SPOKESPEOPLE Connects Seattle for Cyclists

By Cathy Tuttle, CoolMom & SPOKESPEOPLE Founder

My two kids (Emma 15, Akiva 10), husband David and I lived all of last year in
Sweden. I worked for the City of Seattle for seven years as a planner,
for the past five years for the Parks department. I went to Sweden to
study sustainable city planning in the city of Lund.

We got back this fall from a year in Sweden living without a car and
decided to try car free life in Seattle. It's challenging. Akiva, who
is 10 and goes to John Stanford International School, says the hills
are higher, but I worry much more about riding on the road. We do
occasionally use a car for some errands, but we bike or walk now to
school, soccer practice and games, grocery shopping, work, yoga, to
friends' houses. All of us are relatively new bikers -- I've just
taken my first few trips downtown and David has gone to meetings a few
times in Bellevue, but we feel committed to making it work. We each
average about 50 miles a week by bike. That's a lot of carbon we save!

In October, when I was biking past Roosevelt High School with my son, I realized that there was no safe biking route from our urban neighborhood in Wallingford to the
adjacent Roosevelt neighborhood. I made a decision at that moment:

by the time Akiva was ready for high school, I would help make a safe
biking route to his school.

That's how I started the SPOKESPEOPLE group.  We need secure, safe, and convenient bike routes between urban centers all over Seattle. There are at least 38 neighborhood centers with neighborhood plans. There must be a safe way to get between these neighborhood centers without burning fossil fuel. So I decided to start with my own neighborhood, Wallingford.

Starting March 1, 2008, SPOKESPEOPLE will bring together new and
experienced bike riders on the first Saturday of every month at 2 pm
at Wallingford Playfield. At 2pm, we will bike to a nearby neighborhood center -- a spoke. Then we will bike back to  Wallingford by 4 pm. It is a really simple, but radical idea, and it will create a wonderful opportunity for people to gather together every month in a free, healthy, sustainable city event.

We will start to connect the city.  It will be fun and safe for kids to ride in a big
group along city streets. Store owners along the spokes and at the
destinations will be asked to participate in discounts for bicyclers.  Experienced bikers from Cascade Bicycle Club will be there to help with adjusting bike and child seats, and helmet fitting, and tire inflation.  Routes may vary in length from 1-3 miles. SPOKESPEOPLE will showcase bicycle improvements from the newly adopted Bicycle Master Plan and take the mystery out of using a bicycle for daily activities.

Eventually, I'd like people in other neighborhoods to start riding
from their hubs on the first Saturday at 2pm – for example from the
Columbia City BikeWorks. Wouldn't it be great if urban neighborhoods
all over Seattle rode at the same time? We could meet! We could slow
down. Then we could really start to make a difference in the way city
roads are used.

First Saturday of every month at Wallingford Playfield. 4219 Wallingford Ave N 2-4PM:  March 1, April 5, May 3, June 7, July 5, Aug 2, Sept 6, Oct 4, Nov 1, Dec 6.

Info at 206-547-9569 or www.spokespeople.us

info@spokespeople.us