Rally this Saturday to Preserve Buses at the Clark County Fair

TCC is helping the preserve our buses campaign hold a rally this Saturday at the Clark County fair to build support to saving bus service.  If proposition one passes this November in Clark County all of the revenues will be use to save existing bus service, nothing else!

Currently for just $2 you can take the shuttle right to the entrance of the fair, save a dollar on admission, and another six dollars on parking.

However, if Proposition 1 fails, the shuttle along with lots of other C-TRAN services will be cut.  Please join TCC & the Preserve our Buses campaign for a rally:

Saturday, August 13th, 1pm
Clark Co Fair Grounds, NE entrance (Blue Gate)
17402 NE Delfel Road, Ridgefield, WA 98642

To RSVP please click here. For info on taking the shuttle to the fair click here. Together we can work together to preserve our buses in Clark County!

Reminder C-Tran Board Meeting is Today at 5:30pm to Save Bus Service

Speak up to Save Bus Service: C-Tran Board Meeting Today at 5:30pm

This is just a quick reminder that the C-Tran Board is poised to vote to put a .2% sales tax measure on the ballot next Tuesday in order to give voters the option to prevent devastating 40% cuts to bus service! There are two important reasons people should attend & testify at the C-TRAN Board Meeting on Tomorrow, April 12th at 5:30pm at the Public Service Center. If you can't attend CLICK HERE to send an e-mail to the board.

#1 -- We need to support our core bus service. There will be many who attend this meeting that do not support buses. Without a measure on the ballot this year, C-TRAN will face cuts of about 40% next year. This will leave many in our community simply stranded.

#2 -- We need to delay a light rail and bus rapid transit vote until next year for several reasons. The NoTolls group and the other anti-bus, anti-light rail, spokespeople will be there to try to force a vote this year. They want this in front of voters before the technical requirements have been met and before voters have had the chance to see what they will be getting for their small investment. They also know that asking voters for two things at once will make it tougher for both measures to pass.

We can't let them win.

Please SHOW UP AND SPEAK UP at this meeting to ensure our success and to make sure your voice is heard.  If you can not attend the meeting CLICK HERE to send the C-Tran Board an email and tell them to save bus service

WHAT: C-Tran Board Meeting to Put a Bus Measure on the Ballot

WHEN: TOMORROW, Tuesday April 12th, 5:30pm

WHERE: Public Service Center, 1300 Franklin, Vancouver, 6th Floor Hearing Room 




 

Update: I am not liveblogging this meeting but you can follow updates on our twitter @transpochoices . Public testimony on ballot measure is almost over. Testimony has been all over the map on the ballot measure issues.

UPDATE: Details Sparse for Rep. Mica's Congressional Visit to Vancouver, WA

There is word on the street the Congressmen John Mica, the new Republican Chair of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will be visiting Vancouver Washington to conduct a listening session.

Despite numerous attempts to gather information it has been impossible to nail down the details on this government funding forum even though it is in a few days.  Transportation Choices is working with the Cascade Bike club and Oregon partners to make sure we have a good turnout of advocates for transportation choices at this important event.  So, please keep checking back to this blog post where I will put updated details on the event as we learn more and they get confirmed.

Here are the details so far (none of them confirmed at this point):

Location: Clark County Public Utility Building, 1200 Fort Vancouver (at Mill Plain).

Attending: Congressmen DeFazio and Herrera Beutler with Mica

Invited Testimony:

Chandra Brown, United Streetcar, Portland

WSDOT CRC project team

AGC (Association of General Contractors)

WA Policy Center

Founder of Notolls.com

One topic covered will be the Columbia River Crossing.  There might be public testimony at 10am.

We will keep you posted as we learn more!

UPDATE:

The time and date of this event has been confirmed.  It will be at 9am on the 21st at Clark County Public Utility Building, 1200 Fort Vancouver (at Mill Plain).

We are hearing there will be public comment taken at this event during the second half of the forum!

A Press release announcing the event has been released! It will be at the time and location indicated and there will be public testimony! The Columbian has the scoop

http://www.columbian.com/news/2011/feb/16/herrera-beutler-host-transportation-committee-meet/

Climate change legislation, VMT reduction, and TCC picked up by the Columbian Today

The Columbian picked up the story on VMT reduction targets in the Climate Change bill that passed the House.

Check it Out!
http://www.columbian.com/article/20090416/NEWS02/704169958

The transportation language in the bill could strengthen the case for including light rail as part of a new bridge across the Columbia River, said Rob Johnson, executive director of the Transportation Choices Coalition.

"It gives Vancouver and Clark County the incentive to create great connections to light rail," he said. "We would expect that there are people who would want to live near" light rail to reduce their use of cars, he said. "This will give local planners more tools in their toolbox to make sure these connections are strong."

Columbia River Crossing Today

Mega-Bridge with statewide significance

There are various projects in Washington that TCC is involved with, including the Alaskan Way Viaduct and the 520 Lake Washington Bridge. Another large project that we will be getting move involved in over the next few years is the Columbia River Crossing, new I-5 Bridge from Clark County to Oregon. The project website is http://www.columbiarivercrossing.org/

Demonstrating the statewide significance of this project, The Columbia River Crossing recently got some blog/press coverage from the other corner of the State in the Bellingham Herald's "Traffic Talk".

The current design for the bridge has a light rail and pedestrian element which is great news. It also calls for 12 lanes of traffic, on face value this appears to be an excessive and expensive capacity expansion for the corridor especially considering light rail will be coming across the river. That said, we will continue to track this project, engage local leaders in Clark County and keep you informed of its progress.