PDX: $613 Million for new Bike Lanes

Saw a story last week that said Portland just passed a $613 plan to improve bike infrastructure over the next 20 years. I know it’s apples and oranges, but $60 million for a streetcar downtown seems like a bargain by comparison. Full story in the Portland Business Journal.

Streetcar Conversations: I got nuthin.

Earlier in the week we had a bang-up Urban Lunch event and brought out Cece Gassner from the City of Boise to talk about the streetcar proposal. And I have to admit, I had a really unexpected bunch of comments and questions. I am really just confounded - I just want to throw my hands in the air and say I got nuthin’. But the public deserves to understand exactly HOW we go to this point - the point where we are potentially going to build a rail-based downtown circulator.

So to kick off the discussion, here’s the tweet stream that came from my good friend, Dr. Norris Krueger, just before Urban Lunch:

So Norris’s first question to me was, “Are you going to let someone from the other side present as well.” I said, no, this is just a representative from the City talking about the facts of the proposed project, there’s no rah-rah-go-vote-for-the-streetcar advocacy happening.

He then accused me of letting Cece present “her” facts, as if there was some kind of contestable scientific evidence being presented here, which he also accused me of. Now, Norris is a scholar, and I have a graduate level degree in social science, and I don’t understand how someone with a Ph.D. could question the veracity of a series of engineering reports and traffic studies - which is exactly what was presented.

Here’s the facts. In 2003, Valley Regional Transit launched a study called the “Downtown Mobility Study,” the purpose they stated,

. . . was to develop a comprehensive approach to mobility within downtown Boise and for people traveling from, to and through the downtown area.

The final report and implementation plan to improve mobility in DOWNTOWN was completed in the Fall of 2005 - OVER FOUR YEARS AGO. The results of that report were not exactly kept secret from the public. The Idaho Statesman published FIVE articles on the study in 2005, including these findings and recommendations printed in the January 12, 2005 edition, on the FRONT PAGE of the local section:

The Downtown Mobility Study recommends more than $100 million worth of improvements to prepare downtown for the next 20 years. The consultants who wrote the $600,000 study say Boise needs a downtown shuttle with buses or street cars, two transit centers to accommodate a variety of transportation uses, and a revamp for the I-184 Connector to make it more biker- and pedestrian-friendly.

So it wasn’t kept secret from the public - the Statesman alone has published 16 columns on the Downtown Mobility Study. So it must have been that the public had no input into the study, then?

Nope.

As that same Statesman article noted,

After this week’s open houses, officials will have a chance to revise their draft plan based on the feedback they hear. Then the study’s final recommendations go to local agencies for public hearings and final approval this spring or summer, said Pamela Sheldon, planning and development director for Capital City Development Corporation, Boise´s urban renewal agency.

Oh. Ok. So there was a great deal of media coverage and the people have all had input on this thing and the plan was adopted. So the people must have been hoodwinked by a bunch of lobbyists or a bunch of crooked, untrustworthy organizations with no experience in governance. That must be it.

The City of Boise, CCDC, ValleyRide, Ada County Highway District, Idaho Transportation Department, Community Planning Association of Southwestern Idaho and Boise State University joined together to oversee and fund the study.

Huh.

Ok. So the consulting report must have been prepared by a political hack with no experience in transportation planning looking to sell a bill of goods to the people of the Treasure Valley?

Well, here’s the text from the “About us” page from the world-renowned engineering firm, Arup, that did the study:

Founded in 1946 with an initial focus on structural engineering, Arup first came to the world’s attention with the structural design of the Sydney Opera House, followed by its work on the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Arup has since grown into a truly multidisciplinary organisation. Most recently, its work for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing has reaffirmed its reputation for delivering innovative and sustainable designs that reinvent the built environment.

Ok. So they aren’t a hack firm, but they don’t know anything about transportation, right?

Well, let’s see - they built the rail line between London and Paris, the airport railway in Hong Kong, the subway in New York, and the freight lines in Australia.

So here is where we are in 2009:

• We began with a goal of improving mobility downtown.
• A global engineering firm with an impeccable reputation as experts in mobility authored a now four year old study recommending a series of improvements including streetcar routes.
• The public gave its input at open houses, and in open testimony to the elected officials of the City Council, and the Ada County Highway District.
• The plan was widely covered in the most popular media.
• The plan was adopted.

So why now, when Mayor Bieter comes out and wants to actually do what he was elected to do - in fact directed by the public to do - are people acting like this idea was pulled out of someone’s backside? The next phase in the plan is IMPLEMENTATION.

There’s still more to this story - the “disconfirming evidence” as Norris puts it - disconfirming what exactly I don’t know, pending confusion on what a downtown circulator is for and what it isn’t for, but those are issues for another post.

The point of this post is to understand HOW we got to the current proposal to build a downtown circulator. It was through a rational planning process, conducted by experts, with input from the public, approval by elected officials, and coverage by the mainstream media. This isn’t some last-minute whim by a snake-oil politician as critics like failed city council candidate Dave Litster, and photographer turned municipal government gadfly Dave Frazier would have you believe.

Urban Lunch a Big Success!

The inaugural urban lunch was a big success with well over 100 people showing up to hear City of Boise Economic Development Director Cece Gassner talk about the street car proposal. If you missed it, Nate Hoffman at the Boise Weekly has been doing great work covering the streetcar. The image above links to the piece about Urban Lunch. He also wrote a GREAT piece on the various TIGER grants that Idaho has out there, and another piece on where the City and CCDC plan to get the rest of the dough to build the streetcar in the event that they are TIGER recipients. I’ll be blogging more about the streetcar following some bizarre conversations I’ve had about it recently.

For now, I just want to thank Sherry McKibben, Lindsay Dofelmier, Ashley Ford, Melissa Lavitt (my boss at BSU), Jenny’s Lunch Line, Idaho TechConnect and Krissa Wrigley, and Dave at Phy.La Design. It took the work of a lot of dedicated volunteers to make this successful - not the least of who was all the people who showed up. Thanks too to NPR who did a nice story, and Zach at the Idaho Business Review (but where’s the story, man?).

Next month we’re slated for the Urban Lunch January Edition, scheduled for noon on Wednesday January 20th, at the Water Cooler. Tentatively speaking is City of Boise Comprehensive Planning Manager Patricia Nilsson giving an update on Blueprint Boise - or what the City envisions land use and development to look like for the next decade. RSVP to the event on the Urban Lunch Facebook page.

Urban Lunch!

It’s “Urban Lunch!” What is it? A new monthly lunch where we get together and talk about the urban issues of the day. Brought to you by the University of Idaho Urban Research and Design Center, Boise State University’s College of Social Sciences and Public Affairs, and friends from ULI Idaho and the USGBC, Urban Lunch is designed to be an easy opportunity for those interested in urban affairs to get together for a quick bite, some conversation, and a short presentation on a pressing topic.

The inaugural Urban Lunch happens Tuesday, December 8 from 12:00 - 1:00 pm at the Water Cooler at 1401 W. Idaho Boise, 83702. Lunch will be available from Jenny’s Lunch Line for $5. If you plan to eat at the event, please RSVP to Sherry McKibben.

Our guest speaker is City of Boise Economic Development Director Cece Gassner who will talk about the proposed streetcar/downtown circulator.

For more information contact Chris Blanchard or Sherry McKibben.

Streetcar funding update

Just got a note from Adam Park over in the Mayor’s office. There was in inaccuracy in my previous post about ongoing funding. As Adam pointed out funds from the LID cannot be used to pay for ongoing operations. The City and CCDC will contribute funds to run the streetcar system if it is built. I corrected the original post, and below is what Adam sent me. Thanks Adam and Cece for clarifying the situation for us.

I just went to your blogpost regarding the Boise Streetcar. It’s a good blog, but I noticed there was some incorrect information. The local improvement district (LID), if approved by council, would be used to fund capital construction of the streetcar. By law, the LID cannot be used to cover operations. The breakdown of expenses currently being considered is as follows:

Capital Construction:
$40 million - Tiger Funding
$10 million - City of Boise/CCDC
$10 million - Local Improvement District

Operating Costs
$1.2 million/year - City of Boise/CCDC

I thought you should know so you can correct the paragraph early in the blog.

Thanks,

Adam