Bicycle Neglect: $100M Buys Two Bike Racks?

Richard Truax, YMCA Earth Service Corps adviser and social studies teacher at Garfield High School wrote an interesting opinion piece in the Seattle PI about what he says is a pathetic lack of bike parking at the Central District school and what he contends is complete indifference on the matter from both the mayor’s office and school district. Give the piece a read yourself, peruse the comments (the one from Beth2000, posted at 3:00 AM, is particularly entertaining – we love the middle-of-the-night-angry-ranting), and form your own opinion.

Here at Car Free Days, our opinion happens to be that safe bike parking should be a priority for all new developments, urban, suburban, wherever. It just makes sense. And when a school—especially one that will be lacking school bus service in a city that is supposedly embracing cycling as a transportation option—undergoes a two-year, $100-million renovation, it seems obvious that secure, covered bike parking should be part of the plan.

It’s an opinion piece; we lack the full spectrum of information on the issue we’d (hope to) get from a news article so we’ll stop short of outright condemnation. On the other hand, because we’ve seen first hand how this city administration will say one thing and then do another, the premise isn’t too far fetched.

At the very least, we hope the Seattle School District isn’t relying on a short-sighted plan to make personal automobiles the primary means of student transport.

What do you think?

– Anne and Tim