I just had my required training on how to operate an electric-assist bicycle. I'm riding either an electric-assist bicycle or a Segway in the Pride Parade Sunday as part of the City Council contingent. In the past couple of years we've used the parade as a way to show constituents the variety of non-car options city employees have for moving around the city in their jobs. Matt The Trainer told me some people use the bikes to get all the way down to the Joint Training Facility on Myers Way. Nice!

As I was pedaling around the SeaPark garage in my training I thought about how handy the electric-assist bike would have been for the Lance Armstrong Foundation Livestrong Ride last Sunday. I did the 70-mile route (Seattle Center to I-90, around Mercer Island, over to south Bellevue, out around Issaquah, back over to Lake Washington, down to Renton, then back up the lake, up Yesler and back to Seattle Center). Sure, it's much, much heavier than my road bicycle, but have you seen the hills we did in Issaquah? The angle and distance were outrageous. I actually walked the last 100 meters of the last hill because I was worried I was moving so slowly that I would tip over. I don't think seeing the devil just before the top of the hill helped. Yes, a guy in a full-on devil costume appeared twice on the route "cheering" people on. Luckily, I found Krista Bunch and Jana Hopper from SDOT in the 70-mile group, so I have confirmation that others saw the devil, too.

OK, and then there was the Yesler hill from Frink Park. Yesler?! We have a perfectly good I-90 bike tunnel and instead they bring us back into the city core on Yesler.

All this is after-the-fact grumbling, of course. In the end, I did it. I was passed regularly on the ride by better cyclists with the names of family members and friends living with or claimed by cancer pinned to their shirts. I was also passed by people with tags pinned to their shirts identifying them as cancer survivors. The hills were hard, but not that hard.

OK, so Metro General Manager Kevin Desmond just clarified that the extra service -- purchased by Seattle voters through Transit Now -- that makes the fancy Rapid Ride brand possible should happen in 2011, barring catastrophic system cuts. The fancy stops and red busses might not appear until 2012.

I'm at the Regional Transit Committee meeting right now and Metro staff have just informed us that they are considering a delay of Rapid Ride service for West Seattle to Downtown from 2011 to 2012. Metro staff are arguing that finances and viaduct work make 2011 difficult. I think Committee Chair Constantine (West Seattle) is as surprised as I am!

Over the past few days I've driven 23rd crossing Union a few times and noticed beautiful poster-size portraits of people in house-like wooden frames on the vacant corner kitty-corner from the old cheese steak place. The southwest corner of 23rd and Union used to be the old Colman Building. The Nisqually earthquake shook that brick building beyond repair and it's now gone. The lot awaits a new housing development that should appear when the soil cleanup is done and the housing market balances. In the meantime owner Jim Mueller is donating use of the property to The Corner, a very cool, summer-long inter-active art installation telling the history of the corner through people who remember it "then" and who have come to it in the "now." Check out the website, "the public radio documentary you help to make," where you can hear interviews with and see portraits of an array of people who live, work, linger and know the Central Area. Former Black Panthers, self-identified gentrifying white artists, former residents, current guardians - and maybe you? By calling the phone number on the website you can contribute your own story of how you remember or know 23rd and Union and the greater Central Area.

This is the greatest interactive public art project I've seen in a quite a while. Check it out.

In April I had one of those experiences that can make you feel lucky to be a councilmember. This particular experience also made me feel exhausted, terrified, sweaty, dirty, a little carsick and very, very hot.

Every year the Washington State Council of Firefighters hosts Fire Ops 101. It's a day in which elected and appointed decision makers from around the state are run through the paces of being a firefighter. I'd been invited the past three years, but always had a conflict. This year I made with the help of Local 27, the Seattle firefighters union. A full day out in Richland at the Hammer training facility.

Did I mention I'm not good with heights or extended time in the sun? I had to do both in full bunking gear with air tank and mask. You can read about it here. Seattle has awesome firefighters who work under labor-intensive, technically demanding conditions. Thank you to Local 27 and the Washington State Council for the smart lobbying.

Bank on Seattle-King County, the effort by the city, county and 22 local banks to offer an alternative to check cashing stores, was the focus of a KOMO "smart consumer, smart money" focus last night. Veteran consumer and financial affairs reporter Herb Weisbaum looked at the trap low-wage workers and people who have had financial trouble in the past get into with check cashing fees. Bank on Seattle-King County drops the minimum balance requirements, offers financial education, drops some fees, and welcomes most people who have bounced in the past. With the right system, these people are great clients just looking to keep more of their paychecks, save a little and build for the future.

Check out the piece here.

I was proud to help launch Bank on Seattle-King County with the Mayor last year. Call 211 if you'd like more information about Bank on Seattle-King County.

Well, at least a short spring banquet and awards season. With grass-induced hay fever comes recognition for hard working individuals, companies and non-profit agencies making Seattle hum. Both the Rainier Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Seattle Human Service Coalition took time out to recognize great work with lunch (at the New Holly Campus in the case of RVCC) or appetizers (obliterated by the crowd at the Landes room in City Hall for SHSC).

The two events happened one day after the other and are two of many happening around town this spring. I think the awardees are great examples of people generally ordinary people who step up to do extraordinary things. I thought I's share them.

At RVCC:

• Community Service Award - Pepsi Bottling Group. Makes me a little guilty I don't drink more pop because they give a fair amount of money to causes in Rainier Valley.
• Chamber Business of the Year - Vince's. Have you been to Pizzeria Puccinella yet? You should go.
• John L. O'Brien Lifetime Achievement Award - Grover Haynes. Grover retired a couple of decades ago from Boeing and has since dedicated himself to advocacy for Rainier Valley. There isn't a board or committee Grover hasn't captained.
• John Merrill Memorial Service Award - Denise Gloster. Lately Denise has thrown herself into the March for Youth, but she and her husband, Dan Fink, have also been the driving force behind the Hillman City Business Association. She's a great fighter for pedestrian safety on Rainier and boosting Hillman.

At SHSC:

• Stewardship Award - United Way of King County. United Way's Basic Needs campaign has raised more than $2.3 million. In one year. That's worth recognizing.
• Ron Chisom Anti-Racism Award - Dustin Washington. Dustin works at the American Friends Service Committee and is the single most dogged advocate for tackling the racial inequalities of the justice and education systems. Great speech, Dustin!
• Outstanding Organization - Friends of the Children. I presented this award, by the way. Friends of the Children connects mentors with children not just for a year or two. They go from kindergarten through high school. That's stability, dedication and care.
• Excellence in Advocacy - The rev. Bill Kirlin-Hackett. Bill works with the Interfaith Task Force on Homelessness and pounds on the city bureaucracy to do better. Good job, Bill.
• Innovative Program - National Asian Pacific Center on Aging Multilingual Helpline. This is a lifeline for seniors who don't speak English or don't have anyone to help them figure out the help available to them.
• Mayor's Award & Proclamation - Dan Wise. Dan works as director of the Aloha Inn and is active with the Seattle King County Coalition on Homelessness. I was a little surprised to see Dan as the honoree in this category as she's part of the network of advocates who have slammed the Nickels administration for the sweeps of encampments in green belts. Good on the mayor for looking at the whole of Dan's work and recognizing the tension over encampments as an important element. Thanks, Dan, for doing the work.

In April I had one of those experiences that can make you feel lucky to be a councilmember. This particular experience also made me feel exhausted, terrified, sweaty, dirty, a little carsick and very, very hot.

Every year the Washington State Council of Firefighters hosts Fire Ops 101. It's a day in which elected and appointed decision makers from around the state are run through the paces of being a firefighter. I'd been invited the past three years, but always had a conflict. This year I made with the help of Local 27, the Seattle firefighters union. A full day out in Richland at the Hammer training facility.

Did I mention I'm not good with heights or extended time in the sun? I had to do both in full bunking gear with air tank and mask. You can read about it here. Seattle has awesome firefighters who work under labor-intensive, technically demanding conditions. Thank you to Local 27 and the Washington State Council for the smart lobbying.