“Safe and Sound” – 10% safe

[Updated 21:05 to correct error in percentage, originally mistakenly posted as 1% rather than 10%]

Jack Bogdanski yesterday posted an in-depth review of the “Safe and Sound Streets” funding/project list proposal Commissioner Sam Adams is working on. I support more money for neighborhood infrastructure improvements. I don’t think there’s enough for that purpose in the current City Budget. And I believe Sam is being both brave and honest, rolling out a “Yes new taxes” project in a year when at the very least he’ll be running for re-election — or as now seems likely, for Mayor.

I also agree with several of Jack’s concerns, and have a few of my own to contribute to the discussion.

* In a project titled “Safe and Sound Streets”, less than 10% of the proposed projects are in the “Safety Projects” category. That’s unacceptable.

The draft 10 year expenditure budget shows $263,097,987 in new revenue, over ten years. That’s $263 million plus change. Of that, only $25 million is budgeted for safety improvements. While projects in some of the other categories will likely also make Portland’s streets less hazardous for pedestrians and bicyclists, that’s a pitifully small percentage.

* The breakdown of the proposed spending of $25 million over 10 years on safety improvements shows just how pathetic and insufficient that allocation would be.

A meager $250,000 per year for “Safe Routes to Schools”. That’s enough to buy one crosswalk, if we’re lucky. One million per year for “Arterials with no sidewalks”. Last decade when the sidewalks were installed on SW Capitol Highway to allow people to walk to Markham Elementary and the Multnomah County library, one mile of sidewalks cost one million dollars. One crosswalk and one mile of sidewalk per year, for all the schools and arterial streets without them all over the city, is not sufficient.

* Different funding mechanisms are being considered. Some are more regressive than others. The City should look for ways to ease the burden on families struggling to make ends meet, not increase it. And, putting street maintenance fees on utitily bills would make people believe their sewer and water bills are rising even more, while we’re still paying off the cost of the Big Pipe fix to the Combined Sewer Overflow problem. Decision-makers should consider the entire range of potential impacts when deciding how to fund the needed maintenance and improvement projects, not just how to get the transportation needs met.

* If the City Council is going to raise taxes and fees to fund the list of transportation improvements, the five men voting on Sam’s proposal should concurrently promise to dedicate a percentage of General Fund revenue to ongoing maintenance, each budget cycle. Many Portlanders understand and support the need to raise extra money for capital projects. But I believe revenues from property taxes and other ongoing sources should be funding at least part of the annual maintenance costs of new and old facilities. That goes for parks, sewers, water pipes, and other infrastructure as well as streets and bike/pedestrian facilities.

Open Houses on the “Safe and Sound Streets” proposal are in progress. The schedule is here (pdf), with more background information and advocacy. The turnaround on this project is tight, with a final version going the rounds of public meetings in October.

I had many good experiences with Sam Adams listening and making adjustments to proposals during the Land Division Code revision process, when he was Chief of Staff for Mayor Katz. Given that the project list as it stands now is unacceptable to many biking/walking advocates, and the fact that the specific funding mechanisms are yet to be finalized, I think participation now is worth your time. The concept seems to be a done deal, but the details aren’t. I hope.