Bikes move forward as

Prop. 1 stalls

The argument about whether or not Proposition 1 would have helped or hurt the effort to stop global warming came to a halt this week as voters overwhelmingly rejected the measure on Election Day. The plan would have added considerable mileage to the new light rail system but would also have added highway lanes in some places — a move that irked some environmentalists while others were busily promoting the light rail benefits. But there is one transportation plan that no one is arguing against this week, and that is the mayor's new bike plan.

Mayor Greg Nickels wants to make Seattle the most bike-friendly city in the United States, and he has proposed a plan to do just that. This week the Seattle City Council unanimously passed the Bicycle Master Plan, which includes 118 miles of new bike lanes and 19 miles of trails.

On the UW's student-run What-About Radio last week, Seattle's Director of Traffic Management Wayne Wentz reminded people about the city's target to meet or beat the goals set forth in the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. He thinks bikes can contribute to accomplishing this.

"If we can get more people to want to bicycle for commuting purposes and recreation purposes, we think we can move towards ... that goal," Wentz said.

The Cascade Bicycle Club worked with the city to help draft the plan and continues to sing its praises.

"It will connect all of our major cultural institutions, employment centers and urban villages together in a network that will allow people to get from where they are to where they want to go," said David Hiller, the club's advocacy director, also on What-About Radio last week.

The Bicycle Master Plan will take 10 years to fully implement, but in an effort to quickly get the wheels turning, many of the most visible changes are planned for the next two years.

Public hearing on FCC in Seattle tonight

The Federal Communications Commission will hold its sixth and final public hearing tonight before pushing forward with a mid-December vote on new rules that would allow a dramatic consolidation of mass media. This will be the one and only opportunity for Northwest residents to weigh in on the measure, which is the successor to a similar but failed plan which was pushed by the FCC in 2003.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has proposed cutting a set of media ownership rules, notably the ban on "cross-ownership," or owning a newspaper and a television station in the same market.

Local free media activists, such as those involved with Reclaim the Media, have promised a response, claiming that media ownership has already been heavily consolidated and echoing the words of Democratic FCC Commissioner Jonathan S. Adelstein, who said in reference to the new plan: "We should first address the appalling lack of ownership of media outlets by women and people of color."

Reclaim the Media has been working recently to host a series of "testimony workshops" for citizens wishing to testify at the hearing.

The FCC hearing will be held from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. tonight at Town Hall, located at 1119 Eighth Avenue.

[Reach columnist Matt Dundas at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]