• Get down to City Hall this afternoon and show your support for the Seattle Nightlife and Music Association [SLOG]
• Stop by CHAC for a one-night-only showing of The Pornography of the Bicycle. Reverend Phil is taking this 90-minute program of short films on the theme of Bike Porn on tour throughout Cascadia. It is sure to be entertaining, ridiculous, and offensive. Think of it as a two-wheeled prelude to HUMP!
• Round out the evening with The Cinematic Orchestra at Neumo’s. I’m really excited to see one more of my favorite obscure bands from Europe stopping by Seattle (see also: Stereo Total).

On Friday 9/7, Bryce Lewis was killed when a dump truck turned right across his path [PI]. He was 19 years old, a Colorado native who moved to Seattle 3 weeks ago to live with his best friend Caleb (also injured) and to attend school at the University of Washington.

While there are many complicating factors that make it difficult to place blame, this tragedy strikes me as an opportunity to ask ourselves – as a city, are we doing enough to provide a safe bicycling environment?

As discussed on Slog, this intersection is remarkably dangerous for cyclists. Traveling northbound in the bicycle lane on Eastlake, cyclists usually carry some speed after descending Harvard, to help with the climb up the University bridge. The bicycle lane continues through the intersection, though it is unmarked. Car traffic must turn right across the bicycle lane to access Fuhrman avenue.

Bicycling meccas like Portland and Copenhagen have implemented an intersection marking technique called Blue Lanes [+]. Requiring nothing but road paint, these lanes make it clear to drivers that the bicycle lane continues through the intersection, and that they must yield to bicyclists when crossing this lane.

So, as the Mayor backpedals on implementing the Bicycle Master Plan, I wonder if this city is really doing enough to provide its citizens with clearly marked roads. How many gallons of road paint is a young man’s life worth?

Blue Lane image by Andy Clarke, courtesy of US Department of Transportation [+]

Photo by Yours Truly, via our Flickr Pool

Photo by J.C. Rojas via Flickr.

I’m heading into the hills Monday night with a couple of cameras and a few friends to carry them for me, but you won’t need to leave the city to see this. So take a nap after work, and wake your ass up around 2AM to catch the show! The weather looks promisingly clear and pleasantly warm, with lows in the mid-50s.

You can be sure that thousands of dilated pupils on The Playa will be looking up at the same moon as you are.

Bonus round: If you’re a super-astro-photo-nerd like I aspire to be, you’ll also have a chance to catch an Iridium Flare while you’re up (though the pre-dawn light may drown it out). Flickr has many shiny, shiny examples of these lovely alignments of the sun, a satellite’s trajectory, the angle of its panels, and your location on the ground at a certain time.

The Fremont Chamber of Commerce has convinced the city of Seattle to remove the Stone Way bike lanes from the Bicycle Master Plan [cascade.org].

Stone Way is a vital route to cyclists in Seattle. It is the easiest, most direct route up the hill from the Burke Gilman Trail and the Fremont Bridge to the Wallingford and Greenlake neighborhoods and beyond.

If you value your bike lanes and want to make your presence known, you should join the people at Seattle Likes Bikes for a ride Wednesday 8/1/07, starting at 4:30 in Gasworks.

Quoted from a letter posted to the pointythree forum:

As you may know, Parks recently received a violation notice from the Fire Marshal’s office concerning illegal fires at this site (e.g., fires lit by people who had no permit). The Fire Department had also been responding at an increased frequency to nuisance fires at this site.

(Ms.) Dewey Potter
Communications Manager
Seattle Parks and Recreation

The Fremont Firepit was one of those magical places in the city that made Seattle really rock. There’s nothing better on a cold night in December than warming up next to a raging pallet fire inferno, with 20 bicyclists and a few bottles of whiskey.

I’ll keep y’all posted on any public meeting details as they become available.

-UPDATE-
This will be discussed tonight, at the Fremont Arts Council meeting. 7PM, 3940 Fremont Ave, just down the hill from the Buckaroo.

I don’t know about you, but the prospect of building something ridiculous and racing it down Fremont Avenue gets me a little excited!

Red Bull Soap Box is coming to Seattle, hosting a free race / spectacle on September 29th. Get a team together over beers, design something, and send your sketches in by June 29th.

That’s one week, people. Bring it!

Yesterday, throngs of moms and mom supporters climbed Mt. St. Helens. It was a beautiful day to be above the clouds!

More photos in my flickr set.