Turns out, parking on the Hill is hard to find whether you drive a car or ride a bicycle.

Commute Seattle released a study recently that analyzed the state of privately-provided bike parking available to people commuting to the city’s center. The result shows that Capitol Hill’s city center non-residential buildings have the fewest number of privately-provided bike parking spaces of all other city center neighborhoods, and that the spaces available are of a disproportionately poor quality.

Basically, if you can’t find a city-installed rack, your options are limited:

DIY bike rack on Pine.

The study only looked at Capitol Hill south of Mercer and west of Broadway as part of its city center study. Only non-residential buildings that can accommodate commuter bicycle parking were counted, of which there are 104 on the Hill. Of those 104, only four provided a bike rack. At less than four percent of buildings, the Hill’s rate is far lower than any other city center neighborhood.

The study found only 110 privately-owned bike parking spaces in the neighborhood. However, the Hill also has a lower-than-average stock of bike parking that is safe from theft, weather and damage. Less than ten percent of the parking spaces are of “preferred” quality, a rate far lower than the other neighborhoods studied. That means the study found only 22 high quality, privately-provided spaces in the whole neighborhood.

The city’s building codes require bike parking, but only buildings constructed or renovated since 2006 would have fallen under this code. This has created a gap in bike parking amenities between new and old buildings throughout the city.

Property and business owners should not expect the city to help out the bike parking situation any time soon, though. SDOT has put the Bike Spot program — which installs both sidewalk bike racks and on-street bike parking corrals — on hold and has offered the program up for budget cuts (see my coverage at Seattle Bike Blog).

“We don’t know yet whether the cut will be accepted at the citywide level, but until we have certainty, we are not proceeding with any further bicycle rack work,” said Sam Woods from SDOT. “We understand that this may be disappointing, but it was one of many painful cuts SDOT was forced to offer.”

The full Commute Seattle report is below:

EETP Commute Seattle Final Report FINAL

The recently opened Cure on Nagle Place adds European meats, cheeses, and Kokanee tall cans (Sorry — don’t bring your brown paper sacks. On-premise liquor sales only right now) to the growing list of neighborhood goods available to fuel strolls through Cal Anderson. CHS met with Cure’s Amy Haldane to discuss the menu, break in newly installed bar stools, and learn what pairs with dodgeball.

What’s your favorite cheap snack in the neighborhood?
You can’t go wrong with any taco from Rancho Bravo.

Which wine would I find on your table right now? If it’s Mad Dog 2020, I won’t think less of you. I could see needing a break from “delicious” wines.
We like to call the wine we drink these days “brown wine,” which is Jameson.

You and your husband are food industry veterans. Are there aspects of places you’ve worked, like Grim’s and Honeyhole, that you hope to recreate at Cure, besides the thing where you provide people with food and drinks and a place to ingest them?
We’ve been in the industry a long time, and I think we’re pulling from everywhere we’ve worked. (Laughs) Definitely the part where they’re busy. Also, both of those places have owners who are very good to employees, and we want to emulate that.

How do you hope Cure’s proximity to Cal Anderson will affect business?
It should be great for business. We’ve tried to keep our menu accessible and affordable. Also, you just don’t want a heavy beer after a game of dodge ball, so we have Busch (laughs.)

As far as flavor is concerned, which cheap beers you decide to stock seems pretty arbitrary. What made you choose to serve Kokanee tall boys and Busch on Tap?
Kokanee has spent some time in our fridge, and it’s available in a tall can. We were looking for something that isn’t PBR.

Where do you go for wine in the neighborhood?
Tin Table. They have an incredible happy hour.

What would you say is the most unusual wine on the menu?
Maybe the Ribolla Gialla Primosic. Or the Bourgogne Aligote Perles D’Or — you don’t see that around very often.

You probably did lots of sampling while planning the menu for Cure. Ever try something that has been hyped a lot, and discover it tastes disgusting?
Nothing’s really been gross, but we haven’t tried any pates yet (laughs.)

Cure is located at 1641 Nagle Pl and open Tuesday through Sunday, 4p-2a. You can learn more at http://www.cureseattle.com/

Images: Sarah Galvin/CHS

The man suspected of impersonating police officers in an attempt to steal cars near Seattle University has been arrested in Beaverton, Oregon, according to SPD. Michael James Beach was allegedly unsuccessful in his first attempt on campus May 16, but was able to steal a car at gunpoint on a subsequent try an hour and a half later near 13th and Marion.

From the SPD Blotter:

Armed robbery suspect and police impersonator  Michael James Beach was arrested by US Marshalls just after 3 p.m. today in Beaverton, Oregon.  He was unarmed and cooperative during arrest.  It is expected that he will be booked into a Portland, Oregon area jail and held for Investigation of Fugitive.

While the suspect is in custody, detectives still have work to do to complete the case.  Big thanks goes out to the US Marshalls and the rest of the general public who kept on the lookout for him while he was being sought.

In both instances, Beach allegedly approached people who had stopped their cars and said they needed to move because he was about to “raid” a nearby residence, according to Seattle Crime. When the second victim asked to see his badge, Beach allegedly showed the victim a gun in his waistband. The victim then exited his vehicle. Beach then got into the driver’s seat and drove away.

As part of the city’s Transit Master Plan, the city has identified 15 transit corridors as priority corridors. The top three to five will be evaluated for high capacity transit, such as bus rapid transit and rail, while the other corridors will be analyzed for speed and reliability improvements, such as bus bulbs, bus-only lanes and bus-prioritized signals at traffic lights.

The corridors selected, which SDOT presented to the City Council Transportation Committee earlier this month, do not represent current bus lines. The TMP is not meant to redesign King County Metro’s bus route structure, according to Seattle Transit Blog. Instead, the TMP will create a list of priority transit-related road projects that the city can fund as those funds are available or as a city leader directs politically. It is similar to the city’s existing Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plans.

Looking at a zoom of the Hill, already popular transit corridors are there, such as the Broadway, 10th Ave E and Harvard corridor currently used by the 49 as well as the Madison, 23rd/24th, and Thomas/John corridors. These segments are already heavily used by transit.

However, in the plan, the Broadway corridor shifts onto 12th Ave E a few blocks north of the under-construction light rail station. It then continues south on 12th, across the Jose Rizal Bridge and across Beacon Hill, meeting up with Othello Station in Rainier Valley.

The plan’s corridor selection criteria was based on several factors, including what will be needed after the completion of planned projects. From the SDOT Blog:

You can think about service design principles as a way to describe the elements of a strong transit corridor: mixed land uses, diverse demographics, desirable destinations, priority over auto traffic, high quality pedestrian and bicycle access, and convenient connections to other transit services. In the case of the Transit Master Plan, the service design principles are closely tied to the goals of the plan and include social equity, network and system connectivity, getting people where they want to go, and leveraging already planned investments.

Meanwhile, if you want to help prioritize the city’s transportation spending, you will have a chance Thursday, May 26 at Washington Middle School at 21st and Jackson in the Central District. The Citizens Transportation Advisory Committee III (CTAC) is holding its third and final public workshop to gather input on where to spend the city’s transportation dollars. This is the closest workshop to the Hill. If you can’t make it, you can take the CTAC online survey.

Workshop details:

Washington Middle School Cafeteria, 2101 South Jackson Street

Mayor Mike McGinn in attendance

 

WORKSHOP AGENDA

5:30 – 6:00 p.m. – Open House

6:00 – 6:30 p.m. – Presentations by CTAC members and SDOT Director Peter Hahn

6:30 – 7:30 p.m. – Break-out Groups

Here’s the Transit Master Plan slideshow presented to the Transportation Committee May 10: transportation20110510_5

Tuesday, May 24 6:30pm

Hamlin Robinson School  (TT Minor Building)

1700 E Union, Seattle 98122

Join us for a screening of the Journey into Dyslexia, a brand new film in partnership with IDA, HBO and the Oscar®-winning filmmakers Alan and Susan Raymond.

The film features profiles of dyslexic students and adults who share their experiences of struggling in school and then succeeding in life. Each share their frustration with being misunderstood by teachers and friends and the emotional impact this learning disability had on their lives. Journey Into Dyslexia reveals that many adult professionals who once struggled to learn in school consider their dyslexia a unique gift and the defining reason behind their success.

The journeys into dyslexia are told by students ranging from 2nd grade to college plus entrepreneur Steve Walker of New England Pellet, inventor Ben Foss of Intel, author Jonathan Mooney, consumer advocate Erin Brockovitch and Nobel Laureate Dr. Carol Greider. Dr. Guinevere Eden, Director of Child Development at Georgetown University, explains the causes of dyslexia. Other experts include Dr. Mary Anne Wolf, author of Proust and the Squid, who describes the difficulty of learning to read for everyone.

Open to the whole community. Panel discussion to follow film presentation.

Presentation made possible by:
Washington Branch of the International Dyslexia Association
Hamlin Robinson School
Slingerland Institute for Literacy
Wired for Reading
Read On

3 clock hours available for educators.

Our Boston Terrier Louis was able to get out of our back yard at 215 26th ave s yesterday sometime between 11-4.  He is black and white and was wearing a red collar with our address and phone number and also a gray and blue rain coat.  He weighs 19lbs and has big rabbit ears.  We love him sooooooooo much and we are heart broken that he hasn’t returned.  Please if you have any information we would love to hear from you.

The Society of Professional Journalists Pacific Northwest regional awards were handed out this weekend at Safeco Park and CHS was again recognized as one of the leading hyperlocal news sites. On the planet. No #1 for us this time, however — We came in third. But check out the competition that knocked us off! Burien and Walla Walla? Clearly we had no chance of a repeat. Still thanks for all the support. Attached, please find the best picture taken of jseattle by the roving awards ceremony photographers. At one point during the evening, but not when the picture was taken, jseattle was sitting right behind that railing.

Best Site, Specialized Geography (hyperlocal)

1st Place
Staff
LOL Dudez, LLC
The B-Town Blog

2nd Place
Carlos Virgen, Katrina Barlow
Walla Wall Union-Bulletin
Voices from the Walla Walla Valley

3rd Place
Justin Carder
CHS Capitol Hill Seattle, LLC
CapitolHillSeattle.com

Has anyone else been experiencing alarming shaking of your houses as a result of the light-rail tunnel drilling? It’s been pretty pronounced over the past several days and this morning my windows were actually shaking a bit, as were the glasses in our cupboards. Hope this doesn’t go on for long. More importantly, I hope this construction is not destabilizing the foundation of our house…

There can only be one… every month.

A well-financed start-up based out of the Odd Fellows building launched a website in April that allows people to compete online for $2,500 cash. King of the Web competitors create an online campaign where they explain why they should be crowned “King.” Whoever gets the most votes wins, and a new king is crowned every month.

“It’s a place for anybody to go and vote for whoever they think is awesome online,” said Casey Selleck, the company’s VP of Marketing and Business Development. Candidates are encouraged to spread the word through their own social networks to bring their followers and friends to the site.

The reigning king is a YouTube video blogger from the Seattle area named BananaNeil, but his reign is facing a serious challenge from a rescued French bulldog named clyde_with_a_y. Clyde has vowed to donate the winnings to the French Bulldog Rescue Network and has received a lot of help from that organization’s fans.

The company anticipated that non-profits would likely play a big role in the site’s popularity and will be launching a charitable arm of the site in the future, said Selleck.

The company has some high-powered backing. Two of the founders, Rich Barton and Nick Hanauer, have had a hand in quite a few successful Internet companies in the Seattle area, including Expedia, Amazon, aQuantive and Zillow. “It’s one of those ideas that’s totally binary. It will be huge or it will be nothing,” Barton told TechCrunch last fall in reference to King of the Web. At the time, he had just stepped down as CEO of Zilliow.com.

The idea for the site came from a brainstorm among the founders, said Selleck.

“There really is no one place on the web for people to choose who they want their celebrity to be,” she said. “What if the Like button on Facebook meant something?” Thus, the cash prize.

The company is “still building out the revenue model,” said Selleck, but it will likely be based around the sale of virtual goods and advertising.

The company, which currently employs eleven people full-time, chose to locate on Capitol Hill because the neighborhood is supportive of start-up businesses, she said. The office space they chose in the Odd Fellows building is a “plywood box” in the old Velocity Dance Center space.

“We wanted to be part of the creative community here,” Selleck said. 

You can see what they’re building at http://kingofweb.com/.

If you own a home or business south of Roy, you may qualify for a city program that helps home or business owners make your buildings more energy efficient. Where before energy efficiency programs were confusing and sometimes overwhelming, Community Power Works will attempt to guide people through the process from start to finish.

The program, which covers much of central and south Seattle, launched May 3. Aside from guiding people, the program also helps home and business owners get a loan from the non-profit lender Enterprise Cascadia. Payments on the loan can be paid through your City Light bill. To put that another way, if the energy efficiency projects save electricity (and, therefore, electricity costs), you may be able to pay off the work through your energy bill savings.

Jannifer Langston at Sightline explained some of the other benefits offered through the program:

• An energy expert to set up appointments and guide them through the process.
• A deeply discounted home energy assessment (cost: $95) to determine which improvements will be most cost-effective.
• Bids from pre-approved contractors that bundle together all applicable energy efficiency rebates and incentives.
• Information about financing options.
• Affordable loans from Enterprise Cascadia, a non-profit community lender, which can be paid back on the home’s electric bill.
• A followup audit to make sure the work has been done correctly and that the energy savings are being realized.

To get started, you can apply online. If you have more questions, email [email protected]