Joe Szwaja, Candidate for Position One, Seattle, WA
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Council Candidate Backs Bike Protest
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 31, 2007
Today Joe Szwaja, Seattle City Council candidate, Position 1 expressed his support for bicyclists who are planning to protest plans by Mayor Nickles and the city’s Department of Transportation to leave a 6 block gap in a planned bicycle trail between the Burke Gilman trail and N. 40th Street on Stone Way. According to Szwaja, “I will be attending the bike protest beginning at Gas Works Park at 4:30 on Wednesday in opposition to the mayor’s apparent intention to not follow through with the steps outlined in the city’s proposed Bicycle Master Plan. If the city is truly going to be a leader in promoting positive solutions to the probable climate change catastrophe, we are going to need stronger leadership and follow-through from the Mayor and City Council.”
A number of organizations, including the Cascade Bicycle Club, have pointed out the opportunity to greatly increase bicycle commuting in the Stone Way area with the proposed link between a growing residential center to the north and one of the largest bicycle facilities in the region. Szwaja commented, “To close this bicycle gap would be very much in keeping with the mayor’s stated goal of making Seattle ‘the most bicycle-friendly city in the nation’.
Following through with the city’s stated goal of increasing bicycle commuting would also be in keeping with the recent finding of a group of UW scientists. In their study, released on June 13 of this year, UW atmospheric scientist M.B. Baker and R.J. Charlson note that the city’s climate change plan (Seas CAP06) needs to be significantly strengthened to cope with the far worsened climate change situation resulting from the “procrastination penalty” we will pay for our continued inaction on reducing emissions. The most significant source of these emissions, they note, is automobile use.
Baker and Charlson note that “the industrialized world (and hence, our region), must reduce emissions by much more than 30%” over the next 20-30 years. (Other sources, including Stormy Weather by Guy Dawncey and Patrick Mazza of the Seattle based group Climate Solutions, cite a higher number of 60-80% during the next 20-30 years).
“Creation of denser neighborhoods, expansion of pedestrian and bicycle travel and … development of transit systems are all excellent ideas to reduce automobile emissions.”
A number of regular bicycle riders in Seattle are supporting Szwaja’s candidacy as a result of his strong commitment to strengthening the city’s bike system. According to Owen Hamel, dedicated bicycle rider and environmental scientist, “I am supporting Joe because of his strong commitment to fashioning positive, practical solutions to climate change including promotion of alternative, low-emission transportation solutions.”
Szwaja has proposed a number of innovative solutions to make our city more livable, while reducing the carbon emissions that are threatening the world’s life support systems.
For example, he proposes neighborhood sustainability councils, which would harness ideas from each neighborhood on how to specifically reduce emissions in their respective areas, along with technical support and resources from the city. These could include things such as plug-in facilities for electric cars in every neighborhood, increased tree cover, neighborhood car pooling and better bike trails. Szwaja proposes that the councils work towards specific carbon reduction goals starting at 4% per year. Meeting this goal can start us on the path of the roughly 80% reduction we need to achieve in the next two decades to avoid a climate disaster.
****** For more information, contact: Campaign Headquarters Priority
Press Contact
Joe Szwaja, 206.420.1830
campaign@joeforcouncil.com
Gentry Lange, 206.498.3937
gentry@gentrylange.com