Legislative Update, Week 8 - conversations about the gas tax

Contemplating the gas tax

Monday brings a hearing on changing the gax tax to "allow revenue from taxes on motor vehicle fuel and ownership, operation or use of motor vehicles to be used for transportation projects that will prevent or reduce pollution and congestion created by use of motor vehicles." This would require a amendment to the Oregon Constitution and commensurately higher voting totals.

An Oregonian headline writer showed the systemic bias against which the proposal will struggle: "How can Oregon cyclists help pay their way?" as if they don't already, and missing all the ways that people on bike and other non-drivers and non-driving activity actually subsidize people driving cars - free parking, using property taxes and other non-gas tax revenue to fund roads, and so on. A better question is how can Oregon drivers better pay for the roads?  And maybe the best question of all is, how can we create a better system to fund the total transportation system.

Active transport
and smoking
at ODOT HQ

But as we see with the studded tire debate, the question for drivers runs into the wall and gets a flat tire! It is question on which the optics wholly trump truth and reality.  We aren't yet ready to look at the legacy of a mid-century monoculture that subsidized and built out a transportation system based on the drive-alone auto trip.  The drive-alone trip and the system behind it is the clear-cutting solution to the forest and thickets of a transportation ecosystem.  Monoculture is easier to grasp and looks more efficient, but it's not.

BikePortland has more on Representative Jules Bailey and House Joint Resolution 9 and the uphill struggle. KATU also filed a story:

“We’re opposed to any further dilution of the state highway fund,” said Mike McArthur, the executive director of the Association of Oregon Counties.

McArthur argues highway funding is thin to being with as gas tax revenues decline.

“We’d have more deterioration of the roads we have now,” he said. “We’re not keeping up with what we’ve got.”

McArthur said he supports bicyclists and owns three bikes himself, but argues more bikes do not necessarily take cars off the roads.

Hearings:
The House Committee On Transportation and Economic Development will talk about the gax tax (House Joint Resolution 9) and hold a public hearing on Monday, April 1st at 3pm in Hearing room E.

The Joint SubCommittee On Transportation and Economic Development will hold a public hearing on Senate Bill 9, on cell phone use in cars, on April 1st at 1pm in Hearing room 174. I still find this bill as amended very confusing and it takes too much brainpower on a sunny Saturday morning to parse it out. (Maybe someone can help?)

More updates after the jump.

Old and New in Brick and Concrete - Plus Third Bridge Rumor

Just bits, maybe to inspire a noontime walk in the quiet city...get out and see the early spring - and buildings before the trees leaf out!

George Post Beaux-Arts Library and Pietro Belluschi Modernist YWCA

(More on Belluschi buildings in Salem here and here.)

New Commercial St. Bridge Half and Demolition of late 1920s Bridge

(More on the Commercial St Bridge and further links here.)

And finally a rumor that Rivercrossing Staff are preparing a staff recommendation to go to Council on monday, April 8th.  Look for more soon.  In the meantime, No 3rd Bridge posted a nice sheet of myths and facts.

$8 million in planning already spent could have built
a lot of sidewalks, bike lanes, and other needed improvements

Boise Redevelopment Project Open House on Monday

The Boise Redevelopment Project team is going to hold an open house at the Carousel on Monday, April 1st, at 5pm. The date may not be wholly auspicious, but it's nice to see some outreach. They'll be talking about the proposed apartment complex and the medical clinic.

Maybe they can be persuaded to ditch the fence so it's not so much of a compound and gated community? (I don't see how it's "our" Riverfront Park Community if it's all fenced and gated.)

For more see notes and some preliminary assessment here.

Minto Bridge and Path Open House

The City is also holding an open house for the Minto Bridge and Path. It till be Tuesday, April 16th at 5:00pm at the Conference Center.

The City's asking for RSVPs by Friday the 29th. RSVP to mintobridge@cityofsalem.net.

Cherry Blossoms, Alleys, and Gargoyles: Urban Exploring in the Emptied City

Though the weather wasn't always sunny, at least it wasn't rainy, and the weekend offered peak cherry blossom! If you haven't been out for an urban ramble, in between bits of rain this week will be a great time for one.

The city's best cherry tree?  Could make an old-timey postcard for sure

The cherry trees on the Capitol Mall may get most of the press, and there are many other clusters of them in other parks, along streets, and in yards, but this scene at Willamette, just outside of the library, along the Mill Race, might be the best of all of them. One perfectly placed tree in a grassy curve just off Jackson plaza. The elements of earth and water and sky encounter the built environment, here dedicated to music and to learning, in a harmony altogether uncharacteristic of Salem. Really lovely.

(The tree is also, I believe, part of a memorial to those Japanese-American students forced to leave Willamette in 1942 and sent to internment camps.  Especially now with the blossoms, it is a fitting place for contemplation on the too-fleetingness of the good and beautiful.)

A friend of the blog has shared a copy of Jeff Speck's Walkable City for review, and it'll be great fun.  Are any of you reading it?  It would be fun to work through it chapter-by-chapter in an online salon!  Speck's criteria for walkability call for a city's approach to be useful, safe, comfortable, and interesting.  The question of interest was particularly on the mind in the city emptied of folks by spring break.

What are the surfaces, forms, actions, and vistas that create an interesting walk?

Marion County to Hold Open House on Draft Transportation System Plan - Updated

Marion County has been working to update the 2005 Rural Transportation System Plan and tomorrow there's an open house on it.

From the email announcement:

Marion County will hold an open house for citizen review of the Rural Transportation System Plan (TSP) and the Strategy for Marion County Roads in Urbanized Areas on Wednesday, March 27, 2013 from 3:00 - 6:30 p.m. at the Public Works building located at 5155 Silverton Road NE, Salem....

I hope to see many of you at the Open House and meet you in person. If you are unable to attend, I still welcome your ideas on what are the biggest needs and challenges facing Marion County's Transportation Network, both urban and rural.

The project website is here.

You can look at draft chapters for the rural strategy or the urban strategy.

Overall, bike recreation and bike transport don't get much attention. Mostly it's about paved shoulders. (It is, for example, difficult and uncomfortable to reach the County shops by bike!)

If you'd like to see the County use asphalt rather than chipseal on important recreational routes, consider commenting or attending the open house.  If you'd like to see better ways to be able at least occasionally to commute from Silverton to Salem by bike, consider commenting.  If you'd like the County to abate the wretchedness of Lancaster, let 'em know!  It's all upside!

Update, Wednesday the 27th

They've added a survey, so that's another way to chime in! 

Legislative Update, Week 7 - Video Poker, Treadmills, and Drones?

The big news for people who bike was moving the ConnectOregon bill, HB 2310, out of committee and securing an amendment to include bike/ped projects.  ConnectOregon is a "Multimodal Transportation Fund to invest in air, marine, rail, and public transit infrastructure improvements."  The omission of "small-m-modes" biking and walking infrastructure is a serious one and
a rectified bill is a priority for the Portland Bicycle Transportation Alliance.  About the move out of committee they said:

After months of conversations with partners, stakeholders, and lawmakers and tons of public input from grassroots supporters and community leaders we are thrilled to see this program move one step closer to expanding to include biking and walking.

We are grateful for the unanimous support of Committee members and look forward to continuing this important conversation as the bill now moves to Ways and Means.

One important note, this amendment does not dedicate any specific dollar amount to biking and walking. The amendment does open up the door to funds that we hope to grow to $100 million. The BTA will continue to work to ensure that the 2013 Oregon Legislature does commit dedicated funding to bicycle projects to help meet this growing community need.

Gazing towards the Video Poker

Left unstated is the source of funding:  video poker and other lottery games "for entertainment purposes only."  That we rely on this, that this is apparently the only available source of funding at the moment should make us all a little queasy, even if it is the only pragmatic solution just now.  According to the State, the "Big-M-Modes" of air, marine, rail, and transit have enjoyed

$100 million in lottery-backed revenue bonds to fund the program in each of the 2005-07, 2007-09, and 2009-11 biennia. An additional $40 million was authorized in 2011 for the 2011-13 biennium.

And biking and walking shouldn't be left out.

But relying on lottery dollars isn't probably very good policy.

The CRC has worked its way out of the system and into law, and since the action is now on the Washington side, short of big developments, there will be no more to say here on Bridge Mania.

Hearings:

Monday, March 25th, the Senate Committee On Business and Transportation will hold a public hearing on SB 756, which would permit specific donations to state Parks and Recreation for bike/ped trails. It will be at 3:00 PM in hearing room B.  At the same hearing will be SB 741, which requires helmet use during organized events, and SB 742, which raises the upper age for mandatory helmet use from 16 to 18.

Wednesday, March 27th, at 3pm in hearing room E, the House Committee On Transportation and Economic Development will hold a public hearing on HB 2453, which is a mileage tax on electric car and other gas-misers.

More updates after the jump.

City Council, March 25th - Airport Control Tower Apocalypse!

The Feds have announced that Salem's airport is on par with those in Troutdale, Bend, and Pendleton, and the FAA will close our control tower on April 7th.

Predicted in February,
comes true in April

(Once we recover from the bruised ego, maybe we can see this as a sign our airport isn't really that important regionally after all?*)

In other news Salem City Council meets Monday night. There's no big transportation issue on the docket, however.

Probably most relevant is the preliminary Capital Improvement Plan for 2013/14-2017/18.  There are no big surprises in it, but you do see transportation investment tailing off dramatically as the 2008 road bond winds down.  The bond in 2013/14 will fund $21 million for transportation, but that tails of to $2 million in 2014/15, and zero thereafter. 

It will be interesting to see how the conversation goes on a subsequent round of transportation investment.  The projects are almost all major car capacity increases, and if we are making any progress, the complexion of the next round should be different.  On the other hand, financing looks to be increasingly problematic, and if not quite "austerity," the next round may well be characterized by "modesty."  Investments in biking and walking are, of course, excellently modest and offer excellent returns.  If we are serious about "least-cost planning," things may be looking up.

There are also proposed increases in parking fees and fines to bring them more in line with those in other Willamette Valley cities.