Critical Mass ride honors Maridee Bonadea, demands safer streets
Published 9:30 am Saturday, June 27, 2026
Under orange sunset skies Friday night, more than 200 Critical Mass cyclists rode past the West Seattle site where beloved islander Maridee Bonadea was fatally struck Monday morning, June 15.
The stop at Bonadea’s memorial came during the group’s monthly bike ride, an advocacy event calling attention to cyclist safety and the need for safer streets.
Friends and family waited near the memorial as the cyclists approached, while three members of Vashon’s Bucket Brigade sounded drums. Bike bells filled the air as riders passed the site near the Fauntleroy ferry dock, where a white ghost bike, flowers and notes now honor Bonadea, 76, a lifelong cyclist and longtime Vashon community member.
The ride drew cyclists, family, friends and advocates calling for safety improvements on Southwest Wildwood Place, where Bonadea was struck near 47th Avenue Southwest, and on streets across Seattle.
Seattle City Councilmember Rob Saka, who represents District 1, including West Seattle, was at the memorial site and spoke at the request of Bonadea’s family.
“This isn’t about me or any politician or elected official,” Saka said. “This is about honoring the life and legacy of Maridee.”
Saka said he knows the area, and neighborhoods across Seattle, are unsafe for cyclists and pedestrians.
“Me and my office and my council member colleagues are taking this very seriously,” Saka said, adding that he met with Seattle Department of Transportation leadership Wednesday to ask what more is needed to make the area safer.
“It’s heard loud and clear that community doesn’t want parking here,” Saka said. “I stand with you all to truly honor Maridee’s life and legacy by making this area and areas like it across the city of Seattle safer.”
After a moment of silence, Bonadea’s daughter, Lani Bonadea, said her mother would have wanted more than symbolic action.
“She also liked to raise hell,” Lani Bonadea said, raising her voice. “This is not just about an honorary bike lane or about this one street — this is countywide.”
The crowd answered with applause, raised voices and a chorus of bike bells.
“That’s what she would say if she was here — because she loved yelling at people who weren’t doing what they should be doing,” Bonadea said.
The ride followed an outpouring of grief from Bonadea’s family, friends and fellow cyclists, who remembered her as an experienced rider, activist and adventurer whose life reached far beyond the crash that killed her.
A July 15 meeting at the Fauntleroy Community Association is expected to urge the city of Seattle to reconsider allowing parked cars on the stretch of Southwest Wildwood Place between 47th Avenue Southwest and Fauntleroy Way Southwest, a narrow road near the Fauntleroy ferry dock used by cyclists, drivers and pedestrians moving through the area.
