Thank you all so much for being here.
My name is Mike O'Brien.
I'm a Seattle City Council member.
You may ask, why would you pick this location to hold a press conference with everything going on around here and you can't hear a thing?
And that's exactly why I wanted to pick it, because this is an example of our transportation network coming together in all sorts of crazy ways.
I'm looking at an electric bus there, light rail system behind us.
We've got two protected bike lanes intersecting down here, lots of crosswalks, lots of cars.
emergency vehicles across the street.
And we're here today to talk about transportation, specifically about the mass coalition which formed last fall to simultaneously address the challenges around transportation and the climate crisis that we're facing.
um we have a lot of work to do in our city to meet the transportation needs of all the folks standing behind me and everyone in our city who lives here today or works here today or is coming here in the future and we also are facing a climate crisis which demands that we do that in a way that transitions us off fossil fuels and on to more safe and reliable, clean transportation modes.
We have about half a dozen folks that are going to speak today.
I will introduce each one as we come to them, and they will give you a different slice of the transportation and climate puzzle as they come up here.
We're going to start with Sam Lockhart, who's with 350 Seattle.
Sam, come on up.
Howdy.
My name's Sam Lockhart.
I'm a Seattle native born and raised here.
I graduated from Ingram High School and I'm studying at Olympia right now for a degree in organic agriculture and biochemistry.
Seattle is my home and the people who live here matter very deeply to me.
I took the bus to get here today but bicycles are my main mode of transportation and it's been that way since I was in high school.
I've been in like three different bike accidents as a result of lackluster bicycle infrastructure here, all of which could have been remedied if we had more protected bike lanes.
I've witnessed two separate fatal collisions involving bicyclists also could have been remedied if we had more protected bike lanes.
In fact, one of those locations where one man died, there is in fact a bicycle lane plan to be put in under the Bicycle Master Plan.
We need a lot more protected bike lanes.
These infrastructure improvements aren't good just for bicyclists, they're good for everyone.
They'll keep bicyclists safe, they will aid in reducing traffic congestion, they're going to increase bike ridership that way too.
And they'll let people choose zero carbon affordable transportation, which is incredibly important to young people like me.
They're also going to make those bike share services we have all around the city far more palatable to people and safer, which is great for tourism.
Today's bills require adding bike lanes anytime we do any major paving projects in the city and fully funding those protected bike lanes as well.
We should pass them and figure out how to finish the Bicycle Master Plan.
The Bike Master Plan will be good for all of us and we should be working hard to make it happen.
Seattle has a bright future and improving bike infrastructure is a huge part of that.
Thank you.
Thank you, Sam.
Thanks so much.
Next, we're going to hear from Paulina Vincennes.
She's with the Seattle Transit Riders Union.
is ready.
Hi, my name is Pauline Madsenis and I am also a proud native of the city of Seattle.
Hi, my name is Pauline Vancettis, and I'm also a proud native Seattleite.
And I'm also one of the co-founders of the Transit Riders Union.
And I depend on transit.
I am a day labor worker in the Millionaire Club charity, and we get sent over quite a bit of Puget Sound, and we get there by bus.
And so everywhere I go is by bus.
I believe it works better, though, if there's priority for buses.
Yesterday I had occasion to go to the Bothell area, coming back, thanks to the dedicated bus lane on Bothell Way.
We made it back to Seattle pretty quickly, despite the fact there was game traffic for the Seahawks.
That was fine until we got down to the freeway entrance and suddenly everything slowed down because there's no dedicated lanes on I-5, at least not that part of it anyway.
So it took about 28 minutes to get downtown.
And then I jumped on my transfer to West Seattle and there was another 30 minutes to get past the stadiums.
even though they were on a game day reroute, but there was a five minute delay for the train.
So it was a while before I got to West Seattle.
Then, the last leg, because my bus, I guess, was on a very long delay, the satellite feed cut out.
and so the audio message wasn't working anymore.
Fortunately, everybody that was left on my bus knew where their stop was, but somebody pointed out to me at the end of the trip that if somebody had been blind and been trying to follow the audio message, that would have been a problem.
So you can see, depending on whether there was dedicated lane for transit.
Some sections went by really smoothly and others did not.
The gold standard around here, I believe, for what the future of transit could look like is the Swift Rapid Transit system up in Sohomish County on the community transit system.
They have a dedicated lane on Highway 99 all the way to Everett.
Not only is that the express service, the Swift, but also they have a parallel line, the 101, which provides intermittent local service, so you have the best of both worlds.
So I believe that's the future.
And we need to get more people out of their cars into transit, but we may need to make it as convenient as possible.
Thank you.
Thank you, Pauline.
Hi, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you Pauline for those words about our transit system and the needs there.
Next I'm going to invite Margaret McCauley up.
She's a resident of Rainier Valley and a family biker and just pulled up in her cargo bike.
Margaret.
Get close to those.
Hello we were a little late because there was an official city car blocking the Dearborn protected bike lane which was awkward for me and my child to get around.
So that was a little unfortunate.
So we live southeast of downtown and we come downtown.
I come down for work.
The kids used to be in preschool here.
Now they're big boys in elementary school.
The pediatrician, the library, the ferry, And we and many of our neighbors like to get around by walking and bike.
And the connections from Southeast Seattle are currently really scary.
We need better connections.
We need safer connections.
We need connections that people of all ages can use, because I have three blind neighbors on my block that I know of alone.
There may be more.
So we need things that work for everybody.
And I'm really excited about the possibility that we're actually going to dedicate some money to Southeast Seattle, because it's got a lot of people who aren't able to come to this press conference at one on a Friday who are getting around by bike.
Need need to get there and arrive alive This week's been pretty terrible for Rainier Valley as usual.
We have one crash a day I believe it is and we live right my family lives right on Rainier.
So we want to see that stop happening to our neighbors, so Really hoping that we can get some momentum on fixing and slowing traffic on Rainier and MLK.
Thanks
Thank you, Margaret.
Sorry about the city vehicle blocking, but I know we can do a better job in making sure all routes are safe and accessible.
Next, we're going to hear from Rosario Medina to talk about South Park and Georgetown connections.
See that about right?
Perfect.
Hi, my name is Rosario.
I live in Georgetown.
So I am part of the Open Space Committee and Advisory Board.
My day job is to work in the Damash Valley community regarding housing.
So I'm here asking for funding for the Georgetown South Park Trail and other South Park, South Seattle end projects that were left unfunded.
So my great-grandfather, Jose Tito Barron, came to Georgetown in the late 50s.
During that time, he was able to freely walk and bike in the Duwamish Valley.
Sadly, the last few decades, my family has been unable to walk and bike safely in the area due to heavy industrialization and lack of planning and funding in South Seattle.
I would like to be able to walk and bike in my community and all over South Seattle, but sadly, it is not safe to do so right now.
With safer walking and biking paths, my community will be able to safely commute from one place to the other and be healthier individuals and leave a smaller carbon footprint.
Thank you.
Thank you, Rosario.
Next, we're going to hear from Courtney Cole, who's with Rooted in Rights, to speak about climate safety and clear sidewalks.
Hi, I'm excited and impressed to hear a lot of people here today actually talking about accessibility for blind and low vision folks like me.
It's exciting to hear about some awareness about that.
I'm a student at UW and I work in the Seattle based video advocacy group rooted in rights which we focus exclusively on disability rights issues, and we make videos about that and try and get them out in the world.
So as you can imagine, I use a lot of sidewalks to travel around.
I can't drive, so transit and sidewalks are my main mode of transportation.
And people with disabilities care about the environment and understand the importance of bike share and scooter share programs.
However, when the sidewalks are blocked by bikes and scooters, that can be really dangerous for people with disabilities like myself.
It can cause us to run into the bikes and scooters and damage our mobility aids like canes and crutches and walkers.
And in some cases it even forces some people to go out into the street with their wheelchairs or power chairs or other mobility aids because curb ramps are blocked by those scooters and bikes.
And so it's really important that we all understand that while we want to do things that are important for environmental change as we are in this crisis.
It's important to commit to accessibility also as we are carrying out those initiatives because we want the city to not only be green but safe for everyone who lives in it.
So as we come upon this issue of working to create designated spaces for parking bikes and scooters.
It's a really important opportunity for us to actually look at the intersection of inaccessibility and environmentalism and really make an impact in that way because it's our responsibility to create an accessible and healthy city for everyone.
Thank you very much.
Thank you so much, Courtney.
I want to just add that making sure that our transportation system is safe and accessible for everyone is a critical need for us all to meet.
I was just talking to Marcy Carpenter who fell on a sidewalk that was separated because of tree roots and cracked a rib and is still recovering from that.
We should be able to have a city where all of our sidewalks are safe for all users, whether they can see, whatever mobility they have, and we have a long ways to go to get there.
Next, and finally, we're going to hear from Councilmember Abel Pateko.
Councilmember.
Good afternoon everyone.
My name is Abel Pacheco.
I am the District 4 City Council member and a car-free Seattleite.
I'm also the youngest member of the current Seattle City Council.
And I want to share a little bit of my experience as a car-free Seattleite in District 4. Every morning I have the opportunity to ride a bike to the light rail to get to City Hall.
And when I think about the car share and ride share opportunities that I have to run my daily errands, it's important for me to have the ability to be able to utilize these services.
Then I also use the bus to meet with friends and colleagues after work as well.
So I think about these different options and how we use it to have a car-free lifestyle and think about how we can keep moving that conversation forward.
I'm able to have this lifestyle really because of community advocates here today and the investments that we have made as a community and we continue to make.
Sorry, I have a number of post-its.
The conversation that we're having isn't a war on cars.
It's about all of us being soldiers on the fight against climate change.
The future can be cleaner, it can be greener, and safer for all modes of transportation.
And at this generational moment where we have an opportunity to reaffirm our values as the Emerald City and be the model city for our country to follow, we must lead on this issue.
To make it easier for every Seattleite to have an alternative to reducing their carbon emission footprint, and this is why the mass coalition transportation packet is important and it's why I'm excited to be working alongside both Council Member O'Brien and all the community advocates here today to make sure that we can do everything in our power and our ability to move our city forward.
Thank you.
Thank you, Councilmember.
Just three days ago, Councilmember Pacheco and I voted out a committee, a resolution to commit Seattle to a Green New Deal for the city of Seattle.
And from a climate perspective, we all know that transportation is the largest sector of our climate pollution in Seattle.
And so the actions we're talking about today are necessary if we're going to meet those climate goals.
Just to reiterate, that means we need to have a robust transit system that's accessible to everyone and affordable to everyone.
We need to have sidewalks that are safe for everyone to use.
We need to have bike lanes.
So regardless of your age and ability, folks that want to choose to bicycle are safe on those facilities.
And we need the rest of the transportation sector to work for everyone.
We know the solutions to this.
We know the investments we need to make.
Now we just have to get it done.
Thanks to all the community members, as Council Member Pacheco said, without you all this work would never be possible and I'm committed in my final months here to get some stuff done.
If you guys have any questions for the speakers, please ask.
So we have a couple pieces of legislation today.
There is one piece specifically around protected bike lanes.
And what it says is that any project that is more than a million dollars worth of repaving work, if there is a protected bike lane on the bike master plan to be installed in that corridor, it must be installed as part of that repaving project.
that has always been our intent.
Recently we had an incident where that didn't happen and so we're trying to close that loophole.
Now there will still be community process to determine what the layout looks like, how it's safe, if the executive or the department feel it's inappropriate and something is shifted so that should no longer be in the the bike master plan, they are welcome to come back to us and make the case as for why it no longer is feasible or acceptable to do that.
But the standard protocol shall be that when you do repaving projects, if that's a corridor that's been identified for a bicycle safety project, that bicycle safety project must be built.
Why don't you trust the executive and the departments to do that anyway?
Why do you have to have a law?
Yeah, so I used to.
And what happened around 35th Avenue Northeast last spring was really disappointing to myself and some of my colleagues and a lot of community members.
What it felt like happened was similar to what's happened just about anywhere you try to put a bike facility.
There are some people that are not familiar with what that means.
They're worried about taking away parking or other impacts.
SDOT has done an amazing job over the past few decades thoroughly researching which corridors make sense for these safety projects and figuring out a way to address neighbors, business, transit needs in addition to making safe routes for cyclists.
Unfortunately at 35th Avenue Northeast there was a group of residents up there and perhaps businesses that felt really strongly that that shouldn't happen.
There was another group that felt really strongly it should happen.
And somewhere between the mayor and the department, they made a decision not to do that, which is contrary to what was in our bike master plan.
We don't wanna see that happening again.
That is not the way we need to move forward if we wanna produce a safe system for all that's also climate friendly.
Still talking about a vast minority of people that are transiting from one place to another.
Most people still use cars.
This city is growing.
You're having thousands of more cars come in, and more people come in every day, every year.
So what do you say to the people- That's not true.
More people work downtown than used to, and fewer people are driving downtown.
What do you say to the people that say you're catering to a minority rather than to most of the people that are needing the community?
Yeah, well, so first to the point, you know, most people do own cars in Seattle.
For those that commute downtown during the regular business day, over 50% of commuters to downtown now take transit.
Less than 25% are driving in single occupancy vehicles.
I do own a car.
I own a bicycle.
I have an OrcaPass and ride transit.
I walk places too.
So I use all sorts of modes of transportation.
And as a city, we have an obligation to be meeting those transportation needs.
So let's start from the climate reality that we're facing.
If we don't wean ourselves from fossil fuels in the next decade, this catastrophe that's upon us is going to be an unmitigated disaster.
We don't have much time left, but we do have 10 years where we can make significant changes.
So that means we have to have more options than simply single occupancy vehicles.
We also are always fighting for all of our residents.
You heard from a speaker today, Courtney, who is sight impaired.
She's not going to be able to drive.
And so just because the majority of people do one thing doesn't mean we ignore the rest of society.
We are all better off as a community when people feel safe walking and can get safely from one place to another.
We are all better off as a community when we have safe, protected bike lanes.
You look at cities in Northern Europe where 30 to 40 percent of the trips are taken by bicyclists.
Imagine what could happen in our city if there were that many people not on our transit system, not in cars.
It would be a beautiful thing to happen.
And the reason it doesn't is because we don't have the safe infrastructure for folks today.
Yes Abel.
Not only that sorry Mike's a little taller than me.
There you go.
Not only that but I think as city leaders we have a responsibility not just to every Seattleite today but to your kids and our grandkids.
You know as I said this isn't about a war on cars this is about all of us doing everything we can do collectively to fight against climate change.
So just to really echo the point of Council Member O'Brien.
Okay, another question?
Some of our advocates here today have produced videos to again promote good usage of the bike share and potentially the scooter share programs that the city will be launching.
We've also been able to, we're introducing a resolution today that has SDOT come back to us with a plan to create bike share, future bike share parking programs throughout the city.
I think that's a conversation, again, we continue to have with the companies about how to best ensure that we make sure that both the users comply with the usage, the expected usage, as well as how do we ensure that community advocates are having their voice heard through the process.
I'll add that absolutely the city can do a better job and the bike share companies can do a better job.
And frankly I think we've been in a period that's been rather permissive and I hear on a regular basis from some of the advocates standing behind me that they want to see more mobility options for everyone but not at the expense of their personal mobility.
So we have to find safe places to park these bikes.
People need to understand their responsibility.
The companies need to understand their responsibility.
And I think the city has a bigger job to do.
I think Councilmember Pacheco's legislation would also help speed up the installation of more bike racks and facilities on street.
especially near stop signs.
By doing that, we make sure that no one parks illegally next to a stop sign, we open up the visual path so pedestrians and drivers can see each other much better, and we provide a place to stick bicycles or other wheeled devices that people might be using.
In addition to providing that though, we have to be doing the enforcement, we have to be holding people accountable, whether that's someone using a shared bike or their own bike, whether it's a business owner putting out a sandwich board trying to advertise their business, or even how we permit street signs.
We have to be doing all that work and think of our most vulnerable users in our system first, because when we make our system safe and usable for them, it works well for everybody.
How much is that going to add to a project that is costing more than a million dollars, and will that take away money from other projects?
So in general, the best time to put it in a protected bike lane is when you're doing the repaving.
You're out on the street, you're already repaving the whole width.
If there's curb bulbs or other things you're putting in for transit or to make the crosswalk safer.
And then when you're all done, you put some paint down.
And the main question is, what paint are you putting down?
And if you're putting a protected bike lane, you're going to have some stretches of green and a little more white, and maybe some glued-on plastic pylons.
The marginal cost of doing a protected bike lane at the time you're doing a repaving project is minimal.
And so this is actually the most cost-effective way to meet our bike master plan, which is why that is so disappointing when you see a major paving project happening and a missed opportunity.
We don't want to miss those because we want to do this the most cost-effective way possible.
You say that you and the activists here want more mobility options but not at the expense of their own personal mobility.
Isn't a lot of this at the expense of drivers?
I'll speak to that and then I want to see if anybody in the audience would also like to address that.
You're more than welcome to do that.
None of this is intended to be at the expense of drivers.
We have built a system that has been dominated by the automobile for so long at the neglect of all the other users and we need to bring some balance back to that system.
People will continue to drive.
Driving is the most fuel-inefficient and space-inefficient way to get around this city.
And in a crowded city, where we're trying to get off fossil fuels, we need to have other alternatives.
You know, as I said, I also own a car.
There are times when that is the most convenient way for me to use it.
I appreciate that I can own a car.
I appreciate that there are roads that I can get around on.
But we should not design the system around that, because a system designed around that will be congested to the point where you can't use it, and it'll continue us towards a climate catastrophe want to avoid.
Would anyone else like to speak?
Hi there, my name is Matthew Lang and I work with the Transit Riders Union.
I generally drive a car most times because I own a business where I teach all over King County.
I have to haul equipment all throughout the city.
And I'm here standing for this plan because I know that if more people are using transit, more people are using multimodal modes of transportation, then all of us will move faster.
My trip will be faster.
Your trip will be faster.
Everyone here will be moving through this city in a more environmentally friendly and expedient way.
Thank you.
Time for one more question.
Or, yes sir?
Building more parking for people to leave their cars.
parking garages or whatever so they can have access to these bikes so they can ride more, bicycle more, or cycle more rather than just bringing their cars and driving them all over the place.
Yeah so the city is not in the business of building parking lots but we obviously allow private people to do that.
Right now we have recent studies show that with all the parking garages that have been built throughout the city with new construction projects, somewhere between 25 and 30 percent of those spots are actually vacant.
So it costs money to build a parking spot.
Those people want to recoup the money so they charge for parking as they should.
And the reality is we probably have more parking than we need.
I mean everyone would love free parking everywhere.
but that's not a reality.
So yes, people can build parking.
The vision is not to have more polluting automobiles in our system, but we have lots of parking if people want to use it, it just costs some money.
All right, thank you all so much.
We'll be here to take personal questions afterwards.
Thank you all so much for the amazing work you all do.