Matthew grew up in rural South Alabama and has lived in the Seattle area since 2007, settling down in Columbia City in 2012. Active in transportation issues, he is a cofounder of Seattle Subway. Since December 2013 he works at Sound Transit. All opinions are solely those of the author.
Two weeks ago as part of our semi-regular Link Excuse of the Week series we highlighted the Columbia City Farmers Market and the Ride Route 7 Promotion. The event was a smashing success. When I arrived after work the line was around the block. While I was waiting they ran out of pledge cards. When I left an hour and half later the line was still around the block. Curious, I wrote to SDOT asking about the event. Many thanks to Jonathan Dong and the whole Ride Route 7 team at SDOT for the quick and thorough response (below the fold):
A gasoline tax remains particularly objectionable, opposed by 63 percent of those in the new survey — down from 72 percent in March.
In the new survey, 53 percent opposed a license-tab tax increase, down from 62 percent in March.
And 52 percent opposed tolling major roadways, down from 61 percent in March.
Overall, 54 percent of those in the new survey agreed with the statement that we cannot afford to raise taxes to pay for transportation improvements at this time. Forty percent said we can’t afford not to improve our transportation system, so taxes will have to be raised.
For transit supporters this is a mixed result. While many feel the current highway expansion package is flawed and hope it will fail (see comments at link), most agree that we need to raise the gas tax and other user fees in order to maintain what we already have and fund alternatives to driving.
Thankfully, an EMC poll was released today with starkly different results. On the surface the poll subject seems similar, but Erica Barnett at PubliCola made some good points about differences between the two. However, I think she missed the most important distinction. The Elway poll asked only about unspecified “transportation improvements” while the EMC specified a “statewide transportation package this year to address congestion and safety issues; fund road and bridge maintenance and improvements; and provide additional transit funding.”
In other words, when the question is framed as Fix It and Transit, it wins across the board.
The Columbia City Business Association has revamped and upgraded Beatwalk for it’s 19th year. Events are now on the second Sunday of the month June-October from 4-9pm and FREE. Location is Downtown Columbia City, a short walk east from the Columbia City Link Station.
Each Sunday event will have it’s own theme and unique lineup. June 9th is “Funky Times”:
4 to 8 – Roving Street Performers
4:30 to 8:30 – Cyrille Gosselin at Tutta Bella
5 to 8 – DJMCG5000 – live funk DJ on the street
5 to 6:30 – Kid Feature at Arc Lodge Cinema
6 to 7 – The Beaconettes at Columbia City Gallery
6:30 to 8:30 – Jeff Fielder & Friends at Island Soul
7 to 9 – Thadillac at The Royal Room
7:30 to 9:30 – Eldridge Gravy & The Court Supreme at Columbia City Theater
8 to 10 – McTuff at Lottie’s Lounge
For more inforation and to see the full summer lineup check out their webpage or facebook page.
Friend of the blog Bill LaBorde has informed us that the Government Performance and Finance Committee meeting scheduled for June 5, at which the Spokane Street savings issues (Ship Canal Crossing and UW-SLU HCT studies) were going to be decided, will be pushed back to June 19. The reason for the delay is that Councilmember Burgess will be out of town with family. In addition the council is waiting on more information from the City Budget Office on the savings.
We have written on the studies here and here. If anyone would like to comment on them, the meeting will be in the Council Chambers (City Hall, up the stairs), Wednesday June 19th, at 9:30am. Come at least half an hour early to ensure you get a chance to testify!
To highlight their Rainier Corridor work SDOT is conducting a Ride Route 7 promotion. They’ve put together a website, a facebook page, sent postcards to residents, and will be hosting outreach events in the Rainier Valley this summer:
Columbia City Farmers Market (3698 S Edmunds St)
Wednesday, May 22, 3 – 7pm
Wednesday, June 5, 3 – 7pm
Saar’s Marketplace (9000 Rainier Ave S.)
Saturday, June 15, 11 – 3pm
Saturday, June 22, 11 – 3pm
SDOT staff will be there with information and to answer questions. Those who come to one of the events and pledge to Ride Route 7 receive a $25 ORCA Card.The Columbia City Farmer’s Market is a great excuse to check out the Rainier Valley in its own right. If you have the money (it is not cheap, but worth it) check out the award winning La Medusa around the corner. Every Weds during Farmers Market Season they will have a special menu featuring the freshest produce of the day.
Just be sure to ride the 7 back to Downtown and check out the improvements along the way.
Bruce Gray at Sound Transit was kind enough to send us the newest station level data report for Link. These reports are a treasure trove of information, too much in fact for one post. Some things I found interesting:
During the week the Rainier Valley (Beacon Hill Station to Rainier Beach Station) accounts for 28% of all boardings and alightings. During the weekend it is only 22%. This suggests a strong commuter focus and room for continued growth.
Growth rates at Rainier Valley stations are higher than system average, except for Rainier Beach Station which is half of system average.
International District/Chinatown Station has the least weekday to weekend fluctuation, Stadium Station the most.
SeaTac Airport Station, Tukwila International Blvd Station, and Westlake dominate weekend ridership (52% of all boardings and alightings).
Combined with earlier reports we now have data from February 6th 2010 to February 15th 2013:
Also, see Station Level Data posts from 2010 and last year, and other related charts and a data posts from Bruce and Andrew. I’ve also uploaded my spreadsheet (where I have a half dozen charts) if anyone wants to play around with the data.
Enjoy!
[UPDATE – 13JUN13] As noted in this post, there was an error in Service Change 19. Both the link and my spreedsheet have been upadated.
Festivities begin with an art opening at 5:30 pm, Thursday, May 16, at Mioposto, 3601 S. McClellan St, a one half mile walk from the station. Walk north on Rainier until McClellan, then east. Mioposto is located in my all time favorite building in Seattle. A beautiful art deco building that serves as the anchor of that part of the neighborhood (but unfortunately could not be built today). The main attraction is the talent show Friday, May 17, starting at 7 p.m. in the school’s auditorium, 3013 S. Mount Baker Blvd. The arts festival will be from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 18, on the plaza in front of FHS.
The events, which are open to the public, bring together students, their families, teachers and staff and Mount Baker neighbors. The festival raises money to benefit Franklin’s art, drama and music programs and student clubs, while the talent show raises money for the senior class of 2015. Tickets to the talent show are $3 for FHS students and $5 for others. The art opening and the arts festival are free.
The festival will feature student performances, including the steel drum band, fashion club, jazz band, Quaker band and lion dancers, along with displays of visual art, ceramics and wood arts. Student clubs will sell heirloom tomato and vegetable plants, treats and handmade crafts. Also for sale are woodcrafts, such as cutting boards, created by students and notecards featuring student art. Vietnamese sandwiches, chips and soft drinks also will be for sale.
A few weeks back ST released their corrected February 2013 ridership report (an Excel error threw off Sounder numbers in the earlier version) and once again the system had healthy year-on-year gains for most services.
February’s Central Link Weekday/Saturday/Sunday boardings were 25,370/18,015/12,934, increases of 14.4%, 21.0%, and 12.2% respectively over February 2012. Sounder’s weekday boardings were up 8.7% (21% North, 9% South)*, but Tacoma Link continued it’s downward trend, – 2.3% weekdays (although part of this is due to running Sunday service on President’s Day). ST Express Ridership increased 7.5% (part of this is counting tunnel trips). Overall weekday system ridership was up a very healthy 9.0%.
The report for March would normally be released around this time, but due to the cancellation of this month’s Operations Committee meeting the numbers will be rolled into the 1st Quarterly Report due out at the end of the month. Bruce Gray was kind enough to provide us with their March Link ridership estimates which show continuing strong growth: 26,485 Weekday, 20,771 Saturday, and 14,603 Sunday riders. Weekday ridership in March was up 13% from last year. Ten out of the last 12 months have had higher than 10% year over year growth.
For those who couldn’t attend last Wednesday’s Government Performance and Finance Committee meeting, you didn’t miss much. Some time between printing the official agenda and starting the meeting Councilmember Burgess pushed back the Ship Canal Crossing Study and University District to SLU Study to the May 15th meeting. In an earlier post we mentioned some reasons why these studies are important:
Both of these projects are needed. We have the money, the Council just needs to follow through on its prior commitments and allow the Mayor to fund them. The more shovel ready projects we have, the better able we are to compete when federal dollars come available.
Unfortunately, yesterday Councilmember Burgess’ staff let us know that the initial discussion of these items will be pushed back even further, to the June 5th Government Performance and Finance Committee meeting. Apparently, they need more time “to sort through technical and policy questions related to [the] transportation items.”
