Seattle Likes Bikes!

First, we thank Councilmember Burgess, Police Chief Kerlikowske, City Attorney Tom Carr, and Cascade Bicycle Club for organizing a meeting between cyclists and the city to discuss the Critical Mass incident.  The meeting was very positive and professional.  Currently the cyclists and motorist have not been charged.  The decision to press charges or not is in the hands of the King County prosecutor.  Seattle Police Department will have an increased presence at the next Critical Mass, but their goal is just to keep things safe for everyone and avoid the type of PD vs. Cyclist confrontations that NYPD is having these days.

So what happened?  The Capitol Hill Critical Mass incident in July is still making national news.  The NPR Talk of The Nation radio program discussed it just yesterday and they still have it wrong. 

We think this is what happened:

1. Just before 7pm on a narrow residential street that is highlighted as a common route on the Seattle Bicycle Map, between 150 and 300 cyclists were traveling eastbound and encountered a car traveling westbound.

2. The car driver pulled over and waited for three fourths of the group to go through, until the group thinned.

3. The car driver then started a 3 point turn, blocking the entire street, to start to travel with the flow of the cyclists instead of against the flow.  As part of this move, the car backed up over the curb, over a patch of grass, and over a sidewalk until the rear bumper was pushing into shrubs.

4. This move was seen as erratic and dangerous by the cyclists, and three cyclists stopped in front of the car and asked the driver to wait.

5. The car driver continued to move the car forward and back and started yelling “I have a reservation”.  The cyclists yelled back.

6. The car driver pulled forward and knocked a female cyclist on the ground, with the front bumper moving several feet over her body.  (victim #1)  She remained on the ground motionless for the rest of the incident.

7. More cyclists yelled, and five more cyclists positioned themselves to block the car as the car driver started another 3 point turn to position the car to flee the scene without hitting victim #1 again.

8. The car driver yelled “Fuck This” and hit the gas.  The car lurched forward, dragging one cyclist 6 feet before the passenger side front tire rolled over his leg.  (victim #2)

9. Another cyclist jumped on the hood as the car driver attempted to flee the scene (hit and run).

10. The car, turned toward the direction of the cyclists, driving into a large group.  The tail end of that group heard the screams, saw a car with a cyclist on the front window, and stopped the car at the end of the block.  The cyclist on the window smashed the window once the car stopped.

11. Several cyclists from the first scene ran the 150 to 200 feet to the second scene.  One of those used a pocketknife to disable the car by slashing three tires.  Meanwhile the driver got out of the car and stepped a few feet away and started apologizing profusely.

12. As the driver was losely surrounded by 8 or so cyclists from the back of the group, one cyclist ran down from the first scene, hit the driver on the head with a u-lock and fled the scene.  (victim #3) At this point, everyone started calling 911.

13. When the police arrived after 5 minutes, amazing response time for a cyclist incident in Seattle given that another cyclist waited 90 minutes for a police response when he was run over by a school bus, they interviewed everyone.

14. In the middle of the interviews, the police had a shift change and new officers took over.  The new officer in charge didn’t appear to talk to anyone where the cyclists were hit and determined that “cyclists attacked car and driver” instead of “car struck two cyclists, attempted hit and run, then 3 cyclists attacked the car”.  When cyclists protest, his response was “Well, this is how I’m writing it up.”

15. SPD arrested two cyclists but does not charge them.

16. SPD released the conclusion that “cyclists attacked car and driver” to the news media.

17. The news media described it as a cyclist mob attack on an innocent, scared driver with a pregnant passenger.

18. The driver described it as “so Seattle”, him being a gay guy with a lesbian passenger who were attacked by eco-terrorists.

19. Later, some news reports put some of the cyclist perspective in the second half of their stories after the “cyclists attack car” story.

Conclusions:

Critical Mass screwed up by not staying in one mass.  It needed to “Mass Up”.

Critical Mass screwed up by not encouraging yelling corkers to move on and put calmer corkers in place.

The driver screwed up by running over two people and attempting to flee the scene.

Critical Mass screwed up by not detaining the u-lock guy.

The police screwed up by having a shift change mid-investigation and by releasing an inflamatory summary to the news media.

The media screwed up by not taking time to investigate or try to get facts before releasing such a “man bites dog” story with the potential for an inflamatory response.  Road rage happens between people in cars and other people in cars.  Road rage even happens between people in cars and people on bicycles, but it doesn’t make the news until people on bicycles attack back. 

Postscript:

Thanks to Seattle Times and Cascade Bicycle Club for leveraging this mess for some positive educational uses.

Thanks to SPD for the planned increased presence to encourage safety at the Critical Mass ride this month.

Seattle Likes Bikes encourages the King County Prosecutor to charge the driver of the car with attempted hit and run with the hopes the the punishment would be a set of anger management and time management classes.

Seattle Likes Bikes encourages Critical Mass riders to “Mass Up”, and keep the ride tight and safe.

After the meeting last night, it is clear that the story of the incident hasn’t gotten clearly communicated and that there needs to be a meeting with the city where eyewitnesses are given a chance to speak.

Please join Seattle Likes Bikes in politely emailing Seattle City Councilmember Tim Burgess.

We are asking to have a public meeting in the council chambers that can hold a large group of people where they allow time for witnesses to give their views of what happened and to petition the city and Seattle Police Department to avoid over-reacting to this incident.  We are also continue to ask that the driver be charged for hitting one person, doing a 3 point turn and then driving over another person and finally driving about 50 yards with a third person on his windshield.

 From our friends at the Bikery: 

*MEETING TO SUPPORT CRITICAL MASS*
*Sunday, August 3rd 6pm *
*20/20 Cycles, 2020 E Union St*

The Bikery invites you to a public meeting to discuss support for Critical Mass Riders traumatized and injured in Friday’s  attack and aid for riders targetted by the police. Witnesses and participants are particularly invited to come and share their stories. If you are not comfortable coming forward but would still like to share your story you can have a statement read for you. This is not a press conference. Refreshments will be provided.

Through collaborative, hands on education on bikes and biking, the Bikerycultivates the personal, social, and environmental benefits of bicycling.

The Bikery does not organize Seattle Critical Mass. The Bikery does not claim to speak for Seattle Critical Mass. The Bikery is dedicated to improving Seattle’s rich bicycle culture and supporting Seattle cyclists in
trouble.

Seattle Likes Bikes does not organize or claim to speak for Seattle Critical Mass either, but we do think that it is a vital component of the bicycling culture in Seattle.

Just to update everyone, some folks have gotten responses from Tom Carr and Tim Burgess.

Thanks for your e-mail. We have not received any referral from the police department on this matter. If and when we get one, we will file if the facts demonstrate that a jury would be justified in convicting. I have heard that the police have referred cases arising out of this incident to the County Prosecutor for felony prosecution.

Tom Carr

and

I am meeting with the City Attorney and Chief Kerlikowske about the situation surrounding Critical Mass, and will ask the Chief your question.

Thank you for writing,

Tim Burgess

While this isn’t prosecution of the driver yet, people are talking.  In related news Seattle is having a disagreement with Olympia about the 2005 “assault by vehicle” ordinance. Please drop an email to your state representatives.

We are still waiting for the meeting that Cascade Bicycle Club is trying to organize in Seattle between bicycle riders, critical mass riders, Seattle Police Department, the City Attorney, and City Council. We hope that meeting can be arranged soon and we hope that Seattle can avoid the type of cyclist vs. police officer confrontations that New York City has.

On July 25th , a car driver tried to pull out from where he was parked mid-block and pulled into a group of people on bicycles. For the safety of the group, some people tried to stop the car. Frustrated at being late for a dinner reservation, the driver yelled at the cyclists and then drove directly into them, pinning one of them under his car and throwing another on top of the car. He then attempted to flee the scene.

Enraged fellow cyclists then attacked and damaged the motorist’s car. The cyclists who attacked the car are being (rightly, in our opinion) prosecuted. So far, the the driver is not facing even so much as a reckless driving citation.

This is a travesty. It appeared that the driver was trying to kill.

Please consider contacting City Councilmember Tim Burgess and City Attorney Thomas Carr and urge them to prosecute.

The City of Seattle has made it easier to have a car-free block party on your street.  The fee has been waived and the permits are being issued more quickly so go out, get a block party for your street and show that streets are good for more than just driving on.  http://www.seattle.gov/Transportation/stuse_blockparty.htm

The Ballard streetcar forum was interesting.  For a forum intended to get the opinion of Ballard residents, quite a few positive commenters were from Capitol Hill, Magnolia, and Queen Anne.

Several people suggested running the streetcar up Dexter instead of Westlake.  This could be a very dangerous choice unless the through traffic was eliminated and Dexter was made into a wide, quiet street with only bicycles, streetcars in the center, and slow local traffic.  Dexter is already voted both the best and worst bike lane in Seattle, the best because it is so highly used and the worst because there are still many dangers.  A streetcar only adds to those dangers.

One other spot wasn’t commented on by anyone in the meeting and seems like a significant error.  Due to height issues, the streetcar would be routed under the Ballard Bridge approach at 46th, one block south of Leary Way, and then up Ballard Avenue.  Any cyclist who bicycles in Ballard should recognize the intersection of 46th, 17th, and Shilshole, the intersection where the sharrowed extention of the Burke Gilman trail ends and the Missing Link really starts.  This intersection is already painful and dangerous to cross due to car speeds and visibility issues.  Already the BINMIC businesses along Shilshole want bicyclists to use Ballard Avenue instead of Shilshole, and many do because Shilshole is hostile as the previously mentioned news illustrates.

Adding to the complexities here, 17th is a street that some in the SDOT Bike and Pedestrian group has been considering for a Bike Boulevard.  Is it the best idea to have a bike boulevard cross both the Ballard Shortline railroad tracks and streetcar tracks before reaching the Burke Gilman Trail?

More transit is great, but someone needs to spend a lot more time talking to bicyclists about these routes.  This is the purpose of the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board, if Seattle government staff and officials would talk to them more.  When a streetcar representative last talked to the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board, he had no details for them to use to give advice.  These are major projects that have large ranging impacts on bicycling and much more communication is needed all around.

The Coast Guard has a comment period open right now regarding easing
rush-hour traffic by keeping the low bridge (Spokane Street Swing Bridge)
from opening during certain times of the day:
http://westseattleblog.com/blog/?p=7816
http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=DocketDetail&d=USCG-2008-0256

If you are in West Seattle, or travel to West Seattle frequently, get your comments in before July 21st.

SEATTLE- Mayor Greg Nickels is seeking candidates for the Seattle
Bicycle Advisory Board.

Mayor Nickels and the City Council are committed to promoting diversity
in the city’s boards and commissions.  Women, youth, persons with
disabilities, sexual and gender minorities, persons of color, and
immigrants are encouraged to apply.

These haven’t show up in the mainstream news yet:

• Road Rage in Ballard along the missing link of the Burke Gilman Trail where a pickup pushes a cyclist off of the road.
• Rocks thrown at cyclists exiting the I-90 tunnel.
  • “Between 4:30-6pm on Thursday, July 3rd numerous cyclists traveling through the Mt. Baker bike tunnel (west entrance) were pelted with golf ball size rocks. Three youths were spotted above the tunnel tossing the rocks. Despite repeated 911 calls from multiple cyclists over a period of an hour and half, there was no police response. The incident raised concerns because it was in the exact same area where a cyclist was mugged in mid-May. Though the incident was not as serious as the mugging, I thought it might be good to publish the story so to raise awareness of those cyclist and pedestrians that use the tunnel and bike path.”

    Several cyclists mentioned calling 911 with no response from police in over an hour.