Bike parking got a little creative during Capitol Hill Block Party. This bike corral in front of Northwest Film Forum was stretched to the limits. That’s 22 (by my best count) bikes squeezed into the space of one parked car (OK, maybe one and a half cars, or one Ford Expedition).
Now, just imagine if there were a bike parking corral here at Pine and Broadway:
This pinch point requires people biking to merge with the general traffic lane for one car length before the bike lanes begins. Build a bike corral, but leave enough room so people biking can safely get to the bike lane. More parking capacity for businesses, better visibility for storefronts currently blocked by parked cars, better safety and comfort for people biking on this key route, and less confusion for car and bus drivers. Maybe it could even be the pilot test of a cheaper, Portland-style bike corral utilizing a line of standard “staple” bike racks…
Beloved Masi stolen during Block Party
Speaking of Block Party and bike parking, I got a sad email from reader Lindsey, who is desperate to find this Masi that was stolen over the weekend. We don’t usually post about stolen bikes (unfortunately, there would just be too many posts), but Lindsey buttered me up with an ego-boosting shameless compliment, followed by a heartfelt expression of a bikeless broken heart:
I know you are a busy man and run a bad ass blog (Thank you by the way) but this weekend at block party my bike got stolen out of my sisters garage and I was wondering if you would post my flyer for me.
Masi was more than just a bike to me and I would do anything to get him back! That bike was my only means of transportation and in just two short years I was almost at 4,000 miles just commuting. Any thing you can do would be of so much help! I don’t want another bike even though I can claim it on my sister’s insurance I can’t get THAT bike back.
On my flyer it has the police case number if anyone sees it or has any info about the bike they can call it in.
Thank you for anything you can do for me I just am so upset cause I loved the shit out of that bike!
Sincerely,
Lindsey
BTW, Stolen Bicycle Registry and BikeWise are both good ways to report your stolen bike, in addition to filing a police report, of course. And if you don’t have your bike’s serial number recorded somewhere, do it now.
Comments
5 responses to “Bike parking overload at Capitol Hill Block Party (+ a sad plea to find a stolen bike)”
Are you sure the bike was stolen from Capitol Hill? Because that Masi has more than one gear! I thought the ‘Fashionista Polizia’ – aka The Stranger’s fashion “journalists” – outlawed the use of multiple gears on the ‘Hill about the same time skinny jeans came into vogue? Nevertheless, I’ll keep an eye out for it…
Thanks for calling out that terrible intersection at Broadway and Pine. The cars/SUVs/trucks parked at the corner squeeze bikes into the main traffic lane before the bike lane starts a few feet to the east. Great spot for a bike corral! In fact I’d go for a bike corral at every corner! Improves visibility – and has at least 10x the capacity of a car parking spot!
Always good to have so much unused capacity?
I don’t understand your question.
At least there is bike parking on Cap Hill. Nothing on the old Ballard Ave and barely anything on Market Street in Ballard. We need more bike parking in every business district in this city, especially those near bike amenities like the Burke Gilman.