Rant: seattle summer streets

[tsunaminw]

So once again the mind-numbed robots who believe in junk science and global warming, and our worthless and ineffective mayor, have imposed on us another Seattle summer streets day this Sunday.

I wake up to find no parking signs up and down both sides of Alki letting us know that even when we own a property(rent or own shouldnt matter in this case though) that if we have street parking we cannot park at our home and have to drive somewhere for the day to park to allow bicycles and pedestrians to use the street.

We have a huge bike lane that we paid for, and a huge pedestrian path we paid for, which doesnt cross traffic and is unobstructed for miles.

Our cars pay for these streets, and yet this day the bike and walking paths aren’t good enough for these hippies and Obama groupies.

They have added enough bogus potpourri to the event telling us we get to meet our neighbors and all, but has anyone spoken to the businesses down here?

Last year I spoke to a 4 people I know who own prominent businesses here and they had the complaint that business was dead that day.

I also saw the punks above the tattoo shop screaming at a driver going home who lives locally(I know him) to get out of his car or they would break his windshield.

And the booths were as exciting as chewing on cardboard, leftovers from the patchouli stinking folklife festival and people who seemed to have been kicked out of the food court at the Puyallup fair.

Thanks Seattle, for puting out locals to allow a bunch of global warming nazis to take over the street for the day when they already have a huge taxpayer funded place to walk and ride. Brilliant.

I plan to take a few long drives in my v8 the following week, let the car idle as long as possible before I go anywhere, buy lots of bottled water in tiny containers, and maybe even load up on my styrofoam, leave all the lights on at my home day and night for the next few weeks. If you want to be crazy and make others pay the price, I can play the same game.

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[swimcat]

wow- that sounds like a mature plan of action. That will show ’em!

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[austin]

Boo frickin hoo..

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[mrhineh]

“I believe in the soul. The c***. The p****. The small of a woman’s back. The hanging curveball. High fiber. Good scotch. That the novels of Susan Sontag are self-indulgent, overrated crap. I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe there ought to be a Constitution Amendment outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter. I believe in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas eve. And I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days…Good day.”

HTH

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[bird87]

wow.. in this day and age.. it’s a sad state of affairs when people can’t deal without a car for a single day! walk it’s good for your heart and the environment, not to mention if you have children it would be a good example to set. Be a leader in your community, not a hater!!!

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[KBear]

I am so glad the nutjobs are no longer in charge.

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[alki_2008]

As a note…there are a lot of senior citizens that live on Alki Ave and need their cars to get to church, shopping, etc on Sundays. There are even some non-seniors that don’t have the luxury of good enough health to get them around town on their own two feet. To assume that everyone is able-bodied enough to go without a car is a bit presumptious. Just sayin’

On another note, the car-free day doesn’t bother me too much…but I don’t “have to” drive Alki Ave to get to/from home and my Sunday schedule is such that I could work with the Water Taxi schedule if I wanted to get somewhere on Alki Ave.

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[tsunaminw]

I have no issue with going without a car, that was never mentioned. Nice attempt at changing the subject though.

The issue is people that park on the street who live here having to drive somewhere else so people can walk and ride right next to a perfect walking/bike path.

I also mentioned many other issues like lost business, which you choose to ignore.

I take the water taxi to work, ride my bike here every day, and my car sits for days sometimes. My dad was with the department of fish and wildlife, and was vp for wind energy corp in palm springs, I am a member of the surfrider foundation and an avid kayaker. I work for a green builder. And none of these things changes what I said.

Nice try hippies. You deserve a mayor like Nickels, and more of the likes of Cantwell, Murray, Locke, Lowry, and Gregoire. They are karma for you lemmings.

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[villagegreen]

tsunaminw – your diatribe sorta explains why so many of my friends from other parts of the city continue to believe West Seattle is full of self-entitled, whiny, yuppies.

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[Ken]

I am glad the nutjobs are no longer in charge…

However.

I despise the “Green Theater” almost as much as the Airport “Security Theater” and for the same reasons.

It is just for show. It is an opportunity for politicians to pretend to be concerned about the environment.

I almost never go to Alki and will not have a problem staying away on that day.

If the politician who organized this want to save some gas, lets see them hold this in Pioneer square or on Capitol Hill.

We (the city government) spend millions to rehab streams that are still so toxic they kill fish where they meet the bay, and pave only one side of a street that washes road debris right into that same stream while undemining the new pavement by letting the water erode gullies on the other side.

All the “Green” builders in WS contribute to far rightwing causes and use “Green” as a smokescreen.

Be sure to visit their PR booths on Alki while you are walking from the bus.

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[KBear]

The merits of Car-free Alki are debatable. The debate on whether global warming exists and whether humans are the major cause is over, at least among scientists.

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[sam-c]

I have heard that businesses were affected by this last year, and was wondering if WSB would have to do a car-free day edition of “what’s open/ what’s closed” on Alki.

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[tsunaminw]

The merits of Car-free Alki are debatable. The debate on whether global warming exists and whether humans are the major cause is over, at least among scientists.

Wrong, almost half of the IPCC has rejected the theories and threatened to sue them because they continue to use their names as part of that movement when they have disagreed.

Even the founder of Greenpeace and the founder of the weather channel have said this is a militant movement that is motivated more by the financial potential and have used bad science and emotion to bully people who disagree.

Assuming this debate is over is narrow minded, but I am sure it makes you feel enlightened to believe this.

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[KBear]

Hoookayyy….

If it’s motivated by money, how come the Republicans aren’t on board?

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[WSB]

You know, I walked the whole stretch last year. Duke’s was quoted in a preview story as saying they were worried. I took a photo – their deck was jammed. All the other Alki eateries I stuck my head into were busy. But if any businesses that were hurt would care to come forward, I would be happy to do a story on them. And if you know of anyone who is closing, let me know. Last year I spent time canvassing the stretch and didn’t come up with anybody who decided to close. There are going to be a lot of people out, with the day starting with hundreds of participants in the West Seattle 5K, so I don’t think it’s going to be a ghost town, but as always, we will report on what we find …

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[tsunaminw]

I am not a republican or democrat so I cannot answer this. Insanity exists on both sides and they both are motivated by greed.

But again, this comment is just changing the subject, pointing at another group etc. instead of addressing the specific facts or issues mentioned.

I have plenty of gripes about both sides, and the main one with liberal democrats is the inability to stick to facts and issues in a debate. Emotion always takes over and they shut down or change the subject when they disagree.

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[AdamOnAlki]

villagegreen,

Uhhh…I am pretty sure “they” don’t think of West Seattle full of yuppies. My whole life I have always been giving the impression of it being a “hippie” compound.

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[JenV]

why not just have “car free days” in the junction? it will benefit businesses, have little or no impact on people, since few live there – and that way, no one gets all butt-hurt about missing their cars on Alki.

and you all don’t even KNOW hippie compound – uh, take the ferry to Vashon for that noise.

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[mrhineh]

So to clarify the intent of your concern, its about parking your car, right?

“I wake up to find no parking signs up and down both sides of Alki letting us know that even when we own a property(rent or own shouldnt matter in this case though) that if we have street parking we cannot park at our home and have to drive somewhere for the day to park to allow bicycles and pedestrians to use the street”

Or, do you own a business that is impacted?

“Last year I spoke to a 4 people I know who own prominent businesses here and they had the complaint that business was dead that day.”

Or is it the various nutjobs?

“So once again the mind-numbed robots who believe in junk science and global warming, and our worthless and ineffective mayor, have imposed on us another Seattle summer streets day this Sunday.”

Its getter hard to read through the emotions, so lets clarify again please.

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[alki_2008]

tsunaminw – do you have to be so hostile in your posts?

Regarding the parking situation…what proportion of people that LIVE in Alki don’t have off-street parking? Have any stats on that? The condo zone should have sufficient garage/underground parking…the houses a bit north/west of the condos have that sidewalk-ish parking (is that restricted too?)…and there aren’t a lot of “residents” parking in the shopping area between 57th and 63rd anyway.

Yeah, it’s a pain-in-the-arse to re-park if you usually park on Alki Ave…but it’s just part of living in Alki. I can’t believe that people would move to Alki and expect that they wouldn’t have to deal with the area being a ‘destination’. Alki Beach isn’t JUST for the residents of Alki. We don’t have private beach rights, and if there weren’t non-Alki people coming to Alki then the restaurants and shops wouldn’t be here.

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[sam-c]

From post 10: “It is just for show. It is an opportunity for politicians to pretend to be concerned about the environment.”

I too feel like this event is more about the theatrics of appearing green than actually being green. I wish the City of Seattle would save the money (to hire police and whatever this event costs) and use it to build flippin sidewalks!! there are several streets in this city that don’t have sidewalks, and frankly some people come flying along the street like you’re not even walking along….

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[Al]

I look forward to “car free day.” Last year and likely this year, it’s one of the only times I even go to Alki. There’s too much traffic and people otherwise. We will make a point to have lunch down there too.

Residents who only have access to their homes via Alki can still drive to/from home. You just can’t park there. For less than 24 hrs.

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[tsunaminw]

Your attempt to be witty is still nothing but a smokescreen to avoid the issues, all of which you mentioned are true.

I know it is tough, but stay with me for a moment and I will attempt to dumb it down for you so you dont get confused.

We have local business owners, many who live above the business and have no need to commute. They create a community that enables us to walk to shops, grocery stores etc. which means less driving.

We live in an area that people come to specifically to ride bikes, walk, etc. Very few come just to drive and unless I am mistaken we even have an anti cruising ordinance.

Now, help me understand why a group thinks it is intelligent to have everyone who lives here drive their cars elsewhere to park, to clear the way for people who live at a distance to drive down and walk and ride their bikes down the middle of the street, when we alredy have an expensive bike path and walking path right along the beach?

If the point is to lessen driving, why not increase shuttles, have the booths on the boardwalk, let everyone who lives here leave their cars where they are, and let everyone ride bikes and walk in the already designated paths we pay taxes to maintain?

Now, I know it is tough, but try sticking to the issues and dont divert by attempting to be a smartass.

How does this event help the environment by punishing local business, increasing the driving of cars that normally would stay parked on a nice day, and allow people to walk down the middle of a street paid by car tabs and licensing?

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[tsunaminw]

I dont expect a private beach, visitors fund local business and we need it. If you want to increase that then open up the no parking zones all down the strip and allow a sign on I5 pointing to Alki Beach, something homeowners down here have selfishly stopped for years.

I live here “because” it is a destination and dont resent that at all, your missing the point entirely.

As a person working for a builder who is certified “green” I know very well how this movement and the state of Washington has placed more importance on looking green than having any real effect of being “green”. Symbolism over substance. This is a destination where people already go to walk and ride, you encourage more to drive down and use the middle of the street when riding and walking paths already exist, only greenlake has something similar. And meanwhile locals have to drive to hide their car and businesses get killed that day. You tell me how that helps.

If you sense any hostility, it is out of a sense of hatred for stupidity. So prove me wrong and give me some real reasons why the price is worth paying when the events could be held in much more effective areas. This is just a showpiece that has no real effect of any kind except a negative one to those who live and work here.

And I dont have stats for those that dont have off street parking, but if you take a drive down the strip it is easy to see how many don’t, even in winter the street is full of residents who live here and have no parking space. Renters and homeowners alike. I know most of my neighbors for 2 blocks in either direction of my home and can think of at least 15 people, many over the retirement age.

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[swimcat]

I think this event is just to raise awareness about using your own body to get around for a bit. Trust me, there are a lot of people out there who are not active, and if this encourages them to walk further than they normally would for just one day, maybe they’ll decide they could take a short walk every day. That’s not such a bad thing, is it?

It is only ONE DAY; in the big picture this just doesn’t seem like it is worth getting riled up about.

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