Opinion
City Council Should Seize Opportunity to Create Better Transportation Future
We don’t always agree about transportation issues. In fact, we have agreed to disagree about the tunnel. But we do agree about one thing: it’s time that Seattle got serious about making the transit, pedestrian and bicycle investments necessary to make our city work for the future.
Imagine a city where everyone had the freedom to safely walk, bike, or take transit to get where they need to go. A city where our children can walk or ride their bikes to school, families can cross the street to get to their neighborhood park, older adults can cross the major arterial in their neighborhood to get to the pharmacy, and the neighborhoods are connected with frequent, reliable transit service.
Seattle should be that city.[pullquote]Seattle deserves the opportunity to approve a package with the details done right. Details like ... a package that extends the duration of the VLF to 20 years or more, preserving our ability to build new transit projects by bonding against the revenue.[/pullquote]
Consider how all around the country, cities are transforming themselves and building transportation systems that make sense for the future. Aligning their public infrastructure investments with the priorities and values of their citizens, cities like Salt Lake City, Portland, Denver, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and New York are creating thriving communities where people want to live and businesses choose to locate.
Seattle can do it too.
Think about the decisions that will shape the future of our city. Decisions like accepting our transportation status quo where it’s not always safe for our kids to walk or bike to school, crossing the street is often a life-threatening event, and getting from one neighborhood to another on transit takes half the day, if you can get there at all.
Seattle, we can and must do better than this.
Next Tuesday, the Seattle City Council can help make it happen by placing the Citizen’s Transportation Advisory Committee III’s full $80 vehicle license fee proposal on the ballot for consideration this November; giving Seattle voters an opportunity to approve a package of transportation investments that will make our city work for the future.
Last year, the Seattle City Council created a Transportation Benefit District to fund pedestrian and bicycle improvements and support basic street maintenance, and formed the Citizens Transportation Advisory Committee III (CTAC III) to advise the Council on further transportation priorities.
CTAC III recommended a package that, if approved by Seattle voters, would balance two critical needs that will keep Seattle moving: 1) funding safety and maintenance improvements for the existing transportation network, and 2) new funding for investments that will make our city healthier and safer for everyone by supporting our city’s many pedestrians, cyclists and transit riders. These investments will accelerate the implementation of the City’s Pedestrian Master Plan, Bicycle Master Plan and Transit Master Plan and would provide people with good-paying jobs building a transportation system where everyone has the freedom to walk, bike, or take transit to get where they need to go – all funded through an $80 annual vehicle license fee (VLF).
In Seattle, we invest in our priorities, and we consistently vote to spend our money on the things we care about and will create a better future for our city. CTAC III’s balanced recommendations align with our priorities because they came directly from the people of Seattle. We want more transit options, more walkable streets, and more family-friendly bike infrastructure, and we consistently demonstrate that we’re willing to pay for these investments. In 2006, a resounding 69% of us said yes to Transit Now and in 2008 and amazing 70 percent of us voted for Sound Transit 2.
This is our moment to create a better transportation future for Seattle. Our moment to put people to work building an equitable transportation system that reduces health disparities and our dependence on oil while allowing everyone the opportunity to safely navigate our city.
Seattle deserves this moment. And Seattle deserves the opportunity to approve a package with the details done right. Details like ensuring that the package raises the money we need to invest in our future through an $80 VLF; a package that provides flexibility by allowing our soon to be completed Transit Master Plan to guide transit investments, especially rail for appropriate corridors; and a package that extends the duration of the VLF to 20 years or more, preserving our ability to build new transit projects by bonding against the revenue.
Seattle, let’s seize this moment to create a better transportation future.
We urge the Council to place CTAC-III’s full $80 vehicle license fee proposal on the ballot for consideration this November to give Seattle voters an opportunity to approve a package of transportation investments that will make our city work for the future.
Craig M. Benjamin is the Co-Chair of Streets For All Seattle: www.streetsforallseattle.org
LeeAnne Beres is the Executive Director of Earth Ministry: www.earthministry.org
Imagine a city where everyone had the freedom to safely walk, bike, or take transit to get where they need to go. A city where our children can walk or ride their bikes to school, families can cross the street to get to their neighborhood park, older adults can cross the major arterial in their neighborhood to get to the pharmacy, and the neighborhoods are connected with frequent, reliable transit service.
Seattle should be that city.[pullquote]Seattle deserves the opportunity to approve a package with the details done right. Details like ... a package that extends the duration of the VLF to 20 years or more, preserving our ability to build new transit projects by bonding against the revenue.[/pullquote]
Consider how all around the country, cities are transforming themselves and building transportation systems that make sense for the future. Aligning their public infrastructure investments with the priorities and values of their citizens, cities like Salt Lake City, Portland, Denver, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and New York are creating thriving communities where people want to live and businesses choose to locate.
Seattle can do it too.
Think about the decisions that will shape the future of our city. Decisions like accepting our transportation status quo where it’s not always safe for our kids to walk or bike to school, crossing the street is often a life-threatening event, and getting from one neighborhood to another on transit takes half the day, if you can get there at all.
Seattle, we can and must do better than this.
Next Tuesday, the Seattle City Council can help make it happen by placing the Citizen’s Transportation Advisory Committee III’s full $80 vehicle license fee proposal on the ballot for consideration this November; giving Seattle voters an opportunity to approve a package of transportation investments that will make our city work for the future.
Last year, the Seattle City Council created a Transportation Benefit District to fund pedestrian and bicycle improvements and support basic street maintenance, and formed the Citizens Transportation Advisory Committee III (CTAC III) to advise the Council on further transportation priorities.
CTAC III recommended a package that, if approved by Seattle voters, would balance two critical needs that will keep Seattle moving: 1) funding safety and maintenance improvements for the existing transportation network, and 2) new funding for investments that will make our city healthier and safer for everyone by supporting our city’s many pedestrians, cyclists and transit riders. These investments will accelerate the implementation of the City’s Pedestrian Master Plan, Bicycle Master Plan and Transit Master Plan and would provide people with good-paying jobs building a transportation system where everyone has the freedom to walk, bike, or take transit to get where they need to go – all funded through an $80 annual vehicle license fee (VLF).
In Seattle, we invest in our priorities, and we consistently vote to spend our money on the things we care about and will create a better future for our city. CTAC III’s balanced recommendations align with our priorities because they came directly from the people of Seattle. We want more transit options, more walkable streets, and more family-friendly bike infrastructure, and we consistently demonstrate that we’re willing to pay for these investments. In 2006, a resounding 69% of us said yes to Transit Now and in 2008 and amazing 70 percent of us voted for Sound Transit 2.
This is our moment to create a better transportation future for Seattle. Our moment to put people to work building an equitable transportation system that reduces health disparities and our dependence on oil while allowing everyone the opportunity to safely navigate our city.
Seattle deserves this moment. And Seattle deserves the opportunity to approve a package with the details done right. Details like ensuring that the package raises the money we need to invest in our future through an $80 VLF; a package that provides flexibility by allowing our soon to be completed Transit Master Plan to guide transit investments, especially rail for appropriate corridors; and a package that extends the duration of the VLF to 20 years or more, preserving our ability to build new transit projects by bonding against the revenue.
Seattle, let’s seize this moment to create a better transportation future.
We urge the Council to place CTAC-III’s full $80 vehicle license fee proposal on the ballot for consideration this November to give Seattle voters an opportunity to approve a package of transportation investments that will make our city work for the future.
Craig M. Benjamin is the Co-Chair of Streets For All Seattle: www.streetsforallseattle.org
LeeAnne Beres is the Executive Director of Earth Ministry: www.earthministry.org
