March meeting right here
We’re having a virtual meeting for March right here on the blog, so please come to order.
I’d like to review the plans for the year as set out in the earlier post about our January meeting.
Jeff Youngstrom will do and/or coordinate the following:
- Inventory of facilities
- Monthly (or more frequent) trash walks
- Web page improvements
- Attend Council Transportation Committee Meetings
- Table at appropriate community events
On the inventory front, I’ve been working on a form for people to use to note different features as we review the streets of Issaquah. I’ll test that out myself then I’ll be looking for a couple of beta testers to survey a street and see if the process makes sense to them. I’ll also be working on a way to present our findings, perhaps using Google Earth.
We’ve had two trash walks so far, both quite successful. The third is coming up on the 28th. This time we’re going to take a crack at the area around the boardwalk on the east side of SR-900 working our way south from Gilman Blvd. This will be another squishy one, so bring those waterproof boots. I’ll send a reminder next week.
Web page improvements have not progressed yet.
We’ve had a presence at each Council Transportation Committee meeting so far this year. I’ll try to be better about getting the agenda out ahead of time and posting a summary afterwards.
We haven’t done any tabling yet this year, but we’re lined up for three events so far. On Saturday, April 18 we’ll have a table for the city’s Earth Day celebration. On Saturday, April 25 we’ll be at the annual Hobby & Volunteer Expo. Both of those events will be at Pickering Barn. The other one we have lined up is the National Night Out in August.
Barb Shelton will coordinate moving us toward 501(c)(3) status.
I don’t know if Barb has had a chance to think about this. Barb?
Bob Miller will do the following:
- Wednesday evening guided bike rides
- “Fix a flat” class or classes (details on the first coming soon!)
- possibly other classes
Bob’s first “Fix a Flat” class is coming up next Tuesday (the 24th). Check with Bob to see if there’s still space. The evening rides are waiting for the evening light which is coming along.
There was a lot of interest in working on Safe Routes to Schools, especially in connection to the planned redevelopment at Issaquah High School. We’d especially like to get parents of school-aged children involved in an effort to push this issue with the school district and the city. I can’t remember if one person was going to take responsibility for this, but Tina Anderson, Barb Shelton, Karen Behm, and Erik Schneider all expressed interest.
This kind of fizzled when we discovered that the specific sidewalk we were concerned about at the high school was being added into the plans. The paper announced this week that a contractor has been chosen for the redevelopment project so we’ll see how that shapes up as construction begins.
Safe Routes to School is a really big issue that can have a huge impact. However, with our current slate of active members it feels like the time isn’t right for GAIT to make a major push for it.
Karen Shively volunteered to become our parade coordinator for the year, so if you want to be in the 4th of July or Salmon Days parades, or have an idea for an entertaining entry in either focused on transportation, let me know and I’ll put you in touch with her.
Karen and I have some ideas. If you’re interested in walking or biking in the parade(s), check in with one of us so we can keep you in the loop and so we know how many people we can expect to have participate if we do get this idea off the ground.
Finally, Karen Behm had the idea that we should meet with our new Police Chief and discuss issues of common interest. If you have something transportation-related that you’d like to discuss with the police, give a yell and we’ll add you to the meeting or add your issue to our list.
I never posted a recap of our February meeting, did I? Chief Ayers generously came to our February meeting and was very helpful in giving us a better understanding of how the police see their role as it relates to walk/bike/bus transportation. Perhaps the biggest message we got was that the Chief encouraged us to report any issues we see around town whether it’s grafitti or people parking on sidewalks or specific drivers not observing crosswalks. Your report may not always result in a citation to the offending party, but it will be recorded and contribute to evaluation of specific issues as time goes on. The non-emergency number for the Issaquah police is 425-837-3200. It’s a good one to have programmed in your cell phone so you’ll have it when you need it.
Does anyone have anything else we need to talk about this month? Leave a comment here if so.
7 Comments
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Thanks for asking.
1. A sidewalk is needed on NW Dogwood. As the number of walkers increase, so has the danger. Several years ago, we had meetings to discuss this project but nothing has been done and we haven’t heard anything. It would be helpful to have one of those speed cameras like those put on 2nd.
2. The sidewalk behind the Village Theatre is used for parking and I have never seen a car towed or ticketed. Why not? How about more signs and painting the sidewalk to indicate such.
3. Gilman, across from Virginia Mason, should relly have a painted crosswalk. As it is, there is no safe way to cross Gilman east of Gilman and Front.
Comment :: March 20, 2009 @ 14:53 am
Hi Jeff,
Do we have a time and location for the next trash walk? Is it always the last Saturday of the month?
Thanks!
Comment :: March 20, 2009 @ 27:43 am
Hi gang, I purchased expensive mapping software, so I can make maps now. The bike map is on the home stretch for the completion. I contacted Issaquah Press for a possible photo for the front. We meet next week. My plan is to self publish, so if anyone knows of someone willing to help fund the printing of this let me know. Just the map will be available soon via .pdf form.
On the back side of the map I’d like to put some verbal text of suggested rides. I’d like to put in the Cougar / Squak hillclimb, the Lake Sammamish loop and the ride to Preston. How about the “Bridges of Issquah” ride? How about a ride for kids? Help me out. What is your favorite ride locally?
Two other thoughts / comments:
Walk times – lets all contribute to Jeff (or I can complile – email – klbehm at comcast) walk times. for example from Mtn Park Blvd / Mountainside Dr to Library is 25 minutes. From Mtn Park Blvd / Mountainside Dr to Squak Mtn Trailhead – up trail to upper subdivision and back via road is 1 hour.
2nd – it is getting close to May and I told Rory we’d help with getting bike counts if he wants to get a baseline started.
Mary Lou – did you pass on your comments to the Mayor and Rory Cameron? I totally agree with your comments.
Comment :: March 20, 2009 @ 310:21 am
Erik, the trash walks are, indeed always the last Saturday of the month. I actually mentioned the location for the next one in this post, but I realize there was a lot of text to plow through in there. Here’s the relevant bit:
Comment :: March 21, 2009 @ 41:59 am
Mary Lou, on your second point about parking on sidewalks on 1st Place (I think that’s where you’re talking about), this is exactly the kind of thing that Chief Ayers was encouraging us to report. Next time you see folks parked on the sidewalk, give the police a call. They may not be able to respond right away (one of the things we learned from the chief was that there aren’t all that many officers on any given shift. I think I remember him saying just six.
For sidewalks on Dogwood, I agree that would be very helpful. I’ll send a note to PWE and see what’s up with that.
Do you really have a hard time getting across Gilman east of Front? In my experience the traffic is pretty sparse over there except at the peak of rush hour. Not that I disagree with you that a crosswalk would be helpful. PWE has staunchly defended their position against additional crosswalks on Gilman Blvd. I think this is a case where the best bet is for folks to contact the city council and mayor with these concerns. Or maybe the Chamber of Commerce? PWE’s position is that drivers don’t pay enough attention to crosswalks so they give pedestrians a false sense of security on a wide street like Gilman.
Comment :: March 21, 2009 @ 52:08 am
I strongly support going after safe bike routes and bike safety for riding to school. With the budget cut backs coming more extra activity bus transportation will be cut and we need to attempt to reduce the number of single parent single child car trips to and from the schools and encourage student to ride the bus, walk or ride their bikes to school and or at the very least get parents to establish carpool trips to reduce the traffic and exhuast polution around the schools. Maybe if someone can attend PTA and or school board meetings in the future to start some dialogs with School admin and parent leaders.
With the construction starting at the Issaquah HS things are really going to be bad for as of next week the School buses and car will be using the same entrance into the IHS on second. The new traffic cam should slow traffic but now the lines to get into the school morning and late afternoon are really going to be bad.
Mary
Comment :: March 21, 2009 @ 69:27 am
Just a followup on Mary Lou’s question about sidewalks on NW Dogwood. You’re correct that that project is all designed and ready to build. The holdup is that there’s no funding to replace the bridge so the whole project is on hold until they can do it all at once. Both the bridge and the sidewalks/curbs are on the current draft five-year TIP with the plan being to apply for Federal BRAC (Bridge Replacement Advisory Committee?) funds in 2010.
Comment :: April 30, 2009 @ 74:52 pm