“An avid cyclist, Jesse knows it’s wrong to take $20 million from sewer ratepayers already suffering from 95% increases this decade to pay for bike improvements.”
— From Cornett’s voter pamphlet statement
City Council candidate Jesse Cornett is in a race to unseat Commissioner Dan Saltzman. Not surprisingly, Mayor Sam Adams’ plan to divert $15 million in the Bureau of Environmental Services budget for construction of bike-friendly Green Streets is becoming a political football in that race.
It’s a challenging issue for Cornett. A regular bike rider himself, he’d like to be seen as the bike-friendly candidate. But, he is also is not immune from the tremendous amount of negative publicity Adams’ plan has gotten. Adams’ BES/PBOT/Green Streets plan has been widely criticized as a backroom deal that swapped “sewer money” for “bike lanes.” Portland Mercury news editor Matt Davis even called out the plan in a speech at City Club recently titled, “Blood in the Bike Lanes.”
Now, despite his support for biking, Cornett has decided to join critics of the idea and he’s gone public with his opposition. As pointed out in an article in this week’s Willamette Week newspaper, Cornett’s voter’s pamphlet statement, under the heading of, “Spend Taxpayer Money Wisely,” says:
“An avid cyclist, Jesse knows it’s wrong to take $20 million from sewer ratepayers already suffering from 95% increases this decade to pay for bike improvements.”
And Cornett told the Willamette Week that, “Transportation projects should be paid for with transportation money.”
back in January.
(Photo © J. Maus)
When I interviewed Cornett back in January, he said the City of Portland can reach its bike ridership goals, but that, “What I’d like to see is it funded.” He added, “… unless we’re actually putting our money where our mouth is and focusing on some basic infrastructure projects, we’re not going to get there.”
Cornett told me he favors tolls on bridges and higher parking fees as a way to raise that money. Ex-PBOT spokesperson Mary Volm has also criticized Adams’ idea. Incumbent Dan Saltzman voted in favor of the funding when it came before City Council.
BES has partnered with PBOT for years on green street projects. They’ve worked together to build curb extensions with bioswales because they feel the features have many benefits for our city — including affordability.
At the Bike Advisory Committee meeting last night, Adams’ transportation policy director Catherine Ciarlo explained how they feel the partnership is a “four-fer” of benefits: They treat stormwater runoff (so it doesn’t overflow our sewers, cause river pollution, flooding, and so on); they mean less spending on pipe projects down the road; they have a positive impact on traffic safety, and they encourage more people to walk and bike (which means fewer car trips).
Mayor Adams also contends that this money — which comes from an estimated $40 million in contract savings on BES projects — is specifically allotted for capital projects which means it cannot be used to pay for other city services. Adams and his staffers have admitted they lost the PR battle on this idea, but they remain resolute in their perception that putting more money into the Green Streets program and directing it specifically at neighborhood greenway projects, is a win-win-win-win for Portland.
Cornett disagrees. We’ll have to wait and see what Portland voters think.
Read more about how Adams’ bike funding plan is playing out in the race for City Council in the Willamette Week.
UPDATE: Cornett has just published a statement about this issue and bike funding in general. Read it here.