Congestion Task Force Reflects Ad Hoc Process, is Anti-Pedestrian, Anti-Climate

The Congestion Relief Task Force meets on Friday, and they've helpfully posted drafts of the meeting materials. So that's a nice thing to be able to report.

• Agenda
• Presentation Slide Deck
• Conclusions and Key Points
• Evaluation and Recommendation Grid

But the overall approach remains problematic, even a little suspect.

Much of that judgement come down to frame and expectations: What is the right frame for and expectations to have of the Task Force?

Task Force as Short-Term Consolation Prize?

To an earlier post arguing that the Task Force was fundamentally missing the big picture, a person commented

I think your criticism miss[ed] an important point. My understanding is that the Congestion Task Force is a political consolation prize for third bridge supporters and is specifically looking at short and mid-term solutions to car traffic in the downtown/river crossing area. I think the questions and issue you raise need to be addressed during the update to the comprehensive plan.

That articulates a frame and set of expectations.

So let's suppose that is the right one for the moment.

If that is the right frame and set of expectations, a useful thing would be to have a "road map" pointing outside of the Task Force and suggesting some "next steps." It wouldn't have to reference the Comprehensive Plan update specifically, and it could be more general in reference. But there would be a network of conceptual relations - bridges?! - that pointed outside of the Task Force's study limits for further consideration and actions. There would be the groundwork for a pivot to the medium- and longer-term planning. It should be more self-aware in method and in process.

But we do not see this.

Utter disconnect on climate and emissions

As it is the Conclusions lead with:

1. The population of Salem and the region is projected to grow more than 20 percent over the next 20 years. The majority of residential growth is expected to occur west and south of downtown.
2. Vehicle congestion in the study area is projected to increase. This will result in longer travel times and the duration of the morning and afternoon peak commutes on the two bridges.

Those are numbers one and two.

City Council, September 10th - Plastic Bags

Council meets on Monday, and there's not much of interest here specifically.

Others will have plenty to say about the proposed ban on plastic bags.

So here's an idea for a next step: A phase-out on dirty two-stroke engines in things like leaf blowers, lawn mowers, and toy motorcycles!

via Twitter and the Wall Street Journal

Isn't this a lawn-mower engine bolted onto a bicycle? (May 2017)

There are two Council appointments to the committee for the Comprehensive Plan update. Councilor Lewis is a realtor and even if he has been championing some disagreeable policies of late, it is reasonable to want on the committee a realtor from Council. They will be shaping a new vision for development, after all. His presence alone on a committee projected to meet twice only will not tank the plan, and it could help develop greater assent, even enthusiasm, from a wider range of realtors and developers. We'll see.

The item also has the first public description of the process I have seen:

The Community Development Department is forming a stakeholder advisory committee to provide guidance and advise staff during the Comprehensive Plan update project, called Our Salem, which will help guide future growth and development in the Salem area. The need to develop a “comprehensive, long-term vision for future growth and development” was identified as a priority in the City’s adopted Salem Strategic Plan.

The stakeholder advisory committee will include City Council members, Planning Commission members, Neighborhood Association representatives, elected officials from area jurisdictions and agencies, representatives from the development and business communities, and other stakeholders. It will provide guidance throughout the Our Salem project, which will be completed in phases.

The first phase, Our Salem: Today, encompasses an analysis of the existing conditions of the city and an evaluation of how the Salem area could grow under current policies. It also includes a greenhouse gas inventory that measures the community’s impact on the environment. This first phase is expected to begin this month and take roughly nine months to complete. During that time, the committee is expected to meet two times. All advisory committee meetings will be open and available to the public.

Finally, the City wants to do more for urban forestry and trees.

There's also an information item on approval to convert a house on High Street at the base of Gaiety Hill to a short-term rental. (There might be occasion to revisit this at another time, as it is another point in favor of the thesis that Mission Street is already in transition. Some of the rhetoric against it also expressed the exclusionary sentiment for single-family housing to which we will return, especially as the Comprehensive Plan update cranks up. See here on historic districts and on deed restrictions.)

725 High Street: To be a short-term rental, back in July

Traces of Old Hotel at New Police Station Site? Archeology Day Offers Glimpse of Older Salem!

The City just announced a nice moment (and probably also calculated for good PR) at the new Police Station, a public archeology day.

Lodging House, Mill Race on corner, Corral on alley
Liberty and Division, 1895

The area for the Police Station is between centers of the earliest urban activity in old Salem: Along Mill Creek and at Boon's there was early activity in the north, and then downtown, along Pringle Creek, and at Willamette University.*

The Police Station site is sandwiched a little between them.

I don't know of any photos of the block, but by 1895 the Sanborn Fire Map shows a reasonably well developed residential area.
 

1895 Sanborn Fire Map

On the corner of Liberty and Division also note the "Lodging House" and in back off the alley a corral. There are also outhouses.

Running down the middle of Division is an old Mill Race we have lost track of!

Robot Car Task Force Draft Report Looks Autoist and Thin

The Task Force on Autonomous Vehicles has published their draft Report and will present it at a meeting on September 10th.

This is not something we've been following closely here, and it will be very interesting to hear what others have to say on it. Last month the Safe Routes to School team remarked they had some concerns:

The National Partnership has been monitoring the AV Task Force activity and provided testimony during this most recent meeting. We thanked the Task Force for its leadership in this very important conversation for our state, and we also asked for them to hold an in-depth discussion on how this emerging technology could and should impact our most vulnerable and at-risk populations. We believe this conversation needs to happen sooner rather than later, to ensure we avoid furthering economic, safety and health disparities for our communities.

Earlier, AJ Zelada, former chair of the Oregon Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, shared concerns with the Task Force:

Given that the first round of Task Force Agenda and Memorandi are now appearing…there are deficiencies which show the void of not having all the important players at the table. The Pedestrian/Bicycle/Vulnerable Road user viewpoint is missing in every material packet presented on the ODOT website.

Indeed, the report seems to follow recommendations from pro-industry groups, and does not appear to have a sufficiently critical perspective. Crucially, safety for people not in cars is hardly mentioned. It looks like at least a partial instance of regulatory capture by cheerleaders for a nascent industry, and concerns raised by Safe Routes and a former Chair of OBPAC do not seem to have been addressed very robustly, if at all.

There is also reason to think Robot Cars won't reduce the amount of vehicle travel but will induce more. A recent study (here at the Washington Post and at Slate) found that drivers roaming without a fare greatly increased total travel:  "Schaller projects services like Lyft and Uber put 2.8 new vehicle miles on the road for every mile of personal car travel they remove." When we think about a personal commute, there is the drive to work, car storage time, then the drive home: An out-and-back loop. With a Robot Car, the temptation will be chauffeur to work, send the car home, hail the car, chauffeur back home. That's two loops where once there was but the one. Some may be willing to share a Robot Car with others either sequentially as a ride rental, or concurrently as a carpool, but many will want the exclusive pleasures of the solo chauffeured ride. Pricing the use of Robot Cars correctly will be important, and it's not clear incipient regulatory schemes are prepared for this.

Previously:

• "Robot Cars Should not Tempt us to Try to Criminalize Improper Walking"
• "The Hype on Robot Cars Deserves Great Skepticism"

As others publish comment on the draft report, this post may be updated.

Winter-Maple Greenway, 25th and State: ODOT Project Scoping at MWACT

The Mid-Willamette Valley Area Commission on Transportation meets on Thursday, and they'll be seeing a preliminary list of projects for State funding in the 2021-2024 cycle.

There's not a lot of information here, and once they get farther along and SKATS takes a look at them, there might be more to say. It's also not exactly clear how far along they are in the scoping process and how many projects (or how much dollar value) will fall out as the vetting continues.

Still, there are three projects being scoped that would significantly help walking and biking in Salem.

25th & State (the spreadsheet is not a very clear scan)

The project for 25th and State "includes median island on west leg of intersection to improve visibility of pedestrians; realigning crosswalk on east leg...; upgrading ADA facilities...extending left turn pocket for westbound to southbound movement..."

The crosswalk improvements would be helpful. You might remember neighborhood advocacy on this intersection even before the State Street Study kicked off. At the same time, because the Study embraced the "hybrid" plan rather than a full 4/3 Safety Conversion, the engineering and design for this project will be different than it would have been under the 4/3 conversion, and it is even possible that the four-lane cross section will be locked in.

That's just something to monitor.

Commercial St between D & Union

The Commercial Street project from D street to Union Street includes new bike lanes, in an area that has lacked them.

That's also at the new UGM/Police facilities.

Winter-Maple Greenway package

The project on Cherry Avenue at the Parkway includes "pedestrian refuge islands," a "bike signal" at the intersection with Auto Group Way, and a "separated bike boulevard between Auto Group Way NE and Salem Parkway," all part of the Winter-Maple Greenway package.

Fear of Wobblies, Expanding Surveillance State: Labor Day in 1918

Labor Day Message, 1918

In the middle of all the war headlines, just a few days before Labor Day, on August 30th IWW founder Bill Haywood's sentencing for sedition got big placement also. Labor might be celebrated, but only as it could be directed, managed, and expressed in authorized modes.

August 30th, 1918

From the paper:

"Bill" Haywood Handed Plenty

With Fourteen Other Leaders Must Serve 20 Years In Federal Prison And Each Pay a Fine of $20,000. - Others Draw Sentences As Low As Ten Days In Jail

Chicago. Aug. - Fifteen leaders of the Industrial Workers of the World, including "Big Bill" Haywood, today were sentenced to twenty years in federal prison and to pay fines of 20,000. They had been convicted on four counts charging sedition and obstruction of America's war program. Others of the 97 defendants drew lighter sentences.

Federal Judge K. M. Landis pronounced sentence's ranging from ten days in the Cook county jail for minor defendants to the twenty year-$20,000 punishment for the more prominent leaders.

It's hard sometimes to grasp the depth of feeling against the wobblies, but some of the reactionary populism and the ways it used patriotic symbolism might rhyme today.

Liberty Street between Court and Chemeketa Points to Historic District Flaws

Pacific Office Automation has a sign request at the restoration on 260 Liberty Street NE. It'll go before the Historic Landmarks Commission later this month.

While the east side of Liberty Street between Court and Chemeketa is formally included in the Downtown Historic District's boundaries, the buildings in it all straddle the boundary between historically significant and non-significant. In the lingo, they are on the edges between "historic contributing" and "historic non-contributing," and so they are useful test cases for our historic preservation codes in determining whether the codes actually do what we want them to do. The street also reminds us that we once did not have such a strict sort-and-separate approach to development, and that our notions about purity and integrity in any "historic district" are themselves historical and not timeless.

It is interesting to consider the immediate context of the building. A photo from probably the 1920s recently turned up in the digital collections of the Oregon Historical Society, and it really captures a moment in the development of that block and side of Liberty Street.

East side of Liberty St from Court St looking north, circa 1920s
(Oregon Journal collection via Oregon Historical Society)

Same view today - via Streetview