Two stories in the news this week show how messed up we still are at the ODOT/OTC transportation industrial complex.
Willamette Week yesterday published a story about a suit filed against ODOT to be heard here in Salem, concerning a deceptive and dishonest public disclosure.
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| More ODOT Dishonesty in WWeek |
From the piece:
A long-running disagreement over public information concerning a proposed $1 billion highway project is set for trial in Marion County Circuit Court next week....[Appellant] Kessler says the agency’s resistance to transparency should be a concern to everybody who has a stake in the project—that is, all Oregonians. “What appears to be happening is that the many millions ODOT has spent on public outreach has been on theater rather than public engagement,” Kessler says. “That’s millions on a show so that they can continue with failed urban renewal policies and the destruction of minority communities.”
Sounds familiar.
Related, Governor Brown's nomination to the Oregon Transportation Commission is very disappointing.
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From the piece, especially noting "balance" and EV mania:
[Outgoing Senator Lee] Beyer spent 20 years as a Democratic legislator representing the Eugene/Springfield area. During his time as an Oregon Senator, he served on several transportation and environment committees and helped shepherd the major 2017 transportation package through the legislature, which increased the gas tax and vehicle registration fee to fund various transportation projects, including public transit investments and adding additional lanes to Interstate 5 through the Portland Rose Quarter. Beyer says the package was “well-balanced” and responsive to local leaders’ input on regional priorities....
Over 30 transportation and environmental advocacy groups, including Oregon Environmental Council, Street Trust, and Coalition of Communities of Color, are calling on Brown to rescind or pause the nomination because Beyer does not represent advocates' calls for more climate-conscious and diverse leadership on the commission....
Beyer also diverges from Portland’s transportation advocates’ positions in other ways, noting that he believes the OTC’s only role in combating transportation emissions is investing in electric vehicle charging infrastructure....Beyer also said Portland advocacy groups’ opposition to additional lanes being added to the I-5 Rose Quarter is “baffling,” and noted he is “not a complete believer” in induced demand....
It's time the OTC and ODOT leadership accepted induced demand, and was no longer stuck in Eisenhower mid-century autoism.
3 comments:
Bike Portland with an update:
"Despite this surge of opposition, no senators on the Rules Committee took up concerns with Beyer’s appointment, and nobody spoke up in opposition to him at the meeting’s public comment period."
https://bikeportland.org/2022/09/22/despite-opposition-senator-lee-beyer-sails-through-otc-nomination-meeting-364011
I have recently received some emails from ODOT about the overwhelming support for the Rose Quarter project. I’m curious what the county of residence is for support responses. My hunch is the support comes from people who drive through the area but don’t live there.
It was a pretty quick trial!
https://bikeportland.org/2022/09/28/judge-rules-against-oregon-department-of-transportation-in-public-records-case-364336
"ODOT officials admitted they created a new document in response to Kessler’s public records request, which is not normal for a public agency to do. They may redact certain pieces of information, but that should be disclosed to the recipient by the presence of black boxes in the document and notes about the redactions. In contrast, ODOT didn’t tell Kessler about the edits they made to the document he received – they presented it as if it was fully intact in its original form....
Kessler agreed, calling ODOT’s bluff on their public outreach efforts.
'They’re trying to control the message. They don’t want us to see the various versions of what they’re saying, because they’re trying to figure out what their message is. It’s not a public involvement campaign. It’s a PR campaign,' Kessler said. '[This project] is deeply unpopular, and ODOT has to work really hard just to spin it as anything but.'"
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