West Seattle Transportation Coalition

Here is the Facebook Event page for this meeting, if you wish to join or share it:

https://www.facebook.com/events/398757576945283

DECEMBER 4 UPDATE:

Here is the full Agenda, with segment times and specific guests.

6:30-6:45: Welcome to the WSTC, Introductions, Community News & Updates.

6:45-7:45: Emergency Plan with Q&A: Lawerence Eichhorn (Eich), Emergency Management & Security with SDOT and Debbie Goetz, the Seattle Office of Emergency Management’s Community Planning Coordinator. They will be be joining us in order to provide the whole community perspective and capture ideas for improvement. There will be a 20 to 30 minute presentation on West Seattle earthquake emergency access that will enhance our discussion – with Q&A afterwards.

7:45-8:30: Potential Rapid Ride C Alaska Junction Stop Change: Jonathon Dong, SDOT and Paul Roybal, Metro Transit

A discussion around the proposed changes to the Rapid Ride C in the Alaska Junction. Instead of jogging around 44th, a proposal of the Rapid Ride C continuting down California with a right hand turn onto Alaska with the bus stop just east of California. A SDOT study finds it will save 1 minute to make this change.

8:30: Adjourn.

NOVEMBER 12 INITIAL VERSION:

The full agenda will be pending yet for the December meeting of the West Seattle Transportation Coalition, but here are our three core items:

1. Emergency clearance of the West Seattle Bridge, Spokane Street Viaduct, SR99 north of Spokane. Yet again, on November 12, we had another hours-long event where things were stuck in the morning commute for lack of a timely tow truck. Enough is enough: the city is required to fix this. We have reached out – repeatedly – to SDOT, SPD, the Mayor’s office, and City Council – about this, for months.

2. Emergency access to and from the West Seattle peninsula in the event of an emergency or disaster – if the bridges are closed, or jammed, how does an ambulance reach Harborview Medical Center, for example? We had planned on this since October, before the latest bridge event happened. We will be joined by SDOT’s director of emergency preparedness, Lawrence Eichorn, along with Cindi Barker and Sharonn Meeks of the West Seattle Emergency Hub program.

3. SDOT is looking into moving the Rapid Ride C terminal from eastbound SW Alaska to northbound California SW. Basically, from next to Key Bank to in front of the new condos next to Talarico. The Rapid Ride and other buses would go right up California, for a potential savings of one minute of travel time. SDOT has been doing outreach on this and we will be joined by them, the West Seattle Junction Association that represents Junction businesses, and other stakeholders for a mutual discussion on the pros and cons of the idea.

We hope to see you in December, and remember – starting in January 2015, we will no longer meet on the 2nd Tuesday of each month, and are moving to the 4th Thursday of each month.

• Find us online: http://www.westseattletc.org
• Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/westseattletc
• Join our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/westseattletct
• Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/WSTCoalition

Today, King County Executive Dow Constantine, Chair of the Sound Transit Board, and County Councilmember Joe McDermott, also on the Sound Transit Board, announced their plan to add future high-capacity transit service to West Seattle and Burien to the Long-Range Plan now being prepared for Sound Transit.

When Sound Transit did a survey of residents — nearly 1000 respondents from West Seattle, we heard — the desire and approval for Light Rail from West Seattle to downtown was well over 92% in favor. That’s absurdly unprecedented uniformity and desire in favor of it happening. This is the only option we have in the long term for our kids and grandkids, and we’re decades behind from our predecessors allowing Atlanta to take Federal money away from us to get their subway before us by failing to pass Forward Thrust.

We need to do this or we’re completely done. There is no part of the city not growing denser, and all communities have to absorb their share. There is no viable political tactic to stop jobs growing here and no legally viable way to keep people moving here. The only opposition we have ever really heard to Sound Transit and Metro are based in general opposition to public transit or general opposition to rail, or the unsubstantiated belief that if we do nothing it will somehow “freeze” our city in time and place, or just West Seattle. Every viewpoint is out of alignment with every political reality on the ground or in Seattle in general.

Those issues are generally outside the WSTC’s realm, but transit isn’t. Transit is coming, transit will grow, and transit must grow. The other things happening just cement that need.

This is not just to service today’s population, and the wishes to a degree of today’s population must be secondary to the needs of our children and tomorrow’s population. It’s how it has to be and it’s what poll after poll and vote after vote has said. We need expanded transit and our population overwhelmingly and demonstrably supports it.

News coverage:

http://westseattleblog.com/2014/10/sound-transit-light-rail-for-west-seattle-constantine-mcdermott-announce-theyll-seek-to-get-ws-into-sts-updated-plan/

http://www.westseattleherald.com/2014/10/30/news/constantine-mcdermott-call-adding-west-seattle–0

Seattle, Washington & King County – September 28^th, 2014

###

After one year of meetings, panels, research, and outreach, the West Seattle Transportation Coalition has identified the following as the most pressing transportation issues for the West Seattle peninsula, which are within the power of the City of Seattle to directly address and resolve. It is our belief that the City can resolve each of these concerns if funding were made available.

These are an assortment of safety, commuting, business impact, freight mobility, and quality of life issues. In some cases, lives may be on the line.

The issues are the following:

1. Expand vehicle capacity from the West Seattle Bridge to SR-99.
2. Develop a “West Seattle Peninsula” emergency relief plan.
3. Increase access to the westbound Spokane St. Viaduct from SODO.
4. Complete the Lander Street Overpass.
5. Immediate mitigation of traffic events to West Seattle peninsula chokepoints.

Today, we have sent a letter to Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, City Council President Tim Burgess, and City Council Transportation Committee Chair Tom Rasmussen, on behalf of our membership of eleven local community groups and various citizens.  The letters details each of these issues, possible resolutions, and calling for action to be taken on and spearheaded by the City of Seattle to resolve each of the five items to the satisfaction of West Seattle residents and businesses.

We have asked the City of Seattle to respond to our concerns with a plan of action for each of these five items by January 9^th, 2015.

The West Seattle Transportation Coalition (WSTC) is a peninsula-wide organization working to address transportation and mobility issues for Seattle’s largest constituency. Representing more than 100,000 people living and working in the 10 square mile area between the Duwamish River and Puget Sound, we are community leaders, advocates, business owners, residents and workers focused on addressing the transportation and commuting challenges of West Seattle.

###

You will find a PDF copy of the letter to the City of Seattle here:

WSTC Letter to the City of Seattle – September 28 2014

You may also read it in-line here:

Hi, in case you were curious, we have no meeting today for August 2014, but we’re back to work in September 2014, which is also the anniversary of our first ever meeting!

Join the West Seattle Transportation Coalition and Sound Transit to discuss the future of Light Rail and Bus Rapid Transit to and from West Seattle on Tuesday, July 8th, 2014 from 6:30pm to 8:30pm. Neighborhood House High Point Center, 6400 Sylvan Way SW in West Seattle, just east of the intersection of 35th Ave SW and SW Morgan. For bus, take the #21 or #128. The full agenda will be out later.

Read Sound Transit’s Long Range Plan Update here: http://www.soundtransit.org/Projects-and-Plans/Long-range-Plan-update

Full Agenda:

6:30-6:40: Welcome, Introductions, Community news, Updates.

6:40-6:55: A review of some West Seattle related activities the past month and committee updates (if any).

• The WSTC testified before the City Council on the city’s “Plan C” to fund metro. You can watch our segment of testimony here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLHwDbA_hFs
• Call for someone to chair the Outreach Committee (currently a very light workload, will ramp up later).
• Call for volunteers to meet for planning and discussion of some proposed public records requests on financial data.
• Call for volunteers to work on some letters to the city.
• Should we skip our August meeting and host a table at Delridge Day and the Gathering of Neighbors instead, on Saturday, August 9th?

6:55-7:00: New business from the Membership.

7:00-8:15: Sound Transit will be presenting to us, with Rachel Smith, their Government and Community Relations Officer, and Chris Rule, one of their Planners, joining us. What are the routes? Where would Light Rail and Bus Rapid Transit go to and through West Seattle? Come for the presentation and a Q&A. You can read some of the Sound Transit materials here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/222955539/South-King-County-HCT-Sound-Transit-study-progress-report

8:15-8:30: Last call for new business.

8:30: Adjourn.