Recent Seattle Times headlines:
"McGinn plan for street parking would exceed NYC rate"
"Seattle City Council raises parking lot tax, authorizes citywide taxing district"
and that's in addition to McGinn's new $20 car-tab tax.
Meanwhile, Mayor McGinn is spending the Transportation Fund on "road diets": "Number of lanes to be reduced on Greenwood Avenue North" City officials claim the lane reduction will supposedly improve traffic. Color me skeptical.
That's just part of the orgy of bicycle projects.
The Mayor seems more interested in punishing people for driving than he is in making it easier for us to actually, you know, get around town.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at September 29, 2010 09:38 PM | Email ThisAnd didya ever notice....nothing leftists advocate, adopt or produce earns money or even begins to pay for itself. So when their grand schemes fail the 'regressive' government offers the usual excuses and begins shaking down the fools that elected them. Don't city dwellers just deserve each other?
Posted by: Saltherring on September 30, 2010 07:12 AMHis efforts on the the behalf of our city's 7,000 daily bicyclists will reward him with 100% of their vote.
Now. He merely needs to come up with a plan to get the other 110,000 or so votes that will get him re-elected in spite of his bike boxes.
By the way, the Mayor was recently video taped riding his motorized bicycle through a stop sign without stopping. Then he boasted about it.
Isn't that a motor vehicle ?
Shouldn't it be licensed as such ?
Bicycles and bicyclists should be licensed if they are to become the priority users and vehicles on Seattle City Streets.
Posted by: Bart Cannon on September 30, 2010 07:17 AMSeattle is becoming more of a Liberal heaven/Hell hole with each passing year. It is no longer a place to visit but, a place to avoid...PERIOD!
Posted by: Daniel on September 30, 2010 07:17 AMThey apparently failed to notice that there is an actual 8 foot wide bike/pedestrian path a mere 50 yards away on the South side of the Ship Canal?
If its actually better to have bikes on the street than on a dedicated path that goes along said road, could someone please explain that to me?
Posted by: daveo on September 30, 2010 07:58 AMAs for the stupid regulations, irresponsible governance and orgy of taxation going on over there, people get the government they deserve.
As for Mr McGuin's voter base, well they say dead men don't drive. So long as he can reliably call out the graveyard vote I suppose he's safe.
The car vs. bicycle wars are underway.
Many of you will remember the motorist who, last year, decided to drive through the wall of bicyclists on one of their Friday / Rush hour protest rides.
Last week a motorist in Portland decided to just start bumping bicyclists from behind. I guess that was HIS protest.
It's going to get dangerous out there.
Mostly for the anarchist bicycle people, but not long ago the director of the Cascade Bicycle Club was severely beaten by a male and female pair of lightless bicyclists whom he came upon from behind at night and suggested they get lights.
He told them that he had some lights he would give them if they followed him home.
Big mistake. I think he was beaten in his own front yard for his generosity and opinion.
Posted by: Bart Cannon on September 30, 2010 08:36 AMhandicap parking is everywhere...you can park at any meter for free.....
lets all do it.....
then the Seattle limosine liberals will have to hatch a new plan to soak the people.....maybe a tax for walking the sidewalk?
The Seattle mayor is doing the GOP in this state a heck of a favor.
Posted by: johnny on September 30, 2010 09:04 AMDon't like the high fees?
There are lower cost alternatives. You could move your business to Issaquah where parking is free and the lifestyle is much better. Or, why not Tri-Cities? Richland, WA is probably going to be the "next Seattle" so get in early while you can still get a 3-bedroom for $200K.
Seattle is undergoing Shock Therapy for a system that for too long has held back real costs from the public. Welcome to reality.
Posted by: John Bailo on September 30, 2010 09:35 AMIt also has wonderful bicycle resources...a more extensive trail system than Seattle and with more flat roads to ride on. They even have separate bike and pedestrian trails!
Plus they seem to have jobs for people wanting to move there.
Oh...and they have this other thing a few people enjoy.
Sunshine.
Posted by: John Bailo on September 30, 2010 09:45 AMIf the mayor and city council were truly serious about the budget, they would start with a 10% salary cut for anyone making over $60,000 per year. Give people a choice between a pay cut and their jobs and you won't see a mass exodus. And tell the unions to stuff it.
Posted by: Burdabee on September 30, 2010 09:58 AMThe nimrods in Seattle got what they paid for.
Although I do feel bad about the people who voted for Joe Mallahan.
Posted by: cliff on September 30, 2010 10:20 AMAmazingly, China is embracing the car. And actual bicycles are rather rare; you see a TON of electric and gas scooters, but pedal-powered vehicles are becoming a rare sighting over in Shanghai and much of China.
Again, this is further proof that China's advancing to where the US was 20 years ago, and we're retreating to where they were 40 years ago...
Posted by: Shanghai Dan on September 30, 2010 10:57 AMThis happens EVERY DAY. And I have yet to see any enforcement efforts that target these people.
It is absolutely insane that bicyclists are being given a complete free pass to violate traffic laws in this city. Insane. Weaving through traffic, traveling the wrong way on one-way streets, not obeying stop signs and signals. And there is no way to report them, as they don't have any licensing requirements.
With the increasing takeover of roadways by these jerks, there really needs to be a serious effort to enforce the law.
I won't hold my breath...
Otherwise, I actually agree with John Bailo when he says, "Seattle is undergoing Shock Therapy for a system that for too long has held back real costs from the public. Welcome to reality." It's time to put up the cash for what you use. The only part I don't get is why he/they don't follow their own advice and propose the same for cyclists, who are increasingly VIP members (Eloi) collecting rent from the losses mandated of motorists (Morlocks) by Chairman MaoGinn.
Posted by: gulliver on September 30, 2010 11:59 AM--budget proposal includes three areas which will not be cut but rather enhanced. They are: 1) more monies for kids and families initiatives. The kinds of things he rattled off seemed duplicative of non-profits and the Seattle School District, but hey...2) more monies for "walkability and biking" in the city. He said that the reason so much money is going for bikes is that historically all the money went for cars. Hmmmm. My Sound Transit, Monorail, and Metro money went where? Much less, indeed, 97% of people commute by car or bus in this city...and 3) (swallow coffee before reading this) a new initiative to train people on how to be community organizers (I thought that is what our non-profits and churches did). He even said it was ok if the result of the community organizing protested against the City. Nice of him.
So there you have it. Every time you pay $4.50 to park for two hours think of all the community organizing and bike boxes you're buying.
Posted by: shelterwood on September 30, 2010 01:09 PM--budget proposal includes three areas which will not be cut but rather enhanced. They are: 1) more monies for kids and families initiatives. The kinds of things he rattled off seemed duplicative of non-profits and the Seattle School District, but hey...2) more monies for "walkability and biking" in the city. He said that the reason so much money is going for bikes is that historically all the money went for cars. Hmmmm. My Sound Transit, Monorail, and Metro money went where? Much less, indeed, 97% of people commute by car or bus in this city...and 3) (swallow coffee before reading this) a new initiative to train people on how to be community organizers (I thought that is what our non-profits and churches did). He even said it was ok if the result of the community organizing protested against the City. Nice of him.
So there you have it. Every time you pay $4.50 to park for two hours think of all the community organizing and bike boxes you're buying.
Posted by: shelterwood on September 30, 2010 01:10 PMhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9hWV5i-V3w
As much as I hate the Democrats I am afraid that the Republicans do hate people like me in the middle class just as much. Why must they shoot themselves in the foot like this?
Posted by: I on September 30, 2010 01:30 PMThe mainstream GOP is the right-liberal wing of our ruling elite, an elite alienated from the middle class. They are equal opportunity participants in anarcho-tyranny: anarchy from the lower class, tyranny from the upper class, we are stuck in the middle.
And then we have Obama.
Look at what is happening in his "home" country and tell me that's not what he wants for America.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1Z-X_x4gAU
And look here at how the Muslims are taking control of his home country.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dPJs1L7kNg
Posted by: I on September 30, 2010 02:59 PMI'm pretty sure you've promised as much before, but whatever.
Posted by: MikeBoyScout on September 30, 2010 07:09 PMI thought Republicans believed that government should be run like a business and should privatize or charge market rate for everything rather than giving it away. So why should government charge what is demonstrably below market rate for parking spaces? Especially when this results in parking spaces being rationed according to the time and gas people are willing to waste circling around rather than by Republicans' beloved method for allocating scarce goods, namely money?
Posted by: Bruce on September 30, 2010 08:31 PMSeattle is not so much a city as it is a controlled experiment on the delusional effects of the linear liberal mindset.
Posted by: Rick D. on September 30, 2010 09:29 PMAnd I say this as someone who bicycled over 1000 miles last year. I enjoy cycling for fitness and enjoyment, but absolutely hate the biketivist messenger types who think that it is their right to run every stop sign and that new bike lanes should be installed everywhere.
This is true, Bruce. But the principles of private enterprise also dictate that if there is also a more cost effective alternative to an overpriced product or service, one would be a fool not to take advantage of it.
Seattle has long acted in the belief that citizens of the Puget Sound region have no other alternative than to access desired goods, services, entertainment, etc in downtown Seattle. Such arrogance has well earned the cold shoulder Puget Sounders are now showing this contemptible bastion of Marxist elitism.
Posted by: Saltherring on October 1, 2010 07:21 AMMany of us do not and have not gone to Seattle in quite some time. And for most of us the parking is why we don't go there.
This isn't some kind of threat. It's just the way it is. By making Seattle unpleasant to go to, they are really hurting themselves.
I for one don't care about what the people of Seattle do. I got out of there a long time ago (age 5).
Posted by: CnR on October 1, 2010 09:09 AMCities should accommodate cars while suburbs should accommodate pedestrians and mass transit, but each needs to optimize for the transportation modes that best fit its model. And you and I get to decide where we want to spend our time and money.
But it's comical to say that the increasing number of people making Seattle too crowded for your car is evidence of "the cold shoulder Puget Sounders are now showing this contemptible bastion of Marxist elitism".
Posted by: Bruce on October 1, 2010 09:10 AMI used to go to Mariner and Seahawk games, but I've even given up those as well. In fact, the last time I went to Seattle before last year was the year before last - to watch the Seahawks get pummeled by the Packers.
On each rare occassion I go up there, I am reminded why I don't go there so much anymore. Each year it's more expensive, the traffic is worse, and there are more vagrants on the street badgering you for money.
You can have your progressive paradise - even though it's really neither - I want no part of it.
Posted by: Kato on October 1, 2010 10:36 AMFirst off, automobiles still represent an overwhelming majority of travel, even IN Seattle city limits. I am opposed to hurting the majority for the sake of serving a minority that happens to be in ideological favor with the current administration.
Second, since we're all concerned about viability, the subsidy in Washington state for automobiles is 1.3 cents per passenger mile. By contrast, the WA subsidy for transit lines is 98 cents per passenger mile. So, in what direction do we take transportation here? Do we shoot for economic viability, or do we budget for a colossal transit welfare program?
And other likeminded folks are right to say it's time to pay up for common resources public parking. I just don't know why their concern for economic viability stops at making motorists pay.
Posted by: gulliver on October 1, 2010 10:56 AMWithout cars, huge reduction in trade, commerce and necessary personal travel. Like most leftists, McGinn (ideologically, with no weighing of costs vs benefits for ALL of us) wishes to drag the masses into a better life by his exclusive definition, no matter if they're kicking and screaming. His 'community' has little room for dissenters who wish to make their own transpo decisions. He's a shining example of 'community organizing' as class warfare, minus the consent of the governed. He can't leave office too soon.
Posted by: Insufficiently Sensitive on October 1, 2010 12:58 PMHow many urbanist johnny matrix types do you think lived in Detroit and ridiculed the complainers who threatened to take their business elsewhere, and are now mired in the wasteland of leftist policy failure their city is now?
Posted by: gulliver on October 1, 2010 01:25 PMYou got it.
Personally, I can't recall the last time I needed to go to Seattle, let alone actually went.
So, you want your cesspool? You got it, because you deserve it.
And I'll enjoy watching it rot from a distance.
Posted by: jimg on October 1, 2010 03:03 PMMcGinn is simply letting market economics decide.
It's not that he's forcing everyone to ride a bike, it's that most people don't really have the skills or the income to afford a car, given the real costs involved.
People come from miles around to use the hospitals in Seattle. Often they have no choice about that.
When I have a loved one in the hospital, I wait until after 6:00 pm to park so I can visit.
Repeated hospital visits can be very expensive. McGinn seems to want to make them prohibitively so, causing genuine suffering for patients and their families.
I also live near my job and near my family. I thought city leaders wanted to encourage this, but there is certainly no pay off in terms of commuting. So much time and fuel is wasted sitting in traffic jams and crawling along "road diet" roads.
We need to take back our city from myopic crusading lunatics like McGinn.
Posted by: JMB on October 2, 2010 11:32 AMWhat can you expect from minds that produce this kind of "message" and who see nothing wrong with it?
Given the opportunity, I suspect our good green leftists would be new versions of Pol-Pot in a heartbeat. These are very scary, vile people.
Posted by: Attila on October 3, 2010 09:42 AMAbove is the URL.
Posted by: Attila on October 3, 2010 09:45 AMWRONG.
As of 2007 Nielsen report found, 89% of Americans own cars:
http://img2.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/0705/carowners.pdf
What made you think you could just throw such an absurd claim out without being fact-checked?
Also, I still want to know why you keep euphemizing McGinn's crusades as "free market". McGinn is taking money from hundreds of thousands of property owners, most of whom commute by auto, to serve a minority of ideologically-favored cyclists who receive benefits well out of proportion with the little amount they pay. When majority demand is ignored for the sake of serving a special interest minority, and the majority loses what the minority gains, THAT is not free-market. When you start promoting COMPLETELY user-funded transportation, THEN you can start talking about free markets.
Posted by: gulliver on October 3, 2010 11:11 AMWhen they put tolls on the Lk Wash bridges it will become worse. Only people who work in Seattle will bother to go there and if they are smart, they'll try to change jobs to another location.
Posted by: Clean House on October 4, 2010 10:08 AMAnd it's not the parking.
My last evening visit to Pioneer Square was two years ago, and required skating through the vomit splats of two college girls, and then retrieving the purse of a woman who had just been mugged.
A recent evening visit to Capitol Hill resulted in four kids calling me Shirley and trying to put out a cigarette on my cheek.
Good thing for all of us that I left my .357 magnum at home.
These types of incidents are as common as slices of pizza at Piecora, but they don't get reported.
The U-District after 5 PM ?? Don't even think about it. Once a lovely place kept pleasant by the presence of a couple of beat cops.
Posted by: Bart Cannon on October 5, 2010 02:38 AMThere is a bicycle user census being taken today.
The data is being collected manually by the Cascade Bicycle Club.
Maybe I'll do the same on NE 125th Street and Roosevelt Ave NE. Day-Night-Rain-Sun. I have a 14 channel totalizer. I'll document various categories.
Helmet, head lights, front lights, tail lights, reflective clothing, black hoodies, etc. Oh. And I won't forget to include cars.
I promise I won't let bias enter in to my data collection.
"People come from miles around to use the hospitals in Seattle. Often they have no choice about that.
When I have a loved one in the hospital, I wait until after 6:00 pm to park so I can visit.
Repeated hospital visits can be very expensive. McGinn seems to want to make them prohibitively so, causing genuine suffering for patients and their families."
If only there were some other, less expensive way for people (like those traveling to visit loved ones) to travel in to the city of Seattle other than privately owned cars which require parking...
Cry us a river JMB.
Posted by: MikeBoyScout on October 6, 2010 08:58 AM