Downtown scooter rally gets City Hall's attention

Sunshine, scooters and politics mixed Saturday afternoon in Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood.

Scooter enthusiasts and dealers filled a parking lot on Westlake Avenue for the city's first All City Scooter Community Day to swap stories, compare notes and extol the virtues of moving about on scooters, streamlined miniature motorcycles that are growing in popularity as gasoline prices increase.

With an estimated 200 people and some 150 scooters gathered at midday, it was the biggest scooter party since last year's "Vespamerica" gathering, which attracted hundreds more when it was held in Seattle. Scooter clubs had tents, and several dealers displayed their wares.

"It shows there's a lot of riders in town," said organizer and scooter-rental business owner Susan Richardson, who said part of the strategy was to let City Hall know there's a scooter constituency out there.

In March about 100 showed up at an evening forum to complain about annoyances such as car drivers moving scooters out of ever-more-scarce parking spaces and the theft of the city's new parking stickers from their vehicles.

Now Councilwomen Jan Drago and Sally Clark are looking for ways to help the scooter riders. Drago attended Saturday's scooter get-together and said she and Clark are drafting legislation that would make it illegal for anyone to move a parked scooter out of a parking space.

The city has added a feature to its online "My Neighborhood" map that shows street locations of scooter and motorcycle parking, and is asking for suggestions on where new paid scooter parking could be located.

Many attendees Saturday were relatively recent scooter owners who took up two-wheel riding to avoid higher fuel prices and the cost of car ownership.

"You can't argue with 80 miles to the gallon," said Denise Minard, 53, of Seattle after she pulled up her Genuine Buddy scooter.

"It's my only transportation to work. My car died last August and I didn't want to put any money into it."

The parking lot at Westlake and Mercer Street was crowded with a variety of scooters, including Vespas, Lambrettas and Ducatis, as well as scooter fans out in their jeans and swept-back sunglasses.

Eric Darnell, 37, of Lake Stevens, also rides his Honda Ruckus to and from his various customer-support tasks and offices. "You can go out all day on a cruise and spend $10."

He said the scooter's top speed is about 40 mph but he takes it on scenic back-road trips. "I don't even hit Highway 99," he said.

"It makes grocery shopping a lot more interesting," said Lynn Supeda, 37, of Seattle, who's ridden his Vespa 150LX to work for two years.

The event was billed as a chance for new scooter owners to meet some veterans and for would-be riders to learn more about them as they contemplate buying.

"I'm looking for every percentage we can get people out of cars," Drago said. "You just have to keep picking away."