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August 19th, 2008
sexcillent
 | 12:43 pm - looking for housing
I am 21 year old female who is going to be a senior next year at UW. I was wondering if anyone needed a roommate/knew of an open room beginning sometime in Sept?
Ideally I would like to live somewhere near the U district, Wallingford, Greenlake, and Cap Hill may be an option.
I am pretty chill...addicted to my bike...love biking..like to work hard, play hard etc...pretty typical seattle college student :)
-hit me up.
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August 18th, 2008
August 11th, 2008
hotdamnitssteve
 | 03:29 pm - Seattle visitor from Milwaukee
hey,
how's it going? i'm leaving sometime this week to trek across the country to see the city again and hang out. i planned on seeing radiohead on the 20th, exploring the city for a while, and visiting my sister in bellingham.
i had intentions of biking / hitchhiking all the way, but bringing a bike across the country kind of hinders my hitchhiking options. it's much easier to catch a ride with anyone when i just have a huge backpack. i'm not conditioned enough to make the whole trip via bike over the course of 10 days, but i don't want to be in seattle (or other cities) again without a bike.
i was looking for bike co-ops (and other rad places) in seattle and came across the bikery. i was in seattle in april (w/o a bike unfortunately), and some people tried pointing me in the direction of it but i never made it out.
i'm basically emailing you to gather some info on the bikery (or other bike shops, co-ops, etc.), and to touch base with some other riders in seattle to hang out with and ride / explore the city. do you think i could build up an entire road bike there? if so, i may not try and bring my bike with me at all.
thanks, have a good day!
steve roche
608-239-5028
stevenroche@gmail.com
======
- PLEASE EMAIL OR CALL TO TOUCH BASE, I'M NEVER ON HERE. THANKS!
- i'm posting this from a friend's computer, but the preview keeps showing the poster under her LJ username. not that it matters, but mine is "hotdamnitssteve".
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mcfnord
 | 02:20 am - 99/Aurora south from Wallingfnord
I've only recently learned how useful and pleasant 99 is from Wallingford to the Space Needle. On the east sidewalk, after ascending the bridge, it's all down slope, with few cross-streets, and just sleepy buildings, fences, and trees. The sidewalk itself is pretty bumpy though. Then jump off to Dexter. It's sweet!
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August 2nd, 2008
djcynic
 | 11:02 am - The "I'm so important" society we live in..
So I can't help but wonder if during Sea Fair's Blue Angels performance any private pilots 'in a hurry' are going to speed out in front of the display? Exclaiming "f#ck this, I gots reservations" vrrrrraaaammmmmm....
Then all the bloggers and cops will say 'yeah I can see why the pilot from Bellevue had to speed out in front of the Blue Angels, they were holding him up with delays, and their loud noises were intimidating.. he had to fly.. NOW!!!
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=632154&hp
Thanks for Flying!
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/acedia/littlegent/curious.gif) curious
Current Music: KEXP: Kid hops on Positive Vibrations
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August 1st, 2008
tehschkott
 | 01:07 pm - TODAY - DEAD BABY DOWNHILL RACE / PARTY
For Seattle Peeps:
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July 29th, 2008
sgtred
 | 10:48 am - Lake Washington Blvd Rides
Does anybody know who organizes the shut down of the road along Lake Washington for bike-only rides?
And... when the next one is?
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xaotica
 | 10:34 am - dead baby bikes film festival this thursday
i really can't figure out from the dead baby bikes website exactly what's contained in the film festival, but i find them in general entertaining enough that i'm going to try to check it out. it's showing this thursday at 7pm and 9:30pm at central cinema (21st & union).
for those who haven't been to central cinema, it's pretty sweet 'cause they serve you beer and food. it is also on the same block as 2020 cycle in the event you need some shopping/bike maintenance beforehand.
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lantius
 | 10:31 am - Car drivers kill cyclists!
Here is what driving is really about. Running over and plowing through a whole group of cyclists without concern for their safety. These are the people who are complaining about being delayed for five minutes once a month and railing against bicycle "community".
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willysnout
 | 02:01 am - Critical Masshole Thugs Attack Handicapped Couple
Here is what CM is really all about. Surrounding and attacking an elderly handicapped couple. Vandalizing their minivan. Jamming their bikes under the vehicle. Claiming that there's someone trapped under the car. Swearing at them. These are the people who love their "community" so much.
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July 28th, 2008
rwelti
| 05:34 pm - violent attack on cyclist by NYPD, caught on video.
(sorry if this is a duplicate; having trouble getting post to work)
Wow you won't believe this.
Caught by tourist video, cop brings down peaceful bicyclist with violent shove, for no reason.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/07272008/news/regionalnews/cop_shoves_bicyclist_121984.htm
At a different Critical Mass event yesterday in NYC.
I don't support violence by bicyclists, but I sure do understand the deep, deep anger at having our lives threatened by the seemingly growing number of ignorant, inattentive, and/or aggressive drivers who are, some of them, talking on their cell phones while they plow over whoever was in the way. Cyclist becomes another squashed bug on their bumper; cyclist loses life.
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malora_ann
 | 01:56 pm - my bike lanes - reporting parked cars in bike lanes
This has hopefully been posted before but, let's do it again so we can up the participation:
http://seattle.mybikelane.com/
This site is dedicated to helping clear parked cars out of bike lanes. It is super easy to do. This morning I road into UW by way of the burke-gilman, and took a couple photos of a taxi parked ON the trail, covering the entire thing. It was almost humorous, that they pulled off the street and onto the trail, between parked cars and grass, above northlake way north of gasworks. Then, coming off the burke along ne 40th onto campus, a gigantic truck was parked facing the wrong way. It sorta ticked me off.
Anyway, most of us have cellphones and most of us take photographs and all of us see people daily violating the law. Let's see what we can do to improve cycling in Seattle.
Also, if you want, you can report a car parked in a bike lane here to get it removed:
non-emergency police line: 206.625.5011, option 2, then option 8
parks line: 206.684.4075
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lantius
| 02:02 pm - Time For Critical Mass To Keep Going
The incident on Capitol Hill ought to be the last straw. The assault against the cyclists, and the carnage inflicted, was beyond the pale. It arose from the selfish arrogance of yet another motorist, who act as if they own the streets and doesn't need to respect the lives of other users.
I am both a motorist and a cyclist here. I find the actions of many motorists in this city and their tactics not just offensive and embarrassing, but a danger to my safety. To the extent that they run over cyclists here, I'm less secure as I use my bicycle here. Critical Mass, you claim to care about this community. Well, then show it and ride from Westlake on the last Friday of every month.
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jennaxide
 | 12:33 pm - Bikes versus Cars on The Conversation, KUOW
07/28/2008 at 1:00 p.m- KUOW Radio
"There was a fracas Friday night on Capitol Hill between a driver and bicyclists in Critical Mass, a monthly protest ride. The bikers say the driver ran into several cyclists. The driver says he was just trying to escape a mob of bicyclists. Two bikers were arrested. No one has yet been charged. It’s just the latest dramatic example of tensions between pedalers and motorists on our crowded roads. Is it getting worse? What can be done to make it better? Part of the problem may be a misunderstanding of road rules for cars and bikes. We’ll answer your questions about who gets to do what. Should bicyclists be licensed, and ticketed like drivers? Should drivers be trained to share the road? What can be done to improve relations?"
Comment locked-- this is only a public service announcement.
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nein09
 | 10:09 am - Politeness for the win
After the Critical Mass mess on Friday, I decided to be extra careful on the road today, but I never thought it would be this good.
Today I got someone in a car to use their turn signal.
I was waiting to turn left, the light turned green and there was one car opposite me coming the other way. I sat out in the middle of the road with my arm out, signalling left, and they weren't going, so I just sat there... and the driver turned his left signal on.
So I waved and off we both went went on our merry way. Also, there were rainbows and unicorns.
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July 27th, 2008
willysnout
| 01:11 pm - Time For Critical Mass To Go Out of Business
The incident on Capitol Hill ought to be the last straw. The assault on the motorist, and the damage to his vehicle, was beyond the pale. It arose from the selfish arrogance of Critical Mass, which acts as if it owns the streets and can keep others from using them.
I am both a motorist and a cyclist here. I find Critical Mass and its tactics not just offensive and embarrassing, but a danger to my safety. To the extent that they poison attitudes toward cyclists here, I'm less secure as I use my bicycle here. Critical Mass, you claim to care about this community. Well, then show it and disband your group of thugs.
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July 26th, 2008
rawrgrrl
| 08:55 pm - Eyewitness Account From the Slog
Eyewitness #1 was a Bystander
I was just looking up news information about an event that I witnessed tonight and found a frighteningly misinformed article on the event on the King 5 news website. Their “Bicycle demonstration turns violent” article paints a picture of cyclist brutality committed on a vehicle, injuring the driver and scaring the passenger, who they describe as a pregnant woman. While there is no denying that the cyclists circled the car and trashed it, this was all an attempt to stop the car and driver from possibly hurting anyone else, as the scene they describe in their newscast takes place about 200 ft from the scene where the motorist accelerated from 0 to 40 THROUGH a standing line of cyclists at Aloha and 14th, luckily only injuring two of them as his car was pointed at a group of six.
I was standing about 20 feet from the scene and saw the entire altercation. I honestly cannot believe what I saw. Originally, the vehicle was trying to inch (westward on Aloha) into an oncoming mass of cyclists on a narrow road, where he had to pull into the oncoming traffic lane in order to get around the cars parked in his lane. About 6 cyclists peeled off to park themselves in front of the vehicle, explaining that he needed to wait and they would all be out of his way in a minute. The driver, however, remained agitated and expressed that they were “in a rush” and “would be late”. When the cyclists asked what they were going to be late for, the driver responded, “We have reservations!”, which left the group largely speechless until one of the cyclists again explained that he would save a lot of time and trouble if he just waited another 30 seconds for the rest of the cyclists to pass. At that moment, the driver suddenly put his car in reverse and backed up—5 feet into the sidewalk (now the car is parallel to Aloha—thank goodness there were no pedestrians behind him!)—and stopped. This strange behavior panicked everyone and no one moved except to shout “Stop.” This is when his passenger started yelling for him to “Calm down and stop” as well. After staying put for about 10 seconds, the driver then said “fuck this” and accelerated into the line of standing cyclists. When he hit the first ones, he continued to accelerate, but steered into the larger mass of cyclists before turning the wheel and tearing off in the opposite direction (east on Aloha) with one of the hit cyclists still on the roof of his car.
The driver sped down Aloha with a mess of bicycles and cyclists in his wake, a cyclist on his roof, and everyone, including his pregnant passenger, yelling for him to “Just stop!” At the bottom of the hill, the driver stopped at a stop sign and the cyclists swarmed the car, slashing his tires and breaking the windows in order to make sure that he did not continue operating his vehicle through the city like a madman. His door was opened, the driver got out of the car in tears and walked, unmolested back up to where the cyclists were splayed out in the street apologizing to everyone. His passenger was relatively calm, also walked up the street unmolested, and explained that her friend had made a mistake and that she had been yelling for him to calm down and stop the car. While there was a little hysterical yelling by the freightened bicyclists, there was absolutely no physical confrontation.
The reason that I am writing you is that it seems alarmingly irresponsible that such a biased story would be printed and broadcast when King 5 admits that “It’s wasn’t clear what sparked the confrontation”. Not that this is surprising by any means, which is unfortunate. I guess I just want to make sure that the real story is put out there before this damning misinterpretation gains any steam.
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zahgurim
 | 01:49 pm - Seattle CM violence / Car-bike altercations / etc.
For the record, I'm on my bike all the time- for commuting, getting groceries, meeting friends, and so on. I've had plenty of scary encounters with cars and people while on my bike, but have never retaliated or caused (intentional!) damage to someone else's property.
The cyclists involved in this incident had no right to damage this person's car or drag him out (if that even happened...? I'm unsure of the details there). Take the license plate number, call the police, report what happened. Too many cyclists, I think, feel that they need to respond with violence when in an altercation with a car- u-lock, keying, physical threats, etc. I see this increasingly frequently when I'm on my bike. There's no difference between this and road rage, and just because you are on a bike doesn't give you the right to act violently towards anyone else, for any reason. Damaging someone's car isn't "self-defense" in this kind of a situation.
Obviously any time a car pulls into a group of bikes like this, it's the driver's fault and they should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. But so should the cyclists who assaulted the car. I am sick of seeing bicycling as a lifestyle and the safety of cyclists everywhere being compromised by cyclists who, apparently, don't care to think about the repercussion of their decisions before acting upon them, and who feel that they are ethically superior to non-bicyclists and that, somehow, absolves them of any responsibility for their actions.
We could do, I think, a few things to help prevent situations like this in the future. First, post the route of CM around beforehand so that people can avoid the traffic if they want/need to. Second, someone sane and rational make a goddamn statement when the media asks for one, so it isn't just the driver's POV that's represented. Those folks that remarked that this is a PR nightmare for cyclists, I completely agree, but that doesn't mean that with a little thinking ahead that we can't mend the damage done. Third, if you see a driver, or another cyclist, acting violently, try to diffuse the situation, and calm the fuck down. Fourth, learn to memorize license plates and makes/models of cars. This, plus a cell phone and witnesses, is our best defense against the nutbar drivers out there, IMO.
Finally, the "don't be a dick" philosophy would serve us well in cyclist-motor vehicle relations, I think. On both sides.
Current Location: 98103
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yts88
 | 11:42 am - From criticalmass@scrimass.org
from Muir Kumph <mkumph@karrot.org>
to criticalmass@scrimass.org
date Sat, Jul 26, 2008 at 9:31 AM
subject [Fwd: critical mass july 08 incident important!!!]
mailed-by karrot.org
There was an incident on 7/25/08 during Critical Mass ride at 15th and Aloha.
3-4 bikers were blocking off a car so the rest of the riders can continue, they were telling the driver that he needs to wait couple of minutes. Driver was inpatient, and kept telling things like "I have a reservation, I have to go" There was more bikes blocking him off because of the argument, at some point the driver got very mad, and turned around going on the side walk, almost hitting some bikes. Then the bikers started getting closer to the car so he wouldnt drive in the middle of the riders, and the argument got heated. Bikers were telling him to wait, and all of a sudden the driver said something like "Fuck this" and drove into the bikers. He intentionally hit people, injuring 2 bikers, and smashing couple of bikes, and back packs. He started driving away while everyone was running away from him so they wouldnt get hit as well.
Some bikers ran after the car, while others call 911. By the time police showed up, 2 of the car windows were broken and his tires were slashed. When the driver saw the police, he started crying and saying he was just scared, but none of the bikers even touched him before he ran over people.
I heard someone saying "The tires were slashed so he couldnt drive off"
2 of the bikers got arrested for property damage, and they are booked to jail. THEY HAVE COURT TODAY STARTING AT 12.30 PM AT KING COUNTY COURT HOUSE, COURT ROOM #1. So we need people who saw what happened to contact us, because the driver is trying to pull off that he didnt do anything.
Channel 5 tried to interview us, but we refused to talk with them, and it seems like media is showing the incident like "Violent bikers attacked a car..."
Bikers who got hit by the maniac driver, and bikers who got arrested need support from the community. Please contact via e-mail ekirgoz@yahoo.com, if you were witness or if you could show any kind of support, and share ideas...
I will post updates on this case but in the mean time please remember there is a court today !!!
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rawrgrrl
| 02:10 am - Total Insanity on Capitol Hill
The King5 news report on the violent incident that happened last night during Critical Mass was (not surprisingly) TOTALLY INNACCURATE.
My mom and I were close enough to hear the driver yell, "Get the fuck outta my way, we've got reservations!" before gunning his engine and careening into a group of maybe 11 riders. He then backed up and drove through them, some of whom were on the ground, again! There were injuries to more than two cyclists. It was crazy. Though I don't condone the riders pulling the driver out of the car and hitting him, I think slashing his tires as he tried to flee the scene was absolutely justified under the circumstances. It was best to stop him from tearing off into the neighborhood to possibly doing harm to someone else in his irrational state. Also, the blood on the driver WASN'T HIS. I know this because a few minutes later while sitting on the curb he reached back and touched his head, and when his hand came away bloody he asked a young man with a badly bleeding hand, "Is this yours?" The driver was certainly not the victim (as portrayed in the news story). There were riders (one specific female--she knows who she is) taunting the driver, but HE escalated the situation into violence and brought this down on his own head.
Does anyone know if the driver was arrested? Were any *cyclists* arrested?!
I hope this doesn't reflect badly on Critical Mass. Whatever happens from here, it has already diverted attention from the point of the ride. I know it's different for each of us, but most of our reasons are positive (good for the planet, making cars more aware of bikes and therefore our streets safer for us, promoting community, having a great time, etc.)
Any information you have is appreciated.
Current Location: Home Sweet
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/acedia/littlegent/angry.gif) angry
Current Music: Bird by The Beebs
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