We did it (I think)!

[Support the Nickerson St. Road Diet]

Hey supporters,

Well the meeting at City Hall the other day went as expected. There was about a 50-50 split for and against the road diet with a lot of mis-statements and mis-understandings coming from the other side including those from one state rep. (Mary Lou Dickerson, D-36) who completely ignored the facts because they just don't support her alignment with business over safety. Let's think about that come election time, shall we?

Anyway, I haven't written before now because I was hoping for a fuller story to corroborate this short post in The Seattle Times that says Rasmussen is going to back off and the re-striping will likely start in July. But a few other blogs picked it up and he called me yesterday to "close the loop" by thanking me (and by extension, you) for your involvement in this process. He told me that when people are told that roads they have been driving on forever are changing, it's hard for them to believe that they will get better. In other words, it looks like we did it!

Thank you to all of you who supported this effort by getting the word out, writing emails, making phone calls and being supportive. I started this group in the hopes of finding others who are concerned about road safety and know that as pedestrians and bike riders, we don't just need to yield to cars. I found them and I thank you deeply for helping make this happen.

This may be the end of the Nickerson fight (MAY be.... I don't think it's done till the striping is complete) but there's always going to be another battle to fight in order to get our fair share of road space. So please, keep your ears and eyes open and speak up when a good project that promotes getting around but not driving comes up. Becoming a member of Cascade Bicycle Club, Bicycle Alliance of Washington and/or Feet First are all great ways to stay informed. So are reading blogs such as Seattle Likes Bikes!, Bike Intelligencer and Seattle Transit Blog. Even if there is no protest against it, send some messages of support. Let your elected reps know that you and your neighbors care about this kind of thing and demand more access to the roads for non-vehicular users. Cars will be with us for a long time, but they don't have to dominate us.

Again, thank you all for your support. I'll keep monitoring the Nickerson Diet and if I hear of another move to quash it, you can bet you'll hear from me.

Charles

SUPPORT INCREASED SAFETY FOR ALL
SUPPORT THE NICKERSON ROAD DIET

Join the Google Group.
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email us at Nickerso...@gmail.com 

[BikeIntelligencer]

Oops, ignore previous message...looks like Charles closed the loop for us!

There's always the possibility of the dreaded legal action. Let's hope this sticks tho.

And Charles, what would we have done without your "communications central" updates, suggestions and calls to action! Big thanks to YOU for stepping up!

Cheers,

Paul

Cycling: http://bikeintelligencer.com

Personal: http://paulandrews.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/bikeintel

[Joshua Daniel Franklin]

I appreciate all your work on this, too, but I don't think road diets are about
cars vs others, it's about "right-sizing" the road design for its surroundings.
One result of the Stone Way diet was fewer vehicles traveling 10+ mph over
the speed limit, which improves road safety for everyone including other
drivers.