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Right Sizing for Reality

#Oregon has elected some brilliant political leaders. Rep #KhanhPham is one of them. She serves on the State #Transportation Committee.

Pham is challenging why $7.5 Billion of DOT money is going into an ill-defined mega-project rather than where our priorities must be: #PublicTransit, #Safe #Streets, connected communities and #Climate solutions.

None of the $7.5 Billion is for #LightRail, #BikeLanes, #Walkways.

#JustTransitAlliance #PCEF
oregonlive.com/opinion/2022/12

oregonliveOpinion: Up to $7.5 billion for Interstate Bridge replacement project? Time to rightsize for realityBy Guest Columnist | The Oregonian

@CathyTuttle It's an excellent argument for reconsidering the 20th century priorities that have been baked into transportation governance. Gov. Brown totally showed no concern about how captured the Oregon Transportation Commission is by the "freeway industrial complex". Hopefully Gov. Kotek will make changing this status quo a priority since she seems to be more willing to challenge vested interests. I am also glad for orgs like who are willing to do the same!

@pdxblake

Might be time to update ODOT Values. They are vague.
Integrity: Accountable & transparent w public funds & hold ourselves to the highest ethical standards
Safety: Share ownership & responsibility for ensuring safety in all that we do
Equity: Embrace diversity & foster a culture of inclusion
Excellence: Use skills and expertise to continuously strive to be more efficient, effective & innovative
Unity: Work together as OneODOT to provide better solutions & ensure alignment in our work

@CathyTuttle I think the evidence of budget overruns on project after project without any accountability puts a question of whether there is the appropriate governance in place to make the values realistic.

Building on Gov. Brown's executive order on climate change and claimed commitment by the City of Portland (where many megaprojects are being planned) at the C40, there has to be explicit climate focus to shift from a polluting status quo to a clean, healthy & safe transportation future.

@pdxblake
#Oregon + #PDX talk #Climate #Cost #Equity.
Talk is not enough.

Check this #PCEF presentation on 12/15/22 by #Portland BPS Climate Policy Analyst Kyle Diesner (starts at 40:33) youtube.com/watch?v=i9p_GUSpf7

He was honest about #carbon #emissions:

We've done the easy stuff well
We've flatlined when we need to speed up
Reductions now are mostly not driven by #policy
25% of emissions come from #electricity generation (and Ecars won't save us)
#Transportation is HUGE emissions problem: 42%

@CathyTuttle Holy cow, a near-lost decade of emissions reduction from 2012-2020!

pdxblake

@CathyTuttle Transportation is a huge problem and where the least progress was made in the "lost decade" when population increased and VMT didn't decline. It seems like what you would expect from a city that is allergic to making driving harder and infill easier.