Bicycling advocate Ellie Weiss of Arbor Heights is spearheading a new group with the mission to promote cycling in White Center and South Park. That includes adding signs, bike racks, encouraging local residents to ride more, making cycling more affordable, and starting a conversation about opening a bicycle shop, or co-op, in White Center. There currently is no bike shop in White Center or South Park.

"We are starting to meet the second Sunday of every month at Full Tilt Ice Cream beginning Sept. 11 at 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., then Oct. 9," said Weiss, whose daughter Esther attends first grade at Concord School in South Park. "We are looking for volunteer mechanics."

She said that the West Seattle Tool Library, a project of Sustainable West Seattle, is well-equipped with bike tools and is getting involved with the group.

Full Tilt is at 9629 16th Ave SW. Co-owner Justin Cline is a also a bike advocate for White Center, Weiss said.

"Our main theme is doing bike triage, on the spot repair, and to party," she said of the Sunday meetings. "We invite everyone to bring bikes they can't ride. White Center is a flat plateau with a lot of great parks. It has a lot of potential to thrive by supporting bikes and would be a positive thing for the neighborhood."

Like Full Tilt, another 16th Ave. merchant in downtown White Center is involved, Proletariat Pizza, at 9622 16th Ave SW, Suite A.

Mike and Stefanie Albaeck own and operate Proletariat Pizza.

"Mike is really involved in the bike culture," said Stefanie, adding that he rides his bike to work almost every day from their Highland Park home near the dog park. "We wanted more bike parking in downtown White Center," she said. "We really wanted a large bike corral like the one at Pike/Pine on Capitol Hill that takes up an entire parking space. We got some pushback from the CDA (Community Development Association), who didn't want to lose a space even though it would increase bike riding.

"We spoke with Kevin Chang through KCDOT and he came out to our shop and looked around the two block strip of 16th Ave., south of Roxbury," she said. "There was previously bike parking at a cross walk on 16th between Roxbury and 98th. He said he had a bike rack in his office, reinstalled it, and said that and if we can see this being used we can talk about putting in more. During Artwalk we see a lots of bikes, and at the Spoke & Food event (June 28) we saw tons of bikes come through."

Julie Salathe is Education Director of the Cascade Bicycle Club. She would like to see a bicycle shop serving the White Center community.

"We want it to be self-sustainable," she said of the idea of a shop. "It's hard to do a non-profit bike shop, but at the same time we have a vision of helping people in the community to work on their bikes. There are a couple models in the area like the Bikery and Bike Works, but we haven't decided on a model.

"There is no shop to serve people in White Center who do have bikes. We had 50 people come with very little publicity to our Aug. 24 Greenbridge event for tune-ups. It was just the tip of the iceberg."

She is referring to the "Tunes & Tune-Ups" event where the White Center bicycle advocacy group was launched. Many organizations got involved, as did Stu with Alki Bike & Board.

Cascade Bicycle Club operates the Major Taylor Project.

According to the Major Taylor website: "The Major Taylor Project is an after-school cycling program for young people aged 11-18 integrating bicycle riding, healthy living, cycle maintenance, road safety awareness, and the importance of working toward individual goals.

"Named after Marshall 'Major' Taylor, the turn-of-the-last-century African-American U.S. and world bicycle sprint champion, the project is focused on introducing young people from diverse communities to the sport of cycling and creating an inclusive culture of bicycling that will continue to future generations."

Ed Ewing, a longtime West Seattle resident and 30 year-long cyclist, is Project Director for Major Taylor.

"We have two bike clubs in the area," he said. "One is located at the YES! Foundation in White Center, and we work through them with students at Evergreen High School. It's website states: "The YES Foundation of White Center exists to address the social, economic, educational, physical, and spiritual needs of youth in the White Center area. By developing programs and partnering with other organizations, we provide kids with positive role models and powerful life experiences to encourage their hope and vision for the future."

We have another club at Chief Sealth," Ewing said. "This is our forth year and more and more kids are joining. And this is just high school. And there are tons of kids at the junior high and elementary school levels who need to be served.
The idea for a bike shop or fix-it clinic really goes big with us.

"I think Seattle is pretty segregated by geography," he said. "You can drive through those neighborhoods. You don't have to go to those neighborhoods to conduct your daily life. White Center, South Park, Southeast Seattle, a lot of services don't reach those areas, yet there are many families in those areas. Kids there may play soccer, or just end up hanging out. Anything that's going to cost money presents a barrier to these kids to get along. We help with the YES! Foundation to remove those barriers."

Salathe explained that the 2011 bike riding club through Cascade's Major Taylor Project started in April and students rode every week and built up to their Seattle to Portland High School 200 mile ride in July. She said the clubs continue in fall with an opportunity for students to earn a bike. They take maintenance classes with the Major Taylor Project to earn the bike they are working on. Those bikes are received through donations.

Deb Salls is Executive Director, Bike Works Bicycle Shop, 3709 S. Ferdinand St. It is a co-op model and accepts donations. Bike Works keeps 40 tons of metal out of the waste stream annually by restoring old bikes, and utilizing old parts, many hard-to-find European components.

"Our organization is trying to be supportive of any new bike initiatives, places that encourage and promote bicycling, and educate people about biking and have low cost affordable bicycles available to community," said Salls. "So we want to be as supportive as possible in the start-up phases. White Center is definitely an area that needs this."

Especially supportive is Salls' colleague at Bike Works, Liz Nixon, who is now a member on the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board.

"People bike everywhere in the city, but in the south end there are just fewer bike shops," Salls said. "When we started 15 years ago we were the only bike shop south of I-90 to Renton. It's still sparse. Really you could probably put a Bike Works in every neighborhood. There is no way we can possibly reach everyone in our 98118 zip code. There is room for an organization like ours in White Center to get people on bikes.

"There are barriers to get people on bikes," she said. "Some people think you need a lot of money to do it. There are stereotypes about who does it. We try to encourage the idea that there are all kinds of bikes and all kinds of people and there is a bike for everyone. White Center is like any community but is also very diverse. Public transportation is improving, but there is always a need for more whys to get around. People need to be empowered to get around by bike. You don't have to depend on anyone else. You can just go. Often young people, particularly low-income people, don't venture too far out of their neighborhood.

"A bike can help you to see the neighborhood next door, and see the world in new ways and expand your horizons," Salls enthused. "We do camps with the kids. They go biking in the San Juan Islands. Seeing different places by bike, if you see it from the ground slowly, going through our country that way, it's a new thing to experience and I think empowering for people of all ages."