Chuck Wolfe Weighs In On ‘Nodes’ And ‘Places’

Posted on by Sherwin Lee
'Inbound to Othello' by Mike Bjork

For those who have never read contributions by Chuck Wolfe at the Seattle P-I’s City Brights blog, you’re missing out.  Chuck co-authored the Barriers Report (PDF) on TOD (transit-oriented development) and is a land-use attorney who knows his stuff about transit’s role in planning the urban environment.  Last week, we had a few big stories about the City of Seattle’s initial cease-and-desist order of a private parking lot in the Rainier Valley and then McGinn’s subsequent moratorium on that policy.  Chuck has a piece out weighing in on the issue’s relevance to distinguishing between ‘nodes‘ and ‘places‘ in planning a transit-oriented community.

More below the jump.

Continue reading “Chuck Wolfe Weighs In On ‘Nodes’ And ‘Places’”

Ride Link Without Pants This Sunday

Posted on by Sherwin Lee

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If you’ve got nothing better to do this Sunday, here’s another excuse to take Link.  New York-based Improv Everywhere is having its 8th annual ‘No Pants! Subway Ride’ and invites cities around the world to pantslessly jump on board.  With light rail now up and running in Seattle, Emerald City Improv is snagging the chance for locals to participate in the global event.  The ‘No Pants’ ride, which was conceived in 2002, attracted 1200 participants in New York City alone last year plus 1000 more in other cities.  Here is some information about this year’s Seattle event (RSVP on the Facebook page):

Every January, Improv Everywhere in New York stages their annual “No Pants! Subway Ride.” Cities around the globe participate. This year, Emerald City Improv in Seattle invites you to participate in our first annual “No Pants! Light Rail Ride.”

This event will occur SUNDAY, JANUARY 10th, from 12:00- 3:00

REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTICIPATION:
1) Willing to take pants off on light rail
2) Able to keep a straight face about it

WHERE TO MEET:
Meet at the plaza at 4th Ave and Pine St, across from Westlake Center, at noon.

For the sake of decency, though, you’ll probably need to wear underpants.  Assuming ST police and security manage not to throw any fits, we should hope to avoid what happened in New York during their 5th annual ‘No Pants!’ ride:

The fifth annual No Pants ride was abruptly halted by a cop. All passengers, including those not participating, were forced to exit the train as it was taken out of service. 8 people were handcuffed in their underwear and taken into custody. A month later a judge dismissed all of the charges. It is not illegal to wear your underwear in public in New York City. Just ask the Naked Cowboy. The incident was reported by news agencies around the world. David Letterman made two monologue jokes, about it and staged a No Pants Cab Ride as a parody. Keith Olbermann interviewed Agent Todd about the legality of No Pants. Around 150 people participated in the ride.

King County Enacts Transportation Benefit District

Posted on by Martin H. Duke

One of the reasons that Gov. Gregoire vetoed a $20 vehicle license fee for transit last year was that counties already could create transportation benefit districts to levy a similar fee.  However, such a district requires support of 60% of municipal governments comprising at least 75% of the County’s population, although there is no public vote.

On November 3rd of last year Executive Triplett sent a letter to municipalities asking for cities to express support for such a countywide TBD by November 18th.  The legislation itself claims that no cities responded affirmatively, while several directly declined.

Given the lack of positive response, the County Council voted 8-0 (Constantine’s seat is unfilled) yesterday to go ahead with a TBD in the unincorporated areas of King County, though the bill does not yet impose the $20 fee.  The funding would go to a variety of projects (Excel file).  Many are road projects (including the structurally unsound South Park Bridge), but there are quite a few sidewalk and bike lane improvements.  However, as one might expect there isn’t much in the way of relief for Metro in this measure.

Other documents related to this measure are here.

In other news, the Council approved their legislative agenda, which shouldn’t really surprise anyone.

(H/T: Mickymse)

A New Seahawks Parking Option

Posted on by Martin H. Duke

The Port of Seattle is offering a section of the airport parking garage at half price before Seahawk games.  Between 8am and 1pm tomorrow, parking in this section will be $2 an hour.

As Tukwila’s lot always overflows, this is a good bet if you don’t want to drive into the Rainier Valley and park at one of many private lots, or simply park on the street for free.  As no media outlet but this one has spent any effort on publicizing the parking available all along the line, this will probably turn out to be a popular option.

Videos: Secretary Ray LaHood & Driven to Distraction

Posted on by Adam Bejan Parast
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Ray LaHood
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Secretary Ray LaHood on The Daily Show

This is a lighthearted interview about some of the priorities that LaHood and the administration are pushing. While he has many priorities one that seams particularly close to his heart has been to improve the safety of all road users by starting to make sure that the public is aware of the significant risks posed by drivers using cell phone to talk or text message. A few months ago he held a Distracted Driving summit in DC to highlight these issues and get the ball rolling on addressing the problem. Locally the Driven to Distraction Task Force, which from what I can tell is pretty new, is starting to organize and tackle these problems as well. They created the video below.

Driven to Distraction Via Seattle Likes Bikes

News Roundup: Around the Sound

Posted on by Martin H. Duke
Guideway to Seatac, by Mike Bjork
"Guideway to Seatac", by Mike Bjork

House Jobs Bill: $9.2 Billion for Transit & Amtrak

Posted on by John Jensen
Under construction. Photo by Flickr user papahazama.
Under construction. Photo by Flickr user papahazama.

The House yesterday narrowly passed a $154 billion jobs bill that included tens of billions in transportation funding. Largely breaking along the same lines as the stimulus bill earlier this year, the funding works out like so:

  • $27.5 billion for highways
  • $8.4 billion for public transit
  • $800 million for Amtrak

Unlike the Obama administration proposal to allocate $50 billion in competitive transportation grants, this bill mostly allocates along the same lines as the stimulus — mostly through distribution formulas and with most of the money going to state transportation departments that tend to favor highway projects often far from urban areas. Most transit money will be allocated through metropolitan areas also along formula guidelines. Earlier this year, the PSRC distributed over $130 million in stimulus funds.

The Senate will be drafting a bill next year that could move back toward the administration’s goal of a more competitive infrastructure grant process that would likely see better projects receiving funds on merit rather than state politics. That could mean better results for transit. But Senators have more loyalty to their states than to the federal government, so the House bill could simply reflect the political reality.

Either way, more unexpected capital investment for public transit is always good. Based on the earlier stimulus requests, Sound Transit could accelerate construction of a South 200th St stop or North Link to Northgate with some more dollars. Metro could potentially purchase more buses and improve facilities. Local agencies and cities may have new capital projects that weren’t available at the time of the stimulus.

Up to 10% of the transit dollars could be spent on operations costs, according to Streetsblog DC.

Federal Transportation Bill Moves Forward

Posted on by John Jensen

The House and Senate have agreed on a conference report for the federal transportation budget. (You can read the summary online.) The bill needs to pass Senate and will probably be signed by the end of the year. The high-level overview, which contains plenty of transit and rail funding:

  • $10.7 billion for public transit, including $2 billion for new construction.
  • $2.5 billion for high-speed rail, well above the administration’s $1 billion request. This number will complement the $8 billion in high-speed rail dollars that are part of Obama’s stimulus and hints that Congress will likely have an on-going role in funding rail.
  • $1.6 billion for Amtrak, above the administration’s request.
  • Highways are still the big winner, with $41.8 billion in funding.

Also included $600 million in merit-based transportation grants modeled after the TIGER. Putting more money into competitive grants decided at the federal, and not the state, level is good news for urban areas. These grants can be spent on bike lanes and transit as well as roads based simply on which projects are the best.

In other federal news, the Obama administration is pursuing a staggering $50 billion in new TIGER money for a forthcoming jobs bill, and it would be good move if Congress honors this request instead of choosing to appropriate this transportation spending to the states after the unfortunate experience for transit with the stimulus. A large pile of money could allow for some interesting outcomes. With just $30 million in grant money, for example, Sound Transit could complete the South 200th street light rail station years ahead of schedule.

One thing the transportation appropriations bill didn’t include and isn’t on the immediate horizon: A national infrastructure bank that the Obama administration has requested. This bank would be able to give low-interest loans to municipalities looking to build infrastructure projects without resorting to often costlier privately-held bonds. The proposal is a good one, but may need to be defined outside of the appropriations process and within a new transportation authorization bill that may be authored next year.

News Roundup: Keep Grace Crunican

Posted on by John Jensen
Dan Corson's Oscillating Field. Photo by The Stranger.
Dan Corson's Oscillating Field. Photo by The Stranger.
  • Grace Crunican, the director Seattle’s transportation department, is looking for a job in Oregon since she might be forced out by the McGinn over last winter’s snowstorm. Many smart people argue the Mayor-elect should keep her on. We agree: McGinn should consider keeping her.
  • The First Hill Streetcar will break ground in 2011 and open by 2013. The City has three public meetings this month about it to discuss the possible alignments. And a minimalist web page.
  • The feds announce some more funding for streetcars and trolley buses.
  • SDOT begins work this week on Aurora bus platforms. RapidRide buses will eventually run along the corridor.
  • Seattle Metro area transit usage up 13.4% between 2006 and 2008, well behind several sun belt cities — and Detroit. Traffic congestion down, mostly due to the economy.
  • King County Council backs SR520 A+ option.  That pits them against Richard Conlin, Frank Chopp, and others, but with the legislative working group.
  • The Stranger art critic looks at the public art piece — above — temporarily occupying the future home of Link’s Capitol Hill stop.

More after the jump…

Continue reading “News Roundup: Keep Grace Crunican”

“Vehicle Miles Traveled” Tax Dead

Posted on by Martin H. Duke
Sen. Haugen (Senate Democrats)
Sen. Haugen (Senate Democrats)

Gas tax revenues, an important part of how we fund highways, have been declining along with fuel consumption.  Officials wondering how to plug the gap have floated the idea of “vehicle miles traveled” tax, which would basically charge you for each mile of road you use.

Andrew Austin reports that Senate Transportation Chair Mary Margaret Haugen (D-Camano Island) has declared that idea dead for now.   And that’s good news.

The point of a VMT tax is that it raises revenue while discouraging driving.  But consider:

  • A gas tax also discourages driving.
  • A gas tax encourages use of fuel-efficient vehicles
  • A gas tax requires no new bureaucracy to implement.
  • A gas tax does not require the government to track your movements with a transponder.  I’m not really into tinfoil hats but this seems unnecessarily intrusive.

It may be that the revenue isn’t adequate, but there’s a simple solution: raise the gas tax.  It may be that in the far future most vehicles won’t burn gasoline.  But I’m not holding my breath, and we can address that problem if and when it occurs.

On a related note, USDOT Secretary Ray LaHood agrees with me.  More on the meeting that spurred this comment after the jump. Continue reading ““Vehicle Miles Traveled” Tax Dead”