NBC reports that women on the Afghan national cycling team are risking their lives to compete and doing their part to help women’s rights race forward in the war-torn nation.
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On Monday, April 1, a week after a suspected drunk driver hit four pedestrians in front of Eckstein Middle School, killing two people and severely injuring two more, Seattle Neighborhood Greenways will be leading a memorial walk.
On the afternoon of Monday, March 25, the Schulte family was crossing the street on Northeast 75th Street and 33rd Avenue Northeast when the driver, Mark Mullan, ran into them with his pickup truck, killing Dennis and Judy Schulte and leaving their daughter-in-law and her infant son critically injured.
Trying to send the message that “Crossing streets with dignity is our right as people everywhere in Seattle,” Seattle Neighborhhood Greenways are encouraging people to come out for the memorial walk and pay respect to the couple killed while calling for safer neighborhood streets.
Leaving at 4 p.m. from Top Pot Doughnuts, 6845 35th Ave NE, the walk will visit the crash site as well as the proposed Northeast Seattle Greenway.
People are encouraged to bring flowers or canned food, which will be taken to the University Food Bank. One can also donate to an online medical fund for Karina and baby Elias or memorial fund for Dennis and Judy Schulte.
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Memorial Walk details:
When: Monday, April 1. 4 – 5 p.m.
Start: Top Pot Doughnuts, 6855 35th NE.
Why walk:
- To pay your respects to the retired couple that was killed.
- To call for safer streets and support changes now that will save hundreds of lives in the future.
- Walk for yourself, your family and your community.
He’s barely been gone a month but Max Hepp-Buchanan is already gracing the pages of the newspaper in his new town, Richmond, VA.
In February, Max announced that he’d be leaving Seattle and Cascade Bicycle Club to lead a grassroots bike walk initiative on the East Coast. Max is Sports Backers’ first director of Bike Walk RVA, a new regional program to support bike- and pedestrian-friendly policies, programs and infrastructure projects in Central Virginia.
The Richmond Times Dispatch caught up with Max to talk about the new job, the experience he brings from Seattle, greenways and what making Richmond a more bike- and pedestrian-friendly city would mean for its citizens.
“Richmond is smaller than Seattle, but there are bike infrastructure things they can do. They can learn from Seattle. Seattle learned a lot from Portland.
So, there’s this sort of evolution of learning and best practices that I think Richmond can benefit from quite a bit.
…Seattle is starting to build a network of what’s called “neighborhood greenways.” Put simply, they’re residential streets that are engineered for low vehicle speeds and low vehicle volumes — just kind of envision your quiet neighborhood street. Portland has a whole citywide network of those from one end of the city to the other.
…I think that Richmond would benefit from a high-impact, high-visibility urban protected bikeway.
It’s an on-street bikeway that’s physically protected from cars. I wouldn’t say that’s low-hanging fruit because that’s going to take a lot of political will to get built, but it’s something that would be very beneficial to the city.
…What’s really appealing about this job is there’s some stuff out there, there’s some infrastructure on the ground, but it’s much more of a blank canvas. I know it’s going to take a lot of time, but it’s going to be really exciting to see that network develop over time.
I’m really excited about working with other advocates in the communities to create a shared vision for what that should look like.”
We’re excited to see that Max has hit the (East Coast) ground running. Good luck, Max!
Read the full story, here.
Mayor McGinn spoke at the Spokane Street Viaduct completion ceremony last December. Photo courtesy of SDOT
The City recently completed its largest transportation project in three decades, the Spokane Street Viaduct, and managed to come in under budget.
These cost savings, achieved through favorable bidding climate and strong oversight of the $163 million project, will now be used to invest in various transportation projects, the city announced today.
Mayor Mike McGinn and Seattle Department of Transportation Director Peter Hahn announced that these funds, totaling$11.75 million, will be invested in sidewalks, basic road maintenance, upgrades to the city’s traffic signal system, work to complete the Burke-Gilman “Missing Link” and support for Seattle’s updated Transit Master Plan.
“We are working hard to capture these savings and spend them on the things that Seattleites care about,” stated McGinn. “That’s why we are using these dollars to support pedestrian safety, invest in basic infrastructure upgrades, road maintenance and planning for the future. I thank our Department of Transportation for their stewardship of taxpayer dollars in their work to bring in Spokane Street under-budget.”
The work that will be funded by these savings include:
- Major road reconstruction – $3.5 million
- Freight corridor improvement – $1 million
- Repair of two city-owned retaining walls – $700,000
- Additional funds for crack sealing program, a pothole prevention technique – $200,000. This nearly doubles the Mayor’s budget for crack sealing to $450,000
- Bike Master Plan implementation- $1 million
- Sidewalk improvements/Pedestrian Master Plan implementation- $1 million
- Neighborhood Street Fund – $1 million
- Adaptive Traffic Signal study and work on recommended projects – $2.5 million
- Support for Transit Master Plan implementation – $800,000
- Only in Seattle funding for infrastructure investments in neighborhood business districts – $50,000
The funding for this work is included in Mayor McGinn’s Supplemental Budget proposal to the City Council for the first quarter of 2013.
“By completing the Spokane Street Viaduct project under budget, we are able to fund needed transportation investments elsewhere in Seattle,” said Hahn. “These resources will help make walking, driving and biking easier and safer for everyone.”
To help prevent collisions, Volvo is making its cars smart enough to detect people walking and riding bicycles. What do you think?
