EV Charging and Revised Scoring Rubric at the MPO next Week

The LA conflagrations, whipped by a Santa Ana and intensified by our changing climate, dominate the front pages today. Even the east coast papers lead with it.

Front pages: NY Times (top)
Washington Post (bottom)

Our local paper leads with news that we are sending firefighters to assist.

Front page here

The catastrophe is a climate story in addition to a land use story and everything else.

The MPO has two meetings next week in a somewhat irregular schedule and there are incrementally good things to see on climate action.

Project for EV chargers at apartments, libraries, and parks

The Policy Committee will have a special meeting on Monday the 13th to approve an administrative matter on a regional EV charging project. It looks to add "publicly accessible chargers" at apartments, libraries, and parks. It's not clear now many will be in Salem, as it is a regional project, but any amount will be helpful.

(On the calendar a regular meeting for the Policy Committee remains for January 28th.)

The next day, Tuesday the 14th, the technical committee meets and they will review proposed changes to the scoring and evaluation rubric for the 2027-2032 funding cycle.

Safety, gaps, emissions, transit all boosted!

The proposed changes increase weighting on safety, gaps, emissions, and transit. Some of the specific language is a little goosey, as "safety and security" have notably different connotations and "greenhouse gas or carbon monoxide emissions" historically operate under meaningfully different regulatory schemes, so there is considerable wiggle room in construing these. We get our emphasis on reducing idling and congestion from the carbon monoxide discourse, for example.

Nevertheless these proposed changes look like real incremental improvements and deserve support. There may be more to say for any PC meeting on the 28th, when they would be adopted.

September 2023

While we still seem safe from the worst of the fires, the smoke form our Labor Day fires from 2020 and new frequency for smaller fires in south Salem should remind us that what is happening in LA now is a possible future for us in a few decades.

September 2023