Trying to Party like it's 1959

The Oregon Legislature has decided to look reality straight in the eye and deny . . . doing a "gut and stuff" on the Governor's proposed transportation bill that, for all its sins, at least made a cursory attempt to be something other than a highway bill.

Thus, a letter to Senate President Peter Courtney (D-Salem) and Rep. Brian Clem (D-Salem) went like this:

Given Harry Truman's wisdom about holes, it's sad that HB 2001 has become a monstrous highway-dominated bill that proposes that we can keep pouring money down the rathole of paving over Oregon, even as oil prices begin their summer runup.

We need transportation package that puts people first, not cars, and that moves us towards a pedestrian, bike, and transit based system for moving people and a rail-based system for moving goods. Anything less is just pouring more money down the drain.

Better no transportation bill at all than this unwise and unsustainable effort to party like it's 1959.

An Oregon balanced-transportation advocate followed up with this:

All: In case you aren't up on the latest twists and turns with the Oregon Jobs and Transportation Act (JTA), or HB 2001, proposed "-A17" amendments to this bill were introduced yesterday. Read these here.

These 54 pages of proposed amendments appear to "gut" (delete) the previous language and "stuff" (replace) new language wholesale. But I have not been following the history of HB 2001 closely, and don't know how drastically the proposed amendments differ from what has been on the table.

What I do know is that Section 65 (on pages 49-53 of the proposed amendments) would earmark funding for a long list of state highway projects. Take a look for yourself to see where funding is proposed in your area. The list of earmarks includes:

• Newberg-Dundee Bypass, Phase I: $192 million
• State Highway 212 Sunrise Corridor, Phase I, Units 1, 2 and 3: $100 million
• Highway 62 Corridor Solution, Phase II: $100 million
• Interstate-5/Beltline Interchange, Units 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7: $80 million

and a couple dozen other less expensive highway projects

As 1000 Friends of Oregon writes in the alert:

Unfortunately, the transportation package, House Bill 2001, that recently emerged from behind closed doors has lost its balance – it has become a highways bill, dominated by an $840 million list of road building projects divorced from any unified transportation or economic development strategy to relieve freight bottlenecks or strengthen the state or local economies. It specifically earmarks scarce dollars to build massive highway projects that will increase sprawl, traffic, and increase transportation-generated greenhouse gasses.

Several projects funded by HB 2001 threaten the livability, sustainability, and greenhouse gas reduction goals that must be part of our transportation investments. This is not the balanced and sustainable transportation future that Oregonians want.

The time to make your voice heard is NOW. 1000 Friend of Oregon continues:

The newly-created Special Joint Committee on Transportation will consider HB 2001 tomorrow evening. This will be your only chance to give testimony before the legislature acts on the bill. Please testify at this hearing Thursday at 5 PM, in Hearing Room F at the State Capitol. For advice on testifying click here. Please let us know if you plan to attend: call Tara Sulzen at 503-497-1000 or email tara@friends.org.
Contact your state representative and senator TODAY.

Tell them to restore balance & sustainability to the transportation funding package.

Thanks for anything you can do,

P.S. Of course, many of us were encouraged by Governor Kulongoski's comments in December 2007 when he first launched his effort to pass a balanced, sustainable, environmentally-responsible transportation package. Our friends in 1000 Friends of Oregon, Oregon Environmental Council, Environment Oregon, Bicycle Transportation Alliance and other groups have been working with other stakeholders to try to reach agreement on just such a balanced package. Indeed, just two months ago, leaders of these groups linked arms with leaders from the Oregon Business Association, AAA Oregon/Idaho, the Port of Portland and the Oregon Trucking Association in a commentary in the Oregonian.

I believe I recently heard President Obama say, "The era of putting all our eggs in one basket, of investing the bulk of our transportation dollars in building unsustainable highways, is over." No wait, that was from a draft speech written by some hack. What President Obama actually said was, " Yes, we can."

Yes, we Oregonians—truckers, car drivers, transit riders, bicyclists and pedestrians—can come together and pass a balanced, sustainable and environmentally-response transportation package . . . with your help.

Contact your state representative and senator TODAY!