Issue link: http://www.wacmagazine.com/i/672196
30 | Washington Athletic Club Magazine | MAY / JUNE 2016 She and husband Eldon, who served on the Washington State University faculty, retired to Seattle, where Kristi's parents, both in their mid-90s, also live. Their daughter, Wendy, resides in Kansas City. Both sons, Ben and Zac, live in Seattle and bike commute, and Eldon often runs errands by bike. "I'm always asking them about their routes," Kristi says. Second Avenue safety Kristi's second and final two-year term on the bike board ends this August, but she'll still keep track of what's going on. Her and Eldon's Capitol Hill garage serves as a family bike maintenance repair shed and a focal point in the family's cycling way of life. "It's full of all kinds of tools and bikes," Kristi smiles. She says she joined the WAC for two key reasons: swim workouts and personal training. She still does both regularly. Her week normally ends with a morning workout with trainer Mona Caravetta, lunch at the Sports Café, and a 90-minute massage. "That's my perfect WAC Friday," she says. "And I ride my bike down here." After coffee, she leads us toward downtown Seattle's biggest recent improvement for cyclists—protected bike lanes along Second Avenue. Standing at the corner of Second and Union, we watch bikes zip by, separated from traffic by thin white stanchions. "This was big," Kristi says. "But not everyone is used to it yet." As she's talking, a car misses a traffic signal and crosses into a bike zone. Fortunately, it's empty. Later, a block south, she stops next to the spot where a 31-year-old attorney and mother was riding during the summer of 2014. A box truck turned left on University Street, crossed in her path, and killed her. "It's intolerable to have fatalities," Kristi says solemnly. "That might have been avoided if these protected lanes had been in." Challenges ahead City counts already show four times as many bikers using Second Avenue now compared to before the protected bike lanes. Work recently started to install planter-box barricades to better separate vehicles from bikes, and the lanes are being extended farther north and south. Coming in the next two to three years: East-west bike routes through downtown, including more protected lanes. All of it supported by the bike advisory board. "Connectivity becomes a huge key, and it's directly related to safety," Kristi says about the city's east-west challenges. "Right now, you have an infrastructure and then it ends. Our goal is to have a completely connected network—north to south, east to west—that takes all ages and abilities of people who ride where they need and want to go." HELPING HAND Seattle's Bike Master Plan: wac.net/bike-master Adrienne walks toward the window and points at a short bookshelf framing the view. Atop the shelf rest mini-buckets of snacks, a toy truck made from Legos, and a small stuffed animal flashing its not-so-scary teeth. Along the opposite wall, writing, charts, and multi-colored sticky notes cover a large whiteboard. The hallways beyond the room look pretty much the same, with reports and results noted on large displays for all to see. If you're looking for a visual representation of open government, this is it. Turning back toward the bookshelf, Adrienne, who first joined the WAC in the mid-1990s, explains Best Starts for Kids, a voter-approved initiative last November. As Director of the King County Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS), Adrienne leads Adrienne Quinn moves quickly around the fifth floor of The Chinook Building, at the corner of Fifth and Jefferson. Down the hall, she leads us into "The Clubhouse," a corner room with a great view of the industrial district and the clock tower at King Street Station. Guiding county services to the areas of most need ADRIENNE QUINN