‘Ridiculous’ painted street more evidence of SDOT’s failures

At least one Seattle resident cannot fathom why tiny Weedin Place in the Roosevelt neighborhood was converted to what appears to be a park. It carries a potential price tag of over $70K.

“It’s beautiful but now traffic is worse,” Richard told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson. “I’ve been going back and forth in the past 3-4 months, and not once have I seen someone playing there. Why would they?” Listen to Richard’s entire interview here.

Dori predicts even fewer people will enjoy the new park once the rain starts.

“You got I-5 above you. You’ve got bus fumes going by you,” Richard said. “You’ve got really no residential people living around there and if you’re going to take your kids out, you’d go right down to Green Lake.”

Maybe so, but Katie, with the Roosevelt Neighborhood Association, told Dori the painted street is not really a park, but more of a way to make that intersection at 65th and 8th safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. Listen to her interview here.

“It was never intended to be a park where kids are playing,” Katie said. “It was intended to brighten up that part of the neighborhood a little bit.”

She said that area is dangerous for walkers and there have been a number of accidents. She expects it’ll get even worse for people as soon as new apartments are built in the area, doubling the population of the neighborhood.

“It’s been shown that painted concrete makes cars slow down and it makes things safer for pedestrians and for bikes,” she said.

Dori pointed out that traffic now backs up on 65th to the light, but Katie said that’s simply not true. She also said that the neighborhood held several meetings with very little concern about the project.

She says the estimated $811K for the project is not correct. It cost less than $60K to design and paint.

Next time, Dori said he can get that done for $600.