Seattle Chickens Promote More Walkable Communities

There is a little chicken in all of us, but David Levinger is a BIG chicken. In costume as a faux fowl at crosswalks around the Seattle area, he and other plainclothes walkers are drawing attention to pedestrians' rights, active living, and common-sense solutions to problem streets and pedestrian crossings. Feet First, the pedestrian advocacy organization led by Levinger and the lead agency for the Active Living by Design community partnership in Seattle, has long conducted "crosswalk actions" as a way to educate drivers about the crosswalk law, to demand changes at dangerous locations and to build community in neighborhoods.

So, why the chicken suit? Levinger says the idea was hatched out of a conversation with friends while planning for a crosswalk action. They wanted to shift people's attention, make drivers more aware of pedestrians and promote events that were fun for everyone involved. Levinger developed the idea and purchased the eye-catching suit through a mini-grant from Washington's Traffic Safety Commission.

Along with drivers, Seattle media have taken notice of the prodigious poultry, with prominent coverage from its first crosswalk action in April to their event walking four miles to work with county executive Ron Sims. Recently in a crosswalk action held to commemorate the one year mark in a middle-school boy's recovery from a serious head injury being hit in a crosswalk, two 7th graders auditioned for the role of the chicken. The event drew community residents, family and students from Hamilton International Middle School, as well as media from six news outlets. The student who had been hit a year earlier even donned the chicken suit for a poignant trip across the intersection.

The chicken suit and crosswalk actions have gotten the local government's attention as well. Feet First recently received a letter from the Seattle Department of Transportation advising them that a "road diet" will be conducted on this same stretch of road. Typical road diet techniques include narrowing the width of a vehicular travel lane and reducing the number of lanes to promote pedestrian safety and walkability. Feet First has worked with the freight community to get their support for the road diet, and they have found truckers sympathetic to pedestrian safety issues. The efforts of Feet First and Active Seattle have also generated improvements such as the set back of stop bars at dangerous intersections and other crossing upgrades. They continue to partner with local, city and state governments to raise the priority of funding and designing walkable communities.

The chicken is a positive and visible symbol to elevate both the spirit and the priority of this important, though too often neglected community concern. It is the hope of Feet First that all drivers and pedestrians will begin to put themselves in the feet of the chicken and make walkable communities a top priority.

Resources

Feet First Organization Website

KIRO 7 News story - 5-24-2006

Seattle Times article - 4-27-2006

Think chickens are cool? How about a purple cow?