A two-hour “town hall” this evening at SE 34th and Salmon will be the Portland public’s first chance to turn out in support of their priorities in the next decade of Portland transportation budgets.
The City of Portland is getting ready to write its most important transportation wish list in years.
The City of Portland is pushing forward its plan to sell voters on a new revenue stream, most likely a per-household and per-business fee that participants say would raise perhaps $25 million a year for street upgrades.
Mayor Hales at a City Council PBOT budget work session yesterday.(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland) At an event last night I was able to grab Mayor Charlies Hales for a few minutes to ask him for his thoughts on the major PBOT budget move that was unveiled yesterday. At a City Council budget work session, Hales’ … Read more
PBOT Interim Director Toby Widmer at a City Council budget work session today.(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland) With the ink on the paving audit barely dry, Mayor Charlie Hales’ interim director of the Portland Bureau of Transportation Toby Widmer, made a sweeping budget proposal during a City Council budget work session at City Hall today. They … Read more
“Demands for new biking, walking, transit, and other system improvements are common, but do you ever see activists clamoring for paving and street maintenance?” Twice this week citizens of Portland have taken action to raise awareness about unsafe streets. Benjamin Kerensa emailed us a video (watch it below) he put together of the crosswalk at … Read more
Outgoing PBOT Director Tom Miller led a meeting of his budget advisory committee on Tuesday.(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland) When members of the Portland Bureau of Transportation’s Budget Advisory Committee settled into their fourth and final meeting on Tuesday, they got some grim news. On top of the $4.5 million in ongoing cuts the bureau was … Read more
“We’re basically back where we started.”— Tom Miller, PBOT Director, in an email to his budget advisory committee Remember the $700,000 that was added back to the Portland Bureau of Transportation’s budget last month? Now it’s pretty much all gone. Last Friday, outgoing PBOT Director Tom Miller emailed the PBOT Budget Advisory Committee to announce … Read more
BTA’s Gerik Kransky (L) and freight advocate Corky Collier after the PBOT Budget BAC meeting yesterday.(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland) In the face of severe cuts to active transportation in the PBOT budget that came to light last month, a coalition led by the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) presented a proposal yesterday to restore nearly half … Read more
A budget proposal by PBOT would end reduce the City’s support of Sunday Parkways.(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland) As PBOT grapples with a $4.4 million budget gap for the upcoming fiscal year, yesterday they proposed $1.5 in cuts that would directly impact biking and walking projects and programs. Members of the PBOT Budget Advisory Committee heard … Read more
PBOT Director Tom Miller at a meeting of his Budget Advisory Committee last night. (Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland) The budget outlook for the Bureau of Transportation is a bit better this year than it was last year; but things are still grim. I attended the first of three PBOT Budget Advisory Committee meetings last night … Read more
It’s no secret that PBOT faces historic budget cuts. But there’s a big part of the conversation that hasn’t really gotten the attention it deserves: With gas tax and other motor vehicle-related revenues (like parking meters and registration fees) decreasing, more people choosing bikes and electric cars, and federal funding as unstable as ever, we … Read more
Comment of the Week: Legs of steel and the e-bike