It’s committee meetings for the Edmonds City Council this Tuesday, May 14, with these particular items of note up for discussion: the addition of bike lanes on Main Street as part of the Main Street overlay project (on the parks and public works agenda, starting at 1:30 p.m.) and options for city fire and emergency medical services (on the public safety-planning-human services-personnel agenda, starting at 3:30 p.m.).
Council committee meetings are virtual work sessions for the council and city staff. To watch remotely, you can click on or paste the following Zoom meeting link into a web browser using a computer or smart phone: https://zoom.us/j/95798484261. Or join by dial-up phone: US: +1 253 215 8782. The webinar ID is 957 9848 4261.
If members of the public can’t access the virtual committee meetings with their personal devices, a monitor is provided at the Edmonds City Hall City Council Conference Room, 121 5th Ave. N., Edmonds.
Here are the agendas for each meeting (click on the meeting title to see the details of each):
Parks and public works committee 1:30 p.m.
-Amendment to the Fiber Consortium interlocal agreement
– A construction contract to Granite Construction Company for the 2024 overlay program
– A construction contract for the 2024 utility replacement project
– A professional services agreement with consultant Rock Project Management Services LLC for capital projects construction management, engineering and inspection services
– A supplemental professional services agreement with Herrera for the storm and surface water comprehensive plan
– Highway 99 Stages 3 and 4 overhead utility line conversion
– Job order contracting program report and agreement extension
– 2023 Transportation Benefit District report
– Public pedestrian easement along 76th Avenue West adjacent to 22224 76th Ave. W.
– Main Street overlay project including bike lanes/sharrows.
Public safety-planning-human services-personnel 3:30 p.m.
– Amending city code regarding firearms and dangerous weapons
– SNO911 interlocal agreement updates
– 2024 wage corrections for chief of police and assistant chiefs
– Fleet mechanic job description revision
– Options for City of Edmonds fire/EMS services
– Amending city code to ban the deliberate breeding and sale of companion animals
– Draft financial policies
– Utility bond issue
– March 2024 quarterly financial report
– Council Rules of Procedure Section 1 and 2 — Authority and Council Organization
No downtown Main Street bike lanes … parking problems galore now … stop this crazy thinking. Do paint parking space lines on 2nd Avenue by Claire’s, the post office apartments, and Soaring Hearts. Correct parking could add 2-3 spaces.
No Bike lanes on main St.
It’s already a narrow corridor through the downtown core as it is, and bike lanes will take away parking.
if you must do more bike lanes (???) then send the bikes up Dayton, Walnut or Pine – that makes more sense.
The city administration should contract the same flying-monkeys company that did the grinding and lane painting on 9th Ave and 100th St. They will surely make it look like another Picasso/Dali-during-a-seizure painter to match the vision for an “artsy and inclusive Edmonds-for-all”. Since the idea is to make the city become a third-world banana republic, let’s go for broke.
Even better. Schedule a weekend and give the paint buckets and brushes to five-year-old kids and let them paint. It cannot be worse than the festival of colors and crooked blurred lines in those two streets.
As a challenge, tell the kids to beat that newly-painted Marx Brothers-style left-turn mid lane on 100th St (going south, right after the intersection with 104). It points to a brand-new sidewalk opposite to the Edmonds Heights K-12 school entrance ramp, and it’s not for a U-turn. I wonder what the “genius” that came up with that thing was imagining. Maybe a monument, hallmark of this whole bicycle lane project.
I travel on 9th Ave and 100th Street multiple times daily and so far the last month or two I’ve seen just as many bicyclists as I have people on pogo sticks. Boy, that was really good money spent.
A couple days ago I saw two teenagers riding their bicycles on the car lanes, completely ignoring the newly painted bicycle lane right beside them. Now I regret not taking a picture, just to illustrate how nonsensical those lanes are.
By the same token, are speed limits nonsensical if some people ignore them?
Our bike lanes are pretty absurd, as well as absurdly inconsistant and confusing, but teens ignoring them is not a comment on the lanes, but on the teens. Probably the same ones who now use motorized scooters in car lanes.
Nathaniel, you are trying to compare apples and oranges.
If you read my post down below, there’s a link to a document showing many traffic laws and codes that already cover bicycles and cars sharing the same road. Therefore, a bicycle lane is a moot point and only gives a false sense of safety.
To my point, I just read another article in My Edmonds News about a mother ran over by a car, while pushing her child’s stroller, and the author recommending people to walk against traffic. Considering that the cars that ran over a pedestrian pushing a stroller can also easily do it on a bicycle, should bicycles also ride opposite to traffic (check my link below)?
My former dentist’s son was killed by a DUI driver while riding his bicycle. One of my neighbors was ran over by a car while crossing a pedestrian “safe crossing” and spent years doing rehab and also a very long time suing the driver and his insurance company to get a compensation. Do painted lines really keep people safe?
Things get even more surreal when we see the city council pushing a high-density plan while at the same time constraining the roads accessing the areas that will see the increase. So, “nonsensical” is actually a very polite way to describe this spade.
Well said. Salvadore Dali would be impresssed with the effort of the Edmonds traffic engineer. 9th Ave. is a mess.
I would love to see more bike lanes downtown. If we don’t get bikes lanes, then add signage to indicate that the road is mixed use.
Where would you put those lanes?
Ideally, we would take out some parking spots and then replace those with the bike lanes, but since that is a non-starter for many, I would add the signage that indicates the downtown core is mixed use and lower the speed limit to 20 mph.
I’m a vote for NO bike lanes on Main Street. The street is too narrow and eliminating parking will only hurt the downtown merchants. It is a horrible idea and invites accidents on this already narrow street. Don’t spend our limited money resources on these projects that very few will use.
In reality, there isn’t a specific need for bicycle lanes in WA, since the traffic laws and codes already preview bicycles on the road and how both car drivers and bicycle riders must behave. Furthermore, painted lines on a street will not protect bicycle riders from reckless or DUI drivers, the latter increasing quite a bit, mostly due to all the liberation and promotion of “recreational” drugs.
The problem is that opportunists see this topic as a way to push their self-serving agendas and also make some extra money, either from kickbacks or for campaign funds.
In the link, a list of traffic WA laws and codes regarding the topic. https://bikesclub.org/resources/Documents/Bicycling%20Laws%20in%20WA-2022.pdf
So, let’s be rational about this and realize that those “bicycle lanes” are just some political tools that are just messing up Edmonds’ streets and traffic. Anyone driving on 9th and 100th can see how trash-collection, delivery, city-works, delivery mail, etc. trucks park over the new bicycle lanes and now that the driving lanes are narrower, the cars must cross the double-yellow lines to go around them, otherwise everyone is stuck. Traffic that flowed well on 100th’s double lanes is now a mess. The three stooges or the Marx Brothers couldn’t have came up with something more surreal. And there are no bicycles there.
I do not think taking parking out in that area is a good idea at all. It will affect the Merchants and also many who live 75% of citizens who live East of 9th Avenue. The hills here are too steep for many to walk down and many do not bike and many are just unable to walk that distance. I do though think your idea Connor Bond is a great compromise There is no reason for the speed limit in a walking area to be more than 20 MPH. I also think blinking walk signs at all intersections would be great. I think the cross walks with no light control cause a problem as frankly often a driver can sit forever as people just keep walking. Seattle, I used to hang there all of the time and the lights for pedestrians were observed and rules were followed. Everyone would then be satisfied and everyone would be safe. So yeah signage and the 20MPH sounds great to me. I don’t mind being behind a biker rider in my car. Patience is key in all ways. Dayton, Walnut of Pine would be better. Not as much pedestrian action on those. Walk lights there too That I think right now would be money better spent.
For 40 years I have driven from Perrinville area to Stevens Memorial hospital now Swedish/Edmonds hospital at all hours of the day, morning, noon, evening, middle of the night. Not once have I seen a bike on that road. Despite this the powers to be in our city have supported and/or allowed for this and other roads within our city to be altered with creation of curving traffic lines, parking elimination, and creation of bike lanes which transport essentially no one. When will our elected officials show the common sense/ courage/ and leadership to put a stop to this? If council is looking for ways to balance the budget this option is staring them in the face.
• https://wsdot.wa.gov/travel/bicycling-walking/bicycling-washington/bicyclist-laws-safety • Riding on the road – When riding on a roadway, a cyclist has all the rights and responsibilities of a vehicle driver (RCW 46.61.755). Bicyclists who violate traffic laws may be ticketed (RCW 46.61.750) BICYCLE LANES Perhaps a look at the Washington State Department of Transportation website would enhance the discourse about bicycling in the city. Here are only two of the regulations specified. One could ask that since bicyclists must obey all the rules of the road obligated by vehicles, why make lanes for them? One obvious answer is for safety. Vehicles must follow specific rules when in the presence of cyclists. A rule of thumb is to pass keeping at least three feet of separation. This rule acknowledges that drivers may find this distance difficult to determine. Painted lines are helpful. WSDOT also points out that cyclists must use good judgement. They are entitled to travel on any road that is not limited access (freeways, expressways). Marking roads with bike lanes will not guarantee that cyclists only ride on those surfaces. Bicyclists using good judgement would find lined roads safer and faster. Safety and efficiency would enhance use for cyclists looking to link up with buses, ferries and the light rail. In addition, the city received a sizeable grant from the federal government to pay for them.
I believe the artistic and creative use of striping paint is a wonderful way to keep the Artsy reputation of Edmonds alive.
We should paint a few sidewalks too.
We should paint a working sewer treatment plant.
We could probably get away with painting more of those 13k residents that are going to magically appear. It’s okay though, we just need to paint 9,000 doors to account for 9k new residences, 20% Strom says has to be affordable.
In my opinion, paint is the least of our problems, I’d rather our State Representatives have a paint brush versus the power they have now.
We could probably let Edmonds School District call it their Art Program, and the City gers free painters.
No one has checked to see if the paint being used contains any rubberized products that offgas. If they do, then scratch that idea. We need to protect bikers from themselves and not allow paint that off gasses. At least within 500′ of a school, crosswalk, or fire hydrant. Other than that, paint is good.
If we have green food coloring, we could water down the left over paint, and dye it green and save on water bills for grass fields.
I love this idea of leveraging paint.
Panem et circunses. Pigere poster salvatore.