I recently requested some bike racks for a fairly new commercial strip in the Ravenna neighborhood of Seattle. Over the past several years some “mixed use” apartment buildings have been built on NE 65th street. In addition to the two large apartment buildings, there are now four restaurants on the two-block stretch. And not a single bike rack.
I’m surprised bike racks weren’t automatically installed when the project went in. (Though not really – Sigh). After grumbling to myself the first few times I wedged my longbike between shrubs and an available street sign (to the amusement of window-seat diners), I decided to request a rack. Although Tim has requested bike racks using the request process he blogged about last fall, I never had. In my email to the Seattle DOT representative, I asked if Seattle had considered on-street bike parking like they have in Portland (thanks for the link, Val). Apparently Seattle is considering it. We’ll all look forward to that.
Below is the response I got from the city within three days of my request:
Hello Anne,
Thanks for your interest in accommodating bicyclists near the
restaurants along NE 65th St. SDOT’s bike rack program provides bike
racks free of charge, provided the rack is located on city property and
meets our installation parameters (not blocking bus stops, loading
zones, fire hydrants, etc.).A representative from our program will come to this corridor and
determine if there are suitable spots for some racks. Most of the time
there is. If not we will notify you. Please allow at least 2 months
for the rack to be installed. I’m sorry this takes so long, but the
good news is that you should be all set for the busy cycling season.Thanks for sending the info about on-street bike parking. At this time
SDOT is considering a similar type of facility for Seattle.Please let me know if you have any questions.
–Doug
So go ahead Seattleites, keep requesting those racks. It will make parking bikes in the city so much more pleasant for us all.
Leave a comment if the city has installed a rack in a location you have requested.
– Anne
Anne & Tim
Tim King
Anne
cfdgirl
Tim K
Car Free Days 
Interesting. The local Kensington shops here have no bike racks. Perhaps I’ll ask the county to install a few and see what happens.
Hey Anne,
Actually it’s usually my buddy Dave Janis at the Bicycle Alliance of Washington who does the site inspections to place the racks. Dave worked with SDOT to streamline the process. Give him a call at 206-224-9252. He loves to get racks installed where people need ’em.
Thanks for the information, Kent. I talked with Dave today. I gave him a laundry list of racks Tim and I have been collecting over the past few months. Go ahead, Seattleites – request those racks!