Monday, December 7, 2009

Council Goals at Council Tonight

On the docket tonight at City Council is the semi-annual articulation of "council goals." For the full report see here.

Goals are clustered into four groups:


Here are the relevant transportation-related goals:
L.1.b) - Top Priority - Move forward with revisions to Transportation System Plan to include:
- Pedestrian and bicycle connections from Marion Square Park to the Union Street Railroad Bridge to downtown.
- A pedestrian crossing at State Street.
- A pedestrian and bicycle bridge to connect Riverfront and Minto-Brown Island Park.

L.1.f) - Medium Priority - Continue efforts to establish a new Willamette River Bridge.
- Develop Marine Drive as part of the third bridge over the Willamette.
- Pursue state and federal funding for right of way and design of the third bridge across the Willamette River.

L.2.d) - Medium Priority - Identify and assess new strategies to improve parking in the downtown area, which may include management strategies and new parking garages.
L.2.e) - Medium Priority - Pursue a rubber tire trolley for the downtown area.

L.3.b) - Top Priority - Establish a more flexible and dynamic relationship between the parking requirement and market demand for higher density areas.

V.1.a) - Top Priority - Pursue commercial air service and fund infrastructure improvements at Airport.

V.2.a) - Top Priority - Remove Railroad track easement in West Salem for redevelopment of Gateway area.

H.2.b) - Top Priority - Redo the parking lot at Bush Park.
These are particular areas council proposes to ask city staff to pay particular attention to. Some of these are clear, some require background context to understand fully (like "redo" parking lot at Bush Park?). We'll follow these in the coming months. Write your councilor if you have particular thoughts on any of them! Like when will we prioritize bicycling over the endlessly subsidized and endlessly failing dream of air service?

There will also be a presentation on focus group and survey data regarding a prospective parks bond measure (long document).

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