#Party4OurStreets Awards
- gordon
- Dec. 9, 2015
Check out the awards below for our 2015 categories:
- Amazing Advocacy
- Greenway Champion
- Community Builder
- Exemplary Street Experiment
- Fact Finding
- Public Servant
- Wendy
Popular Vote Winner:
Voted by popular choice to be this year's Amazing Advocacy Award winner!
From phone banks to canvassing, to talking to our friends, local Greenways groups decided to make passing the Move Seattle Levy their #1 Priority in 2015. Now let’s get to work to build our healthy new streets!Nominees:
Don Brubeck is the president and founder of the local group in West Seattle.
Since it’s formation in 2012 West Seattle Bicycle Connections has achieved a lot! And many of the volunteers attribute much of that success to Don’s leadership and vision which is complimented by his wit and laughter. WSBC’s accomplishments include:
- Neighborhood Parks & Streets Fund Grants for crosswalk and trail improvements at 11th SW & SW Holden, California SW & SW Juneau; Delridge Way SW at Boren School; and Alki Trail near SW Spokane Street.
- 35th Ave SW Safety Corridor project.
- East Marginal Way S bike safety and paving improvements.
- Chelan 5-way intersection improvements for bike crossing.
- South Park protected bike lane on Portland Ave S.
- Bike Rodeos
Normand, Billy Duss, Deb Salls, Kelli Refer (Cascade), Rob Mohn, Kevin Lugo, Ryan Harrison, Devor Barton, and the other Rainier Valley Greenways volunteers helped transform Seattle’s most dangerous street - Rainier Ave S.
Their grassroots campaign, #SafetyOverSpeeding, involved twenty-one different tactics such posting a giant hand-painted “Get Well Soon Rainier Ave” card on a local business that had been plowed into by a car, framing the conversation in the media around the human toll of the road rather than the fear of change, and hosting a Day of Action crosswalk protest. Rainier Valley Greenways’ hard work paid off, and a segment of Rainier Ave S received a safety redesign in August.
orrest Baum, Drew Dresman, Max Taran, Andres Salomon, Dave Rodgers, Scott Bonjukian, Jacob Struiksma, and other volunteers with University Greenways walked with length of Roosevelt Way NE, auditing it to make sure the repaving project would make it safer for people to walk along and across.
They took photos and notes, drafted a list of issues, sent the information to the SDOT project team, and repeatedly followed up as plans were being drafted.
Popular Vote Winner:
Merlin wears many hats, or should we say bike helmets? She co-leads Central Seattle Greenways, leads Senior Ladies of Wheels, and is a member of the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board and the Cascade Bicycle Club Board.
She is one of the city’s most passionate and visible (she’s everywhere!) advocates for bringing biking to the masses. She has been a thought leader in Seattle on many issues including changing our language (crash not accident). She is never afraid to speak truth to power and frequently does.
She has successfully advocated for changes to countless projects to make streets safer for people biking and walking.
Nominees:
Need someone who will examine every inch of engineering drawings for a street redesign? Need someone who will read through hundreds of pages of a city budget looking for the impact for walking and biking programs? Need someone to organize the tactical redesign of a street? Need someone who will show up to speak on behalf of car free families at public meetings? If you answered yes to any of these questions you need Andres Salomon. Andres is the co-leader of NE Seattle Greenways, but his geography does not limit his interests or talents.
Andres donates a tremendous amount of time, and dives into the details and turns that knowledge into meaningful action.
Asked why Brie should receive the Greenway Champion award, one of her fans said she “exemplifies the spirit of a neighborhood greenway group leader.” Her energy, organization, and devotion of time have made her a highly effective co-leader of Central Seattle Greenways. She is positive, organized, and action oriented. She is never afraid to speak up for needs of people who walk and bike, especially for children, the elderly, and people with varying levels of abilities.
Her hard work is showing results. Seattle’s longest neighborhood greenway is being built this year, and more big wins are just on the horizon.
Michael has served as Board Treasurer since the day @SNGreenways became a non-profit organization. While Michael doesn’t exactly hide in the shadows, the wisdom he brings as former NW Folklife & MOHAI Director is done with a light touch and yet is key to SNGreenways sustained success.
Michael shares his passion for historic preservation with our coalition, and loves the urban wisdom of past generations.
Michael brings a droll sense of humor to meetings but detests sitting still - he’d rather be out playing with his grandkids, or riding his bike (or wiping out on his bike)
Monica, co-leader of Lake City Greenways, is like many of our volunteers in that she cares deeply about the people trying to walk on the streets near her home. She worked for years with her neighbors slogging through Seattle’s onerous process to get a few speed humps on the key street that connects Lake City to the Burke Gilman Trail.
But she didn’t stop there. She saw the big picture as well, and turned her passion and energy towards making the rest of the neighborhood, and city, safer to walk and bike around.
She has become one of the most outspoken proponents for safe routes to school and safe places for everyone to walk in North Seattle - where sidewalks are few and far between.
Popular Vote Winner:
Phyllis Porter has become something of a celebrity in the world of walking and biking advocacy through her work helping Rainier Valley Greenways organize and push for a safer Rainier Ave S.
Phyllis has run countless meetings, given dozens of interviews to the media, and reached out to a massive number of community groups. She has built connections with families torn apart by traffic collisions and helped them heal and ask for justice. She has helped lead the charge to finally fix Rainier Ave. She also writes for the Seattle Seattle Emerald, and we consider her a gem in her own right.
Nominees:
Janine Blealoch and Monica Sweet, the leaders of Lake City Greenways, have been busy building a pocket park, advocating for more sidewalks, and pushing for safe routes to school. And while these efforts have resulted in meaningful changes, one of the biggest has been building a community of neighbors who care.
Lee Bruch, leader of Licton-Haller Greenways has stepped up and built powerful and diverse coalitions: From gardeners to North Seattle College students, from parents to new immigrants, Lee reaches out with a smile, wisdom from years in government service, and an ability to listen carefully, even when he is facing down Faye Garneau and Eugene Wasserman in the NW District Council.
Selena has carefully studied the needs of the freight community and skillfully brought their interests and concerns to inform the work of Seattle Neighborhood Greenways.
A naturally unassuming person, Selena makes an effort to step up to speak out and organize, whether it is at huge safe routes to school events, Vision Zero Memorials, or freight planning symposium.
Selena has taken the lead also on getting numerous neighborhood projects funded and built.
Sophie and Lisa decided to jump right into local activism in a big way!
They find the time-honored Fremont meeting model of “Safe Routes to Bars” works best to bring in a big crowd of people new to Fremont as well as appealing to old-timers with lots to share.
Sophie and Lisa already have a social media presence @FremontGreenway and are poised to get more involved in local political action to support healthy safe streets for all.
Popular Vote Winner:
Why not?”, said this group.
Let’s make Rainier Avenue South, Seattle’s most dangerous street, safe enough for a parent to bike with their four-year-old.A crew, led by visionary Shirley Savel, and leaders Adam Dodge and Travis & Erika Merrigan, built 2000 linear feet of bike lanes out of white chalk, white duct tape, green butcher paper and traffic cones on both sides of Rainier between Columbia City and Hillman City.Now that we’ve seen a demo, let’s build it for real!Voted by popular choice to be this year's Exemplary Street Experiment Award winner!
Nominees:
By extending the curbs at all four corners of this street crossing they significant improved sightlines and made it easier for everyone to cross and for drivers to stop. Feedback was universally positive, even from a nearby business owner who was concerned at first (the curb bulbs did not remove any legal parking or travel lanes).
The First Hill Improvement Association has been leading the charge for years to expand public open space in their densely populated neighborhood.
Turning unneeded street space into parks has become a key part of the Public Realm Action Strategy, which was developed in cooperation with SDOT and the Parks Department.
In August of 2015 the first of these Pavement to Parks projects was created at the intersection of Union and Bolyston.
nspired by Andres Salomon’s Cowen Park Bridge Tactical Urbanism project in 2014, Barbara Gordon stepped up to inspire and fund a Tactical Urbanism competition for PARK(ing) Day 2015.
More than 30 entries were judged by Dave Rodgers, David Burgesser, David Amiton, Andres Salomon. Winning entries got fund- ing to put in place and intense advocacy to be permitted (including a pre-dawn meeting with City Traffic Engineer Dongho Chang).
People in Rainier, Ballard, Ravenna, Bryant and Fremont were all winners of Seattle Neighborhood Greenways first annual PARK(ing) Day Plus Design Competition. Instead of endless public meetings, design charettes, and flat conceptual drawings, projects that people want and need were on display throughout Seattle.
Popular Vote Winner:
Leaders in Licton-Haller Greenway and Greenwood Phinney Greenways recognized they all shared a common problem: the children in their communities lacked safe streets to walk and bike to school. Many of their local schools drew from the same neighborhoods as well.
Together these community groups trained parents and neighbors to do street audits and began a project to prioritize engineering improvements that would help children throughout their shared communities. Thank you for this exemplary work on behalf of all of our children! Voted by popular choice to be this year's Fact Finding Award winner!Nominees:
orrest Baum, Drew Dresman, Max Taran, Andres Salomon, Dave Rodgers, Scott Bonjukian, Jacob Struiksma, and other volunteers with University Greenways walked with length of Roosevelt Way NE, auditing it to make sure the repaving project would make it safer for people to walk along and across.
They took photos and notes, drafted a list of issues, sent the information to the SDOT project team, and repeatedly followed up as plans were being drafted.
Some people see construction blocking a sidewalk or a string broken bike lane bollards and just grumble. Not Andres. As he bikes, walks and buses, across the city with his son Atom, he catalogues walking and biking hazards for all to see and respond to. He takes a photo, concisely describes the issue and, sends the information to the City’s public Twitter accounts, and repeatedly follows up.
Brie, Merlin, and Lionel and other volunteers with Central Seattle Greenways and Montlake Greenways have followed the Central Area Greenway project doggedly. They have insured every turn, signpost, curb ramp, curb bulb, crosswalk, and crossing light is the the best position to help people walking and biking along the route. They have worked with multiple project teams from the City and eloquently and professionally explained the communities needs.
Public Servant Popular Vote Winner:
Nominees:
The easy thing to do would have been to propose a simple renewal of the Bridging the Gap Levy. But demonstrating both a progressive transportation vision and political leadership, these three proposed a bold transportation levy.
They increased the size of the levy dramatically and put a focus on keeping people safe - especially our most vulnerable. When passed, the mayor said implementing safe routes to school was his first priority.
Public Servant Lifetime Achievement Award:
Tom Rasmussen cares about making sure people of all ages and abilities can navigate our city safely. He brings this passion to the Seattle City Council and creates meaningful change.
Thanks to Tom, Seattle adopted the most advanced bicycle plan in the nation, that in a true Seattle fashion also included unprecedented levels of community input. Tom provided steadfast leadership for the update and passed an amazing plan.
Tom also stood up for bicycle and pedestrian funding over the years, and as the Council’s Transportation Chair helped pass the Move Seattle Levy, which will fund hundreds of miles of bike lanes and sidewalks.
Popular Vote Winner:
Yes, Madi is one of those people who make you tired just listing all of their accomplishments. (She is the SeattleGreenways.org webmaster too.) And she does it all with a wave and a smile.
This year, we’re recognizing Madi because she has truly inspired hundreds of new people to take up family biking for everyday transportation. Madi led family camping by bike trips in the summer, Kidical Mass Rides that sometimes had more than 200 riders, and is about to lead her annual family bike ride to holiday lights and food bank drive. What can we say Madi? You are awesome and have encouraged others to be awesome too. Thank you! Voted by popular choice to be this year's Wendy Award winner!Nominees:
Retired nurse and new grandmother, Merlin Rainwater is passionate about getting people of all ages and abilties active.
Merlin has designed rides that support people who are curious about riding bicycles but overwhelmed by getting over Seattle’s steep hills and around fast moving traffic. SLOW Rides are gentle, social rides that Merlin has led for several years, in the process inspiring a who new generation to take to the hills on wheels.
On a recent tour of Sally’s district, Stranger reporter Heidi Groover reports “I do not have an E-Bike. This means that every time Bagshaw takes our bike ride up a steep hill with ease, I’m left pedaling at a slower and slower pace with my skinny jelly legs until I finally resign myself to just walk my bike up the hill.”
Ashley &Brian have a job at SDOT - Seattle Department of Transportation - but they also have a passion and creativity for their work.
In addition to engineering safe streets for children and their families to walk and bike to school, Ashley and Brian have designed a variety of programs and materials to encourage people to use their streets effectively.
They manage Safe Routes to School Mini-Grants, workshops to teach safe routes auditing, a Safe Routes 5-Year Action Plan, Bike Trains, Walking School Buses and more.
Ashley and Brian show up all over Seattle, and eagerly seek out partnerships to engage new communities wherever they work.