been to this:
http://www.seattle.gov/PARKS/Athletics/bikesatsun.htm
so maybe someone can correct me, but my recollection is that LWB (includes single family homes, apts./condos, and businesses like Alki) has no traffic. It has a festive feeling and lots of folks using the street, knowing they are safe to do so – like RS describes in Boston. Taking away that novelty at Alki decreases the fun and probably the participants, along with the photo opps that the organizers surely were hoping would further the car-free message. I’ll gladly keep from driving that day, but I’m not compelled to be down at the beach that day, sorry.
August 25, 2008 at 2:46 pm #635365
CMPParticipantAfter reading through the different links on the main page, I hope that the Alki residents will still be allowed to park on the street since we have a very long stretch that will be closed off. I may ride my bike down there to see what’s happening, but I certainly don’t plan on hanging out, as if this were a block party. Hopefully the weather will be better for the Alki event than it was for Capital Hill yesterday!
August 25, 2008 at 5:46 pm #635366
WSratsinacageMemberSeattle, IMO, is Boston lite .. plenty of Massholes these days. We’re not quite Boston but were headed that direction from what I have seen.
August 25, 2008 at 11:09 pm #635367
RSMemberNice WSrats, I feel so welcome! The people who were lucky enough to be born here love and appreciate Seattle, whereas the people from elsewhere who *chose* to move here because of how great Seattle is do nothing but tear it down and make things crappy. Yep.
August 25, 2008 at 11:25 pm #635368
GenHillOneParticipantBelated “welcome” RS, I have nothing against Boston :)…I WOULD like to see the car-free Alki be a hit. I just can’t figure out how it can be done well by the Parks Dept. in one location, but sloppily by (the mayor’s office?) in another.
August 26, 2008 at 6:33 am #635369
grrParticipantAugust 26, 2008 at 2:05 pm #635370
slysideMemberSure does grr…. Just imagine, it’s Sunday morning and your sleeping in on a cool, rainy day off. Suddenly you hear an uncommon noise out in front of your house! Look out the window and there’s a tow truck hauling your car away!! You run outside in your PJ’s to stop the madness, after all, shouldn’t you be able to park YOUR car in front of YOUR house?!! Ohhh Noooo – not in Mayor 5 pennies town! What a lovely Sunday. Now you have to call a friend to take you down to get your car out of the impound, and on top of it, you get to pay the city more money because you got a ticket for parking in front of your own house!!! When you finally get back home (not by car, mind you) you notice the City has trucked in Porta Potty’s – they are everywhere! HELP! I’m falling into the Twilight Zone!! – and you thought you were going to have a nice calm Sunday morning….
August 26, 2008 at 3:21 pm #635371
grrParticipantI can’t wait for the Alki Fiasco to happen. Wish I owned a towing company. It’s gonna be a very profitable day. UGH.
August 26, 2008 at 5:31 pm #635372
GenHillOneParticipantPurely from a rules standpoint…one is allowed to park their car, unless otherwise posted, for 72 hours on the street. How can the city only put out the temporary No Parking signs on Friday? What if someone lives around the corner and doesn’t see the sign? At the very least, those signs should be out 72 hours in advance so that drivers can be notified. If someone doesn’t follow the parking rules, therefore missing the sign, well, them’s the rules.
August 26, 2008 at 5:32 pm #635373
ZenguyParticipantEveryone that lives in the affected area will get a notice on their door knob a week in advance.
August 26, 2008 at 5:46 pm #635374
WSBKeymasterActually those notices are going out this week, according to what Rick Sheridan from SDOT told us yesterday (as reported on the main news page:
August 26, 2008 at 5:56 pm #635375
GenHillOneParticipantThe door hangers are important yes, but I’ve been involved in closing streets for an event in the past and there are multiple forms of “attack” for such an endeavor. We also mailed an announcement to all households in surrounding zip codes, available from the post office, because those folks may be affected not only by parking changes, but traffic diversion. In this case, it’s easy…98116. Even with these and (timely) placement of the parking signs, there will still be folks who don’t get the message, but due dilligence has been given to the effort. If other groups go to this length to respect the neighbors, it seems like the city should do the same. Imagine how the Capitol Hill story would be different today if it just was a bust due to weather rather than all of the upset residents.
August 27, 2008 at 9:31 pm #635376
WSratsinacageMemberRS, you are putting a lot of words into my mouth. I lived in downtown Boston for a number of years, I was not born here in Seattle. I never called you a Masshole. Are you saying there is no difference between east and west cultures? No difference in driving habits? If you are answering yes then you never lived in Boston or you do not live in Seattle currently. A lot of people have moved here and messed it up but that is not just my opinion. People are either too chicken or lazy to speak up. But, it’s a free country. There are a lot of people that live here/were born here that are pro teardown to townhome, just not me. You brought up Boston, not me. I stand by my comment. If you like Seattle now, you would have loved it 10 or 20 years ago. Why break my balls? Why discriminate against me and not comment on sly’s comment or anyone else who disagreed with you? hmmm? Getting back to the main topic, I have nothing against car free days.
August 27, 2008 at 9:56 pm #635377
RSMemberSorry, WSrats, I didn’t mean for all of that to be directed at you. I’m probably overly defensive. But maybe that’s because people are regularly saying things like “A lot of people have moved here and messed it up”. I chose to move (yes, from Boston) to this place that I find to be so beautiful and special and have found that a lot of people here are openly hostile towards all “transplants” or try to scapegoat them for the problems this city faces. I certainly agree that there is a difference between east and west coast cultures, but I’m sure that the negative changes in Seattle cannot all be attributed to people that moved here from the east coast. Those people probably brought some positive stuff too. I think there are probably both good and bad things about the changes to Seattle over the years.
August 27, 2008 at 10:05 pm #635378
WSratsinacageMemberTotally agree. Welcome. In Boston, I lived all over.. On Beacon Hill, once near Washington Sq, and also near Mass Ave and Berklee (known locally sometimes as Ass Mave) Store24! :)
August 27, 2008 at 10:15 pm #635379
RSMemberAhh, Store 24. The memories… Between the members of our household we’re representing JP, Somerville, Allston, Newton, Quincy, and Arlington!
August 27, 2008 at 10:20 pm #635380
WSratsinacageMemberCool. I visited all of those areas. Maybe I’ll meet you at the next meet up. Signing off for now.
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