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
PBOT’s SmartTrips program is among the cuts.(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland) The City of Portland’s Transportation Options Division — the group behind such popular programs as Sunday Parkways and SmartTrips — no longer exists as a stand-alone section of PBOT. The consolidation of Options into a new “Active Transportation” group within PBOT’s org chart — and … Read more
Sunday Parkways is not a core city service says Saltzman.(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland) Portland City Commissioner Dan Saltzman has fired the first shot across the bow in what is likely just a preview of what’s to come in bruising fight over next year’s budget. On the agenda at the City Council meeting this morning was … Read more
With budget cuts to bike lane cleaning, you might want to carry a broom.(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland) The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) has unveiled a list of proposed cuts intended to slash their discretionary budget by $15-16 million. The unprecedented cuts — which amount to about 20% of $70 million in discretionary revenue — … Read more
Map shows PBOT’s new “streets of citywide significance”.– Download PDF- The Portland Bureau of Transportation has released an update on their 2012-2013 budget situation. As we suspected, a major shrinking of their budget has resulted in a restructuring of how the bureau will prioritize spending. In other big news, PBOT Director Tom Miller has unveiled … Read more