Why go back, when we can build something better?
- April 15, 2021
You'll see people of all ages enjoying Lake Washington Boulevard when it's open for walking, biking, running, scooting, skateboarding, and rolling — as a Keep Moving Street!One year ago this spring, our lives turned upside down. Schools closed, businesses shuttered, we were asked to stay indoors to protect ourselves and others. So much was limited, or even prohibited, during our collective lockdown — and yet, the pandemic also opened up fresh ideas, and, in some ways, even brought out the best of us. As a city, we rolled up our sleeves and found new ways to keep each other safe and supported: by distributing food and supplies by bike, opening up new spaces for people to travel and recreate safely via Stay Healthy Streets, converting car-parking to spaces for small businesses to survive (Cafe Streets), and so much more. With fierce commitment, we joined the national cry for racial justice after the killing of George Floyd, and so many others, at the hands of police — rising up in local street marches and actively working to dismantle racism in our institutions. Here at SNG, we formed the Whose Streets? Our Streets! group to address traffic enforcement and the policies that govern our use of public space. In the year ahead, Seattle could go back to the way things were before COVID, but why go back when we can build something better — a more just, sustainable, and livable city? Let’s learn from the forward strides of 2020, and make Stay Healthy Streets and Cafe Streets permanent. Let’s keep walking the path towards a more just and equitable city, because feeling safe on our streets shouldn’t depend on the color of your skin, gender, age, or physical ability. Because it’s an election year for Mayor and the two citywide Council races, candidates and our communities will be engaged in a civic conversation about our city’s future. The citywide coalition, 15 neighborhood-groups strong, of Seattle Neighborhood Greenways will bring three big ideas to this conversation:
- People should be able to walk (or roll) to access the key goods and services of their daily lives, a concept called the 15-Minute City.
- All of Seattle’s neighborhoods should be accessible by safe, convenient — and connected — bike routes, a major campaign we’re calling UnGap The Map, to push the city to finish what it has only begun to implement in fits and starts.
- We are backing a slate of transformative, pro-equity, anti-racist policy recommendations from the all-BIPOC Whose Streets? Our Streets! workgroup for how our streets can be safe, thriving places without the use of armed police.
Gordon Padelford
Executive Director