April 20, 2019

1. King County Council approved a parks levy to go before voters on the August ballot.  The levy earmarks $154 million for regional trails.
2. The state legislation to authorize traffic camera enforcement of “block the box” and bus lane violations is still alive.
3. On Monday, Seattle City Council will name the replacement to Rob Johnson’s District 4 seat.  The person who literally created the term “Complete Streets” while he worked for a national transportation advocacy organization — David Goldberg — is one of eleven applicants.
4. Cascade Bicycle Club’s director of policy/advocacy recently suddenly left the organization, the seventh in that position to leave since 2011 (Hiller, Mauro, Manvel, Goldstein, Aken, Trask, Meyer). Meanwhile, Councilmember Mike O’Brien hired Kelli Refer, a former Cascade advocacy organizer, as his legislative aide.
5. Two of the four “cafe conversations” (or “coffee klatches” or “coffee clashes”) for SDOT’s proposed 6-year implementation plan of the Bicycle Master Plan are this week. As a reminder, the proposed plan basically cuts the miles of bikeways in half, to be built in double the timeframe.
6. Are you mad about the handling of 35th Ave NE and the significant rollback of bike projects in the BMP implementation plan? Do you want to do something about it?
   Let me know and I’ll plug you into efforts that I hear about.