By Jason Grotelueschen
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
“Something needs to be done now — not in 3 years — now.”
That was one of the many strong messages expressed Tuesday night by family and supporters of Maridee Bonadea, the Vashon bicycle rider hit and killed in Fauntleroy last month. The family and community members had been invited by the Fauntleroy Community Association board to attend their July meeting at the Fauntleroy Schoolhouse.
The well-attended meeting was chaired by FCA vice president Catherine Bailey (filling in for president Frank Immel). The first half of the meeting was devoted to a discussion of next steps to engage with city leaders to improve safety on local streets (the second half featured crime updates from SPD, as well as FCA board business, scroll down for summaries on those).
FCA is planning a larger public meeting in early August that will be fully dedicated to the bike/traffic safety topic, with plans to invite and involve multiple elected officials, organizational representatives, and community groups.
Bonadea’s tragic death prompted strong community support including a “ghost bike” memorial and Critical Mass bike ride, and has raised questions and concerns from the community and from cycling and safety advocates across Seattle.
(WSB file photo by Torin Record-Sand)
Before opening up the topic on Tuesday night, Bailey called for a moment of silence for Bonadea, then invited family members in attendance to speak. Bonadea’s daughter Lani and spouse Laura described her as a “very safe lifelong rider” who emphasized group safety. Both expressed frustration with the allowed street parking and the lack of “share the road” signage in the area of Fauntleroy where Bonadea was killed, and they emphasized that now is the time for action. Lani said that although she appreciated the FCA meeting attendees’ respect and moment of silence, “my mom was not silent” when it came to issues that she believed in, and that it’s crucial that the community take action. Laura echoed that sentiment, describing herself as a longtime county employee with 35 years of experience in county government, and urged attendees and the broader community to come together to demand improvement. The family said they’re planning a memorial service for Bonadea in early August, and they thanked meeting attendees for their overall support. Family and attendees also emphasized that Bonadea’s death was not an isolated tragedy in the Fauntleroy area, with, for example, another “ghost bike” memorial just up the road on Marine View Drive.
The discussion was then opened up to other meeting attendees, and here’s a summary:
- Problems described by attendees:
- The area southwest of the ferry dock on Fauntleroy is an extremely constrained space between parked cars and
moving vehicles; no existing sharrows/“share the road” signage observed. - Parking along that critical block is reportedly being used by ferry workers (among others); cars parked in these areas cause sightline
obstructions. - The queueing lane on Fauntleroy Ave on the Lincoln Park side forces cyclists between two moving streams (queue and through-traffic), described as “terrifying” and “unsafe.”
- The area southwest of the ferry dock on Fauntleroy is an extremely constrained space between parked cars and
- Mitigation and infrastructure ideas proposed:
- Install two “No Parking” signs on Wildwood to open uphill space and improve visibility.
- Add “share the road” signs and bike symbols (paint) as a bare-minimum alert to drivers.
- Consider “No Stopping or Standing” and red-curb paint for enforceability, especially where people “wait 10 minutes or longer” for ferry pickups.
- Daylighting enforcement near intersections (e.g., 30 ft from stop signs; 20 ft from curb ramps). SPD noted that any officer or parking enforcement can cite/tow illegal parking; calls for service help prioritize.
- “Paint-and-post” uphill protected lane as a tactical, quick-build solution while the community is focused and grieving; plan for a higher-quality protected facility later.
- Extend a protected bike path linking Alki Point–Lincoln Park–Fauntleroy; address Barton eastward. Fauntleroy currently has “no bike routes.”
- Leverage prior SDOT design concepts that showed proposed bike lanes up Barton and no-parking configurations; meeting participants will share documents.
- Broader advocacy and safety elements:
- Coordinate with Seattle Streets Alliance (formerly Seattle Neighborhood Greenways), West Seattle Bike Connections (WSBC), and Cascade Bicycle Club to align requests; WSBC has already met with citywde Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck.
- Proposals mentioned: require truck side guards on more vehicles (at least those contracting with the city); ban or re-route very large trucks off narrow, winding streets; ongoing driver training for large commercial vehicles; consider cyclist-specific signal phases; ferry-planned traffic light later this year is expected to create helpful gaps in traffic.
- Potential issues to avoid, as actions are discussed and taken:
- Do not install DIY signs (city will remove non-sanctioned traffic control).
- Avoid competing requests from different groups and individuals, but do certainly acknowledge asks from groups like WSBC’s and add a clearly defined “immediate” desired step (such as a targeted no-parking zone) to avoid delays.
- Lynn Drake, a West Seattle neighbor and cycling advocate who is active in the Alki Community Council, talked about an overall desire to extend bike lanes but to not rely solely on sharrows (shared-use arrows) which “simply do not work.”
- Chris Lampkin, a Fauntleroy neighbor who also works on County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda‘s team (he half-joked about switching repeatedly during the meeting between his “citizen hat” and “county employee hat” as he made comments and responded to questions), said that he’s also an avid cyclist but that he avoids that area of Fauntleroy “because it’s not safe; too many curves and unsafe conditions.” In response to several questions from other attendees about what to do next, Lampkin made three suggestions: 1) Do not make your own “do not park” signs, no matter how well-intentioned, because they’re likely to cause unintended issues and to be removed anyway. 2) Do propose a draft resolution to be brought up and discussed at FCA’s forum in August. 3) Do reach out to local reps saying “this is an emergency,” and encourage them to promptly involve SDOT and encourage action.
Before transitioning to the remainder of the meeting, attendees talked about plans for an early-August safety meeting hosted by FCA (the board typically doesn’t meet in August, but they plan to use that general timeframe next month to instead host this one-topic forum). The purpose would be to convene all relevant agencies and stakeholders to identify immediate and longer-term safety actions for cyclists and pedestrians near the ferry corridor and throughout Fauntleroy (and the broader community). FCA will work with stakeholders to identify the best date, and will communicate that promptly to its members and the community. There was agreement to invite representatives from SDOT (Vision Zero), Seattle Police, Metro, Washington State Ferries/WSDOT, elected officials including councilmembers and the mayor, and other West Seattle community associations. Bonadea’s family and other attendees agreed to draft and share letter templates with FCA that can in turn be shared with their members, so that concerned residents can effectively capture and report their concerns to elected officials and leaders.
Before this meeting, WSB had an inquiry out to SDOT regarding the status of their initial review of the site, and this is the response we received:
SDOT Vision Zero Team completed their initial site review. That review focused on documenting existing site conditions and identifying any immediate maintenance, or roadway issues at the subject location. Our site review did not identify anything that required immediate corrective action, like downed signs or faded pavement markings. While the initial review did not identify any immediate maintenance or repair needs, that does not mean the location is not undergoing further safety evaluation. The initial review is the first step in our fatal crash response process.
As outlined in our new fatal crash response policy, SDOT is now moving into the next phase of the review process. This phase includes a more comprehensive safety analysis that evaluates the street’s design, operations, and other relevant factors to identify any potential opportunities for safety improvements. In this phase, we will collect traffic data, analyze police-reported crash history and review intersection and roadway geometry. We anticipate completing that review by the end of the summer or early fall.
Back to the FCA meeting; After this topic, some of the meeting attendees and guests departed (all were invited to stay, and some did), and the second portion of the FCA meeting began:
SPD UPDATE: Lieutenant Pat Daly, who joined the Southwest Precinct in early May but is a 19-year SPD veteran, provided an update with help from community service officer Jamie Heslin. Daly reported that the SW Precinct (West Seattle and South Park) posted the largest year-over-year crime drop amongst the city’s five precincts:
- Shootings/shots fired: Down 9 percent precinct-wide. For Fauntleroy specifically, the numbers are steady (two incidents in 2025 and two in 2026 during the same time period).
- Violent crime: Down 18 percent precinct-wide. There have been no homicides in West Seattle in 2026.
- Property crime: Motor vehicle theft down 38 percent, but burglaries and thefts are up slightly
(detectives are well-aware and working on those trends). - Aggravated assaults in Fauntleroy are up slightly: Three at this time last year; four this year.
Daly also spoke about the cyclist crash investigation, saying it’s being handled by the Traffic Collision Investigation team, which has a city-wide caseload. Because it’s an active investigation, details could take time to be finalized. Heslin added that as a CSO she and her colleagues are able to visit with people and offer grief counseling resources and community support.
Another meeting attendee shared details with the SPD officers regarding a recent neighborhood incident at the 9200 block of Fauntleroy Ave SW, in which a homeowner was struck by a vehicle (with no license plates) that had been parked suspiciously on the property. The victim was reportedly in the ICU with a brain bleed, and a neighbor’s security camera captured the event. Daly said the incident didn’t sound immediately familiar to him, but he made note of it for follow-up.
FCA BOARD BUSINESS: The board spent time discussing a number of operational items, including approval of a new FCA board member (Jamison Johnson, who was in attendance and thanked the group for the support), plans for an open house event in September for prospective FCA board members, approval for the group to sponsor two glass floats for the upcoming scavenger hunt event, reinvesting group funds into a CD, and continuing fundraising efforts for the annual Fall Festival.
The FCA Board meets ten times per year on the second Tuesday of each month, at 6 pm in the Fauntleroy Schoolhouse board room. Meetings are open to the public.