March 25, 2008

Central Issaquah planning

The deadline for feedback on the land use options and transportation concept for the Central Issaquah Subarea is March 31st. If you couldn’t make it to the open house on the 19th you can still view the various option maps (particularly the Transportation and Open Space map).

To give feedback, fill out the form here.

March 22, 2008

Road angeling

Kent saw a woman picking up trash while walking her dog around Issaquah.

Isn’t that great? See a problem, go ahead and fix it. Don’t need to ask for permission. Don’t need any recognition. Be the change.

The comment thread on that post is full of other people who do similar actions. Nollij called it “road angeling” which looks like a typo, but catches the spirit of picking up trash just because you can.

If you see an act of quiet heroism like this around Issaquah, take a picture and put it in the GAIT Flickr pool (or send it to me and I will).

March 20, 2008

3/19/08 meeting notes

10 people (Jeff, Mr. B, Julie, John, Lisa, Pat, Becky, Erik, Karen, and Barb) made it to our meeting tonight at the Issaquah Brewhouse. Meeting in the banquet room was much more conducive to actual conversation.

  • Kryptonite rack program is on hold until the coordinator gets back in the office after the 21st. Lisa agreed to be the lead for this project going forward.
  • Talked about the city’s plans for Complete Streets (CS) improvements for this year. Jeff is going to draft a letter to the Transportation Committee CCing the council with our recommendations. Jeff will also provide a list of key points so the people of GAIT can write their own letters. Jeff will post that here on the blog and email the membership. Jeff will also try not to talk about himself in the third person so much. Barb also passed around a copy of the list of sidewalk projects planned for next year’s CS improvements.
  • We talked about other opportunities for leadership in GAIT.
    • Jeff and Barb will be working on formalizing GAIT’s organization and seeking 501(c)(3) status.
    • We talked about having a Transportation Committee committee to ensure that GAIT is always represented at the city council’s transportation committee meetings. There was broad support for this idea. Then we were thinking that those meetings were held at 4pm and support evaporated. Turns out the meetings are actually at 5pm. I don’t know if that helps or not. In any event, Jeff will appeal to the full membership for folks with schedules that can accommodate that time.
    • Project monitoring is another volunteer opportunity. John signed on to make an expedition to City Hall NW to identify current transportation projects that we should keep an eye on. Erik agreed to be the monitor for the East Lake Sammamish Trail.
    • John is also working on a visual identity for GAIT in his copious free time.
  • Barb gave us a crash course in interacting with City Hall. I think I’ll pull that out to its own post.
  • This concluded the formal portion of the meeting. Discussion followed on topics including
    • Certain city council members wondering why they’re not on the GAIT mailing list (Jeff took action to offer all council members opportunity to join GAIT)
    • Speculation about the promotional opportunities inherent in the presence of four bike shops in town.
    • Announcement that GAIT will have a table at the city’s Earth Day event on April 19th at the Pickering Barn during the farmer’s market.
    • Ideas for other stuff we can do like improving speed limit enforcement on Front Street in the many times when it’s not gridlocked, adding crosswalks on Gilman, getting some flashing crosswalk signals installed, co-hosting a transportation forum with other area stakeholders, having a group in the Salmon Days Parade, installing a judging stand by the train track crossing on Front Street to score crashing cyclists, starting an Issaquah critical mass ride, starting a Fremont-style nude bicycling movement. We may have been having a little too much fun there at the end.

March 17, 2008

Next meeting

The next GAIT meeting is this Wednesday 3/19 at 8pm at the Issaquah Brewhouse. We’ll be in the banquet room to the right as you go straight past the bar from the main entrance. Should be quieter in there than the main room where we met last time.

We’ll be talking about the Kryptonite bike rack program and about the city’s plans for implementing Complete Streets.

Wednesday is also the date of an open house for the ongoing Central Issaquah Subarea planning process. That’s at the Pickering Barn from 4pm until 8pm. There’s no formal presentation, so stop by whenever you can and leave written comments. Be sure to mention you’re a member of GAIT if your comments are mobility related.

See you Wednesday!

March 7, 2008

Aspirations

The pressure of getting a flyer together for the Volunteer Expo tomorrow forced me to get a bunch of what I’ve been thinking out of my head and into the world where other people can see it. Here’s what’s going on the flyer (picture a box around the leading capitals spelling GAIT):

G etting
A round
I ssaquah
T ogether

GAIT is a community of walkers, cyclists, and transit riders working to make Issaquah an even better place for our kind of transportation.

GAIT is working to promote pedestrian, bicycle, and transit facilities where they already exist, improve them where they are lacking, and create them where they are missing.

Some of what GAIT does:

  • Monitor public and private projects from design through construction to ensure bike/ped needs are considered
  • Inventory bike/ped facilities
  • Mentor people interested in walking or biking more
  • Perform small acts of maintenance to make walking and biking safer and more fun (e.g., trimming overgrown sidewalks and trails, picking up trash, etc.)
  • Notify the city/county/state about maintenance issues that require their expertise to fix (e.g., broken pedestrian crossing signals, damaged sidewalks, etc.)
  • Host community-building events like walks, bike rides, and meetups
  • Produce material highlighting ways of getting around Issaquah on foot, by bike, or by bus (e.g., maps, flyers, web page)
  • Staff tables at community events to promote bike/ped/bus transportation
  • Work to extend the network of sidewalks and bike lanes

For more information see our web page at www.gettingaroundissaquah.org.

Think that will keep us busy?

March 1, 2008

Tabling

GAIT will have a table at the Saturday March 8th Hobby and Volunteer Expo at the Pickering Barn.

This event has always encouraged people to have “activities” at their booth to keep things interesting. My thought for an activity was to play “stump the non-driver”, i.e., have people say where they go in Issaquah and talk about how they could do that with less reliance on their cars.

I plan to also have some basic flyers (maybe with a simple map on the back) and a signup sheet for the mailing list.

Here’s the info from the city about the expo. If you would like to help out at the table, or with getting stuff ready beforehand, let me know!

Hobby & Volunteer Expo

  • For all ages!
  • Saturday, March 8th

  • At Pickering Barn

  • 10:00am-2:00pm

  • FREE admission

Discover local clubs, hobby groups, service organizations, and community activities for you and your family. The Issaquah community has numerous ways to get involved and volunteer!