Transportation Action: Save Bike Lanes in Vancouver!

I just sent this out to our Vancouver list.  If you live in Vancouver please take action!

Act Now to Save Bike Lanes on MacArthur Boulevard!

MacArthur Boulevard is a major route for bike riders in Vancouver.  With low traffic and the main access street to Vancouver’s eastern neighborhoods it is an important connection for bicycles. 

Last year the City of Vancouver developed a plan that they took out to the public to retrofit MacArthur Boulevard.  With low traffic levels and unsafe cycling conditions due to large stormwater drains, the plan was to focus car travel to one lane each way and install a new bicycle lane that will allow riders to travel safely around the stormwater drains.

Despite broad public outreach and local business support to install safe bike lanes on MacArthur Boulevard, the City Public Works department is now turning their backs on this project.

The citizens of Vancouver deserve streets that are safe for pedestrians, drivers, transit riders, and cyclists.  Please CLICK HERE to send a message to the mayor, city manager, and public works director to let them know you want safer streets for everyone and want to see the planned bike lanes on MacArthur Boulevard.
Thanks for your support of safer streets for everyone,

Andrew Austin
Field Director
Transportation Choices Coalition

P.S-Taking action is easy, all you have to do is CLICK HERE to and in less than a minute you can take action to keep our streets safer in Vancouver.

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.