Congressional Listening Session Yesterday with Congressmen Mica and Herrera Beutler

Yesterday I had the opportunity to squeeze into the over packed Congressional listening session in Vancouver, WA.  The room the had for the event held 75 and there were over 200 people who wanted to get in.

Lack of space aside, it was a fascinating event.  Outside of the hearing the anti-tolls and anti-light rail folks fighting against the CRC Bridge project were out in full force.  My favorite sign of theirs said, "Don't light rail to nowhere; Portlandia to Nowhere, USA."  If found this funny, I guess they don't have a very high regard for their community.  The pro-bridge, pro-light rail group was out in even greater numbers.  I snapped a bunch of photos, which I'll post later.

In the meantime check out our twitter feed @transpochoices where I put up a running dialogue of the meeting.  A few highlights:

• Chairmen Mica (FL) opened up the floor saying he didn't want to talk about a specific project, but instead wanted ideas on how to make federal transportation policy better.  Congresswomen Herrera Beutler spoke immediately after him and all she talked about was CRC, It was quite bizarre.
• Michael Ennis of the Washington policy center went into his typical anti-labor, anti-environment, anti-light rail tirade but Chairmen Mica cut him off saying he didn't want to listen to his talking points but wanted constructive ideas. 
• Mica also cut off David Madore of notolsl.com and Secretary Hammond when they started reading their prepared presentations.  Madore did not pivot well at all and did not look good.  He even went as far to attack bureaucrats and elected officials, saying elected officials are on the take from project supporters, which is a puzzling considering he pumped $200,000 of his own money into no-tolls candidates.  This guy basically is becoming the Kemper Freeman of Vancouver.  Paula Hammond on the other hand, pivoted with class and skill.  Not only that, her messaging was right on and immediately started talking about Amtrak Cascades and doing more with less as an agency.  She discussed how they are shifting their focus from new road capacity to maintenance, smart highways, transit, rail, and variable tolling.  I basically wanted to stand up and clap hearing these priorities coming directly from Secretary Hammond.

For a full rundown check out our twitter feed at @transpochoices.  Also the Columbian did a nice job covering the event and has three stories on it today, here, here, and here.

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/

A Breakdown of the 2010 transportation appropriations bill earmarks

Scott over at the SeattlePI.com has picked up the transportation earmark bill that is currently moving forward at the federal level.

A full list of the appropriations is linked on the WSDOT Blog here .

Reading through the list I'll pull out a few projects that are great, not so great, and others that raise some questions.

The good news:
Patty Murray and the rest of our delegation delivered on federal commitment to transit and multi-modal access in the Puget Sound Region.

- $9.3 for Metro's RapidRide between Belleuve and Redmond
- $110 for University Link expansion
- $1.8 Million for new C-Tran buses
- $1.7 Million for new Intercity Transit buses
- $2.4 Million for Link Transit buses
- $1.2 Million for Pierce Transit diesel hybrid buses
- $1.2 Million for Spokane Transit hybrid buses
- $600,000 for hybrid buses for the West Seattle RapidRide
- $974,00 for Whatcom Transportation buses
- $1.7 Million for alternatives analysis for High Capacity Transit in the Columbia River Crossing Corridor.
- $1.4 Puyallup BRT Alternatives Analysis
- $360,000 for SE King County Commuter Rail Study; more on seattle transit blog
- $730,00 for Whatcom Smart Trips, their Commute Trip Reduction program
- $800,000 for pedestrian oriented streetscape improvements in Downtown Tacoma
- $1.9 Million for Fishlake trail in Spokane, I have never been there but is sounds good.

Not as exciting projects:
- US 395 North Spokane Corridor-this new freeway has long been a priority of Eastern Washington Legislatures so no surprise here but still it is a huge general purpose lane expansion project.
- US 12 Phase 7 Burbank to Walla Walla is widening a state highway from 2 general purpose lanes to 4, which is always fun.

Needs more investigation:
-There is $974,000 dollars for a "Tacoma Intermodal Transit Center", which sounds good in theory, but I think that may be code speak for money for more city owned large parking garages on the edge of the downtown.

Brewing Controversy Over the Columbia River Crossing

I spent the weekend down in Vancouver and Portland to attend a wedding and visit family.

While i was down there I met with some folks who are working on increasing active transportation in the Clark County area and monitoring the Columbia River Crossing. The group I met with was connected to an great non-profit called community choices.

We chatted a lot about the controversy that continues to brew around the proposed 12 lane bridge rebuild to cross the Columbia between Vancouver and Portland.

Upon my return i stumbled upon this blog post from our friends at 1000 Friends of Oregon. It is an Op-Ed from some OR legislators on the CRC and is well worth the read.

Clearly with a project of this scope and expense there is going to a lot of controversy. We'll continue to monitor this one and it lugs along.

The Columbian Weighs in on Light Rail

The Columbian has an editorial today about the possibility of light rail connecting Clark County to Portland. While they don't outright endorse the idea, the encourage citizens to look at the facts and evaluate the benefits and cost of light rail in Portland and Seattle (opening soon of course).

From the article:

Rather than building their arguments on emotions, both sides in the light-rail debate would be better served by focusing on statistics.

Light-rail proponents likely will point to ridership numbers, convenient service and commute times.

For example, Seattle's Link light rail line will run 20 hours a day with trains arriving every 7½ minutes during peak periods and every 10-15 minutes at other times. In Portland, TriMet boasts on its Web site that the Green Line "will carry riders from Clackamas Town Center to Portland City Center in 39 minutes."

On the other hand, light-rail critics can be expected to build their case on light rail's huge construction, operation and maintenance costs. That $2.3 billion in Seattle and that $575 million in Portland could buy a lot of city buses. It could build a lot of freeway miles.

Another point of contention is the future of light rail. Its supporters believe we are on the cutting edge, and Portland and Seattle are getting a head start as American cities prepare for fewer solo motorists and the broad growth of mass transit. But light-rail critics argue that the vast majority of motorists want to keep their cars and should not be forced out of them by costly decisions of local governments.

A couple of quick thoughts:
By building light rail people aren't forced out of their cars, they are simply getting more choices besides driving alone.

Its been a long time since I've heard someone say Seattle say a head start compared to other major cities when it comes to cutting edge transportation.

Update:
The Columbian also has a story about tolling scenarios for the new bridge. They are debating whether they should just toll I-5 or toll the I-5 and I-205 bridges...sound familiar?

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