Responses from City Commissioners on the Mayor’s decision to not fund the Bicycle Master Plan Update process are trickling in.
Commissioner Randy Leonard says,
“I will do what I can to get the Bike Master Plan funding back in the budget…thanks for writing me.”
Matthew Grumm from Commissioner Dan Saltzman’s office says,
“Excellent grassroots activism, such as your email, has placed this on Dan’s radar and he’ll be tracking it closely as City Council moves to final adoption of the City’s budget. A Community Budget Hearing is scheduled for the evening of May 10th at Robert Gray Middle School and this will be an opportunity for the public to comment on the budget.”
Still no word from the Mayor’s Office. Has anyone heard from Commissioner Erik Sten’s office yet? If you have, please share the response in the comments.
I’m playing phone tag and have left messages with Commissioner Sam’s office, but since he’s in charge of Transportation and it was his office that made the initial funding request, I think we all know what his response will be.
And so far, I’ve got no confirmations from anyone in City Hall about joining us on the ride Tuesday.
Stay tuned.
UPDATE: Commissioner Randy Leonard just left a comment and wrote,
“Thanks, Jonathan, for the invitation to ride. As you pointed out, I will be riding that day but unfortunately in the other direction…so at least my thoughts will be with you.
I am going to work with Commissioner Adams and Mayor Potter to try and identify resources to fund the Bicycle Master Plan. As a bike commuter, I consider it a public safety issue as well as a planning issue.”
What about Sam?
just updated the post.
I emailed the Mayor and commissioners Salzman, Sten, and Leonard Tuesday morning. So far, Commissioner Leonard replied to my email with a similar response as above. Nothing from anyone else yet.
Ditto. Randy Leonard was the only one who has responded to my email.
I got the same two responses listed here, and so far nothing else.
This is the response that I received from the Mayor’s office. You’ve probably seen it by now, too:
***
Office of Mayor Tom Potter
City of Portland
Thank you for emailing me about the proposed budget and the Platinum Bicycle Master Plan. For this budget, we were faced with an unprecedented number of requests and priorities. All of these requests have real merit; obviously, not all can be met.
The Portland Department of Transportation (PDOT) has struggled with significant funding issues – and will continue to struggle with funding issues in the coming years. The largest part of Transportation discretionary revenue comes from State gas tax revenue. This revenue is not indexed for inflation and has not been increased since 1993. This has left PDOT with a large gap in the amount of revenue they have available to adequately fund maintenance. In response to this gap and to ensure that essential basic maintenance is taken care of, the proposed budget dedicates a substantial portion of PDOT’s funding ($1.2 million) to institute a very short-term fix to ongoing maintenance.
Difficult decisions had to be made as to the best use of remaining dollars after funding basic maintenance. Several components of Commissioner Adams’s Safe Streets Initiative were funded, two of which focused on bicycle transportation. Included in the proposed budget were Safe Routes to School, pedestrian safety improvements, and funds to continue improving the City’s most dangerous intersections. Additionally, the proposed budget includes bicycle safety improvements for $150,000. These decisions are consistent with our priority to fund safety requests above other requests.
I appreciate your concern. I agree that the Platinum Bicycle Master Plan is important and I would like to see it funded in the near future. Thank you, again, for emailing me.
Sincerely,
Tom Potter
Mayor