Rant: seattle summer streets

[tsunaminw]

If they allow residents to leave their cars for the day, that solves the issue in that area.

It still hurts locals businesses, and still does not make sense to hold this event here when they already have a well used well known bike and walking path. People come here to use that as much as the beach itself. There is no need to hijack the street when a perfectly good path exists right next to it.

As a green builder, most get certified to say they have it. Most who have it say the problem is that they hold a score more important than things that actually have an impact. And very very few people request this because the cost is higher than a non green remodel.

As a real estate agent and marketing director for a builder, less than 2% are looking for greenbuilt homes and remodels. And my personal opinions have no effect on the quality of work done in either case. Although I do understand the importance of voting with your dollars and choose myself not to support those business that are in conflict with my personal values, that is a right everyone should excercise.

The motivation behind this group is specifically global warming awareness, and my disgust in this theory entirely doesnt change the fact that if you really wanted to do something that had an effect and not just a symbolic gesture to get votes, many other areas could be used or a different approach entirely in this area which I mention above multiple times.

How is it a crowd twice as large is planning on getting down here in the first place? Exceptions exist but most will drive down. And local businesses get hurt even with a larger crowd. This is a fact. These businesses have a tough time and starve in winter just to make a profit each summer. If they leave, it means we have to drive rather than walk to give our business to those at the top of the hill. How does that help?

In this economy, nothing should be done that hurts small local business, nothing. If they fail, it hurts everyone.

Share This

[Al]

So tsunaminw, are you going to participate and have lunch or a snack at a local business on Alki?

Share This

[KBear]

Oooo… very tricky, Al! Gotta vote with our dollars… Don’t want to hurt small businesses…

But if they make money during car-free days, that will just encourage the “global warming nazis” who want to take all our cars away….

What’s a concerned climate change denier to do?

Share This

[tsunaminw]

I live on the strip if you hadn’t noticed, and am friends personally with at least 5 of the owners here. I give them my business every day and pay more at Alki Urban Market rather than Safeway whenever possible because I want them to stay. Small business is key and always has been. I love my neighborhood and dont plan to leave anytime soon, and I love that others enjoy it too.

I have made a point on this absurd event and will again this year to patronise anyone I can down here that day to make up for what they will lose.

Share This

[KBear]

I am glad you support local businesses. I’m glad you realize that those businesses wouldn’t exist without lots of visitors to your neighborhood. I agree that car-free day has some silly aspects to it and probably isn’t the best way to fight global warming, or even raise awareness of it. (Won’t all those people just park a little further away?)

However, I also believe that if there’s even the slightest chance that humans are causing global temperatures to rise (and most scientists agree we are), it’s something we ought to be very concerned about, because it’s not something we can fix quickly or easily. If melting ice caps cause the water level to rise even a little bit, Alki will be permanently car-free.

Share This

[tsunaminw]

I think you contradict yourself, if the event is to raise awareness and yet they hurt business and just make people park further away then it is self defeating.

there have been over 700 ice ages in the lifespan of the planet, and cars have been around for maybe 100 years out of a few million or so. Thinking that now that we humans are here that we have to keep everything exactly as it is is unreasonable and unrealistic. We don’t need to blatantly damage things without cause, but assuming if sea levels rise a few inches that we caused it and/or could stop it is silly to me.

Growing up in san diego on the beach erosion constantly had pieces of people backyards dropping into the ocean, its a constant ebb and flow.

Even the polar ice caps grow and shrink. Temps have been much higher and much lower in the past thousand years. And those ice formations that we thought were drastically shrinking have recently been blown apart after finding that our instruments that measure were way out of alignment and misread the data entirely. We really have little understanding of science and we see a small piece and jump to conclusions in many areas only to find later we had only looked at a few hundred years of measurable data out of a few million. Species come and go and have done so before we were here.

I teach martial arts, and in this area we see traditional and modern arts arguing between themselves. The traditionalists feel that modern arts are the end of them, and they must preserve the old ways.

And yet to get here in this day and age, those traditional arts had to constantly adapt and grow to be what they are now. Over a few thousand years change was invaluable.To stay effective in combat they had to change based on terrain, metallurgy knowledge, and even the enemy you fought.

But now there is a sense of honor in putting the form as it is now in a jar and preserving it, in effect letting it grow stagnant and die. This is laughable and silly, and encourages following something that has died and contains no real value in practical everyday use. Sure there is a beauty, but it isnt a martial art any longer but a flowery dance.

My point is, change is constant, and keeps things fresh the same way a desert floods and dries up every year. Forest fires clear dead wood, disease culls the weak, change is constant.

Also constant is the fearful who try and keep everything the same, to the point of being so arrogant as to think we have caused something that has happened hundred of not thousands of times before we were even here. We have adapted, and if the planet were 100% covered in ice we would adapt and change. There is a beauty in nature and fighting it is denying the nature of the earth itself.

And I am sorry but the statement “most scientists agree” is misleading and untrue. It may be a popular thing to jump on this bandwagon but we see many large numbers running away from this. You see what you want to see. But it is far from the whole picture.

Share This

[alki_2008]

Regarding the location of the car-free day at Alki…this weekend is the first of ~9 car-free days (aka Summer Streets) in 2009. There will be similar events in Ballard, Greenwood/Phinney, Rainier Valley, U-District, etc. It’s not as though Alki is the only place that has to accommodate this type of event. For those that don’t like the event, then vote for someone other than Nickels. There isn’t much else that can be done about it for this year.

Having an event (the 5k) to coincide with the car-free day is something new this year in Alki, and it will be interesting to see if that changes anything for the businesses on the strip. It should be less of a ‘down’ day this year than last. Let’s see how it goes.

Share This

[swimcat]

Troll alert.

Share This

[KBear]

I didn’t contradict myself. I said all along the merits of car-free day and its usefulness are debatable.

The difference between climate change as it is happening now, and all the previous eras of natural warming and cooling, is that it is happening MUCH more rapidly than it EVER has before.

I’d suggest you watch “An Inconvenient Truth”, but I’m sure you’d tell me it’s hysterical liberal propaganda. You see what you want to see.

Share This

[Jeannie]

I loved car-free day last year. No car exhaust, thumping car stereos, roaring motorcycles, crazy drivers, etc. And yes, I like the idea of patronizing the small businesses along the way. I have a feeling they will do just fine. Living along Alki has its inconveniences, but just deal with it, people! It also has its benefits. Enough rants already…geez, would you rather be living in Iraq?

Share This

[tsunaminw]

The fact that living in Iraq is a worse alternative has nothing to do with a dumb event that serves little purpose and does damage to local business. That is irrelevant.

The businesses did not “do fine”, and why deal with stupidity if you dont have to.

And you just throw a bunch of clutter into the conversation that does not in any single instance address any issue mentioned. Not once.

I did see Inconvenient Truth and am happy to debate any issue you learned from watching it Kbear. It was liberal propaganda.

Now I challenge you to watch The Great Global Warming Swindle, but I’m sure you’d tell me it’s hysterical liberal propaganda. You see what you want to see.

Faster than ever before? No, faster than we have seen on record with the limited equipment and only recently recorded data that doesn’t go very far back in relation to the overall lifespan.

Share This

[JimmyG]

If the powers that came up with this car-free crap required ALL attendees to walk, cycle, or use public transport to get there (no matter how far away they were coming from) then I wouldn’t have an issue with it.

But there’s no way to enforce that, so people will drive their individual cars from all over, park in outlying neighborhoods and hike into Alki (and all the other later locations) feeling smug about their joining in this “green” community block party.

It does nothing to help the environment and is just another vanity project for the politicians that came up with it. I’m sure it’s one of the wonderful things Mayor Schnickels will tout in his campaign literature to show what wonderful things he’s done for us.

I can think of a lot better ways to spend our city dollars on than for the extra police OT, the SDOT OT, etc.

Share This

[tsunaminw]

Thank you sir, you said exactly what I am thinking, and many others who live here and see and talk to each other about how useless and stupid this thing is.

You know how much it cost the city just to plan this event, including putting the no parking signs out, take them down etc?

From city employees I am getting numbers of 20k just for placing and removing the signs.

Share This

[Dunno]

Mr. T has some good points! Why not move the event to other parts of West Seattle. WS Junction

already has the street fair, why not shut down the Admiral district for 10 or 15 blocks and have everyone move cars, then move it to Morgan Junction, next High Point, then Lincoln Park/Fauntleroy, ect?

Another Alki note, SPD need to crack down on noise. The cars putting out base that makes car alarms go off, c’mon!

Share This

[alki_2008]

I do agree that the event is pretty pointless, but it’s already going to happen – so just trying to accept it and hope that it’s better this year (less business losses due to addition of 5k & no residents’ cars towed away/ticketed) and that we’re car-free-day-free next year.

What really surprises me is that there were 3 such events last year to see how things would go, and apparently the “powers that be” thought it was successful enough that there are three times as many events this year? I don’t get it. I can’t imagine that Alki was the only neighborhood that took issue (slow business, hassles for residents, cost concerns) with the events in 2008…so why would they expand the program this year?

Can’t wait for a new mayor…and disappointed in Crunican again, as she was a proponent for the events last year and surely played a role in continuing/expanding the program this year.

Share This

[Lucile 2]

Do people actually still drive to Alki? That’s just stupid.

Share This

[KBear]

Well, tsunaminw, we disagree on global warming.

I am glad you saw “An Inconvenient Truth”. Perhaps we can agree on this much: Who would have thought that ANYONE would pay to see a movie of Al Gore delivering a slideshow, AND that it would win two Oscars?

Regarding your posts in other threads, I agree with you 100% about emergency sirens and True Value Hardware.

Share This

[datamuse]

Do people actually still drive to Alki? That’s just stupid.

Gee, thanks.

I live just down in Highland Park, but that’s over an hour by bus. Even with adding the time to find parking, driving doesn’t take anywhere near that long.

Share This

[tsunaminw]

I would never have padi to see an Al Gore flick any more than Michael Moore flick, but I did download it for free on bittorrent so I could see the other side. It pretty much made me lose a little more faith in humanity that that film got half the attention it did with shoddy science and I personally am happy to tear apart his data with facts to back it up.

But those who love him or his movement are not persuaded by facts, thats where the “we see what we want to see” comes into play.

As far as the other posts, agreed. I have many friends who disagree with me, and it is their right to be wrong,lol.

Share This

[JanS]

Hello, folks, perspective. I live in the Admiral District by Safeway. One Saturday every year as far back as I can rememberwe are shut down…my street, California Ave. from Admiral to the Alaska junction…it’s called a Hi-Yu Parade. Businesses suffer? I know don’t schedule clients that day…Safeway hates it, as do most others along the route. Do I hear you all clamoring about it? No…It’s tradition. It’s only for about half a day, it’s not like every day. Do I wake up to bands practicing, marching units practicing, pirates wandering around, etc, etc, etc.? Of course I do.Am I inconvenienced? You bet. What about those people who live along the route who can’t get their cars out…or what if they needed emergency service quickly? So…I guess you all know where I’m going with this. Get over yourselves and your complaints for the one day closure of Alki. It happens elsewhere, too. Sigh…

enjoy the sun, take a walk, patronize a restaurant..make the most of the day..it’ll be beautiful…

Share This

[tsunaminw]

First of all I dont live by the Safeway, and if I saw it have the same effect I would say something.

Second, if the Safeway was a small business and I knew the owners as I have stated clearly I do some down here on Alki, I would say something.

Third of all, I never mentioned the noise, I would prefer the live concerts come back that so many old farts complained about and got rid of, and I love waking up the the sound of a huge volleyball tourney.

Third, it isnt half a day, it is all day.

I will be making the most of it, patronising the busineses since they take a hit on these days, and will live. But it isn’t necessary or worthwhile and the point is we shouldn’t have to put up with stupidity unless you stay silent and do nothing which it seems you have resigned to do.

But, if you choose to stay silent, don’t expect others to do so.

And if you decide to post, how about sticking to the points mentioned rather than brushing it all off. I will live, it wont kill anyone, of course its beautiful.

But that isn’t the point now is it.

Share This

[bsmomma]

I am a firm believer in what you put out there is what you will get. In other words tsunaminw will probably have a miserable day being negative about everything going on and I will have a fabulous day doing the WS5K and spending time outside with my daughter. Everyone is entitled to there opinion and feelings but seriously, we get it. Stop raining on our parade! It’s going to be a fun day. Honestly, I am not into all the global warming and be green stuff. I recycle because I am told I have to. I’m excited to celebrate “Seattle Summer Streets”! Unfortunately this will be one of the very few days we visit Alki after 10am for the summer. So, I’m going to enjoy the heck out of it…….. with or without tsunaminw!

Share This

[GenHillOne]

from tsunaminw on another recent thread:

“Anyone can rant, and the Reply button is for those who disagree and think they should get a life.”

“I will do my best to not use the word crazy, but will continue to disagree when someone is unreasonable.”

Perhaps, tsunaminw, something compelled you to come back after 9 months to explode all over the place, but you surely realize that it works both ways and that there will be people, by your own admission, who have the right to use the reply button when they disagree or think you’re being unreasonable.

FWIW, I’ve never been a fan of this event, but your approach and including “breaking down idiots” as an interest in your profile makes it pretty impossible to take you seriously.

Share This

[swimcat]

Someone please shut tsunaminw down! I can’t stand to read another bit of this irrational logic (especally if you look at any of his/her other posts on different threads!). Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. But it’s like a trainwreck. Reminds me of the old ‘lattemom’ and ‘cinnamon’ days. Oh goodness!

Share This

[JanS]

wow..guess I’ve been told, huh. Am I supposed to bow to superior intellect now? This is a discussion…I was discussing. Perhaps it wasn’t what you thought should be discussed, but it WAS on topic…you just disagree. That’s your right…but throwing words like stupidity in there to make a point, treating everyone on here as idiots, coming across aggressively, like you’re the one to set people straight…well…we all have opinions…ours differ…and that’s what makes the world go round. I’m sure that the opinions expressed on here are valid…all of them…maybe we all need to lighten up just a bit?

Share This

[Author]

Posts