Westcrest park bike race

[keltickitty]

The people putting this on have blocked of the pedestrian entrance and only 1 post was put up at the parking lot. I am not happy about this where am I doing to walk my dog being I live across the street from this park. I talked with the person putting on the race they have rented out the entire park.

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[inactive]

kk –

I live very near Westcrest and have a dog (see awesome avatar) as well. I have found that walking down to Riverview Park or 14th St./SSCC trails, Highland Park or Westwood Village are all very nice dog walk destinations. You could also go down to the W. Duwamish Greenbelt trail entrance off of Highland Park Way. Of course, you can’t let the dog off-

leash at any of these parks, but some times a good leash

walk is enough for the dog.

As a resident and frequent Westcrest user, I think it is

actually pretty cool that the park is being used for other

purposes, especially something as cool as a bike event. I’ll

just make other plans for the dog’s exercise needs today.

Edit: And just so folks don’t get confused, it is NOT the dog park kk is referring to. The greenbelt trails is the site of the bike event – an awesome trail system, btw, if you have not ventured there yet.

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[keltickitty]

the problem is I am disabled and have trouble walk a far distance and have no car

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[CarolPB]

Is that even possible to rent the ENTIRE park?

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[WSB]

Probably is – we’ve reported a couple times on Schmitz Park access being restricted because of movie shoots. But I need to find out from the Parks Department where they post notice of this, because if the park is really completely off-limits, I would have liked to have published advance word of it – since this park is a regional draw – Parks has some very helpful communications folks BUT I still wind up finding about things by notes from WSBers, driving past signs, etc. Will ping them on Monday to say “how can we tap into this info to share it widely BEFORE it happens” …

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[WSB]

Just found info about the race here FWIW. If they sent out advance media info, we didn’t get it, and I don’t see any mentions of Copper Cross/West Seattle in Google News OR Blog Search, which is another way we pick up info even if we haven’t received announcements.

http://avacbbracing.com/blog/?p=26

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[Mariah]

I was at the dog park this morning as they were setting up for the race. It was very nice of them to give the dog parkers advanced notice of the event but some people were unaware the race went down on the trails. Most of the entrances had postings of the event but two gates did not and I saw people with their dogs off leash on the trails. Scarry… I alerted them to the situation and they said they would take care of it. I’m curious how it all turned out…

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[Mariah]

In response to advance notice; the racing people had signs posted probably on Wed or Thurs alerting the dog park users of the event. I walked from the west parking lot (which was already full) into the dog park and there was no mention that it was off limits. In the future I will try to remember to send you a note.

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[inactive]

I stopped by with my dog. I know this was a new type of event and usage for the park ( they used every part of the park for racing except the dogpark) and it was awesome cool to see them

As for the people who regularly anf daily let their dogs off-leash in the greenbelt? They are first of all breaking the law and 98% of those owners know it. Behaviors and habits and routines of dog owners and “professional” dog walkers are likely going to have to change as more bikers use the trail. Thar said, there appears to be a gap in information whether other park users were in fact prohibited from the greenbelt turned raceway. I did not get that impression from the posters on the gates. That is an important clarification to get from Parks so folks will know for the next event, whether bikes or not, down in the trails or reservoir area.

And inspite of th OP’s comments, the organizers were told by Parks, upon receiving notice that “some one” had filed a complaint that disabled access rules had been violated, that

the bike racing group cooperated and complied fully with all

of Park’s requirements for the event.

I am looking forward to more bike or cross-country events coming to Highland Park and Westcrest. These are the uses it was intended for and more uses are on track for the future. Good times for everybody, dog and human alike.

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[datamuse]

westseattledood, I’ve stopped using the greenbelt trails due to regularly encountering dogs off leash there, some of which have been aggressive. It’s too bad because I enjoy trail running.

That said, I probably wouldn’t go on the trails during a bike race; some of those trails are pretty narrow and the sight distance isn’t that great. It looks like a really great setup for trail riding, though, and I’m glad they’re doing it there; there used to be a lot of mountain biking in the West Duwamish Greenbelt, but some of those areas are in pretty bad shape and the bikes make it worse. Better to have them in an area that’s maintained regularly.

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[inactive]

Agreed datamuse. As plans for park will be worked on this fall, regular maintenance is on my list. Along with a bunch of other multi-use issues. If you are interested in participating in park design project, drop me a note at westseattledood@gmail.com. It would be terrific to have you at the table. Otherwise, stand by for Park’s notices of assignment of project manager and notices in the next short while.

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[keltickitty]

the entrance on the 8th ave side pedestrian had no notice up until the day of the event is my big issue

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[GoGo]

I was there on Saturday for a dog event and the entire parking area plus the road in and out was totally full of cars, nowhere to park. Plus they had tape up everywhere, no one could tell how they were supposed to get to the dog park and it was like the bike people thought the owned the park for the day. It sucked and I hope they don’t do it again. Go find another park.

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[piegs]

I agree with westseattledood. We went to the off leash area on Saturday with our dog and 2 kids, with the intention of taking the kids to the play structure afterward…we didn’t know there was a bike race going on. As we left the off-leash portion, there was a sign notifying folks about the race, and there were volunteers around the course that would let you know where and when you could cross the path. I found them very friendly and helpful.

We live by the park, and it was really exciting to see this event going on. I hope once the reservoir project is finished, we have more events like this.

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