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July 22, 2005
What You can do About the TPR Update
The Joint Oregon Transportation Commission (OTC) and Department of Land and Conservation Development Commission (LCDC) Subcommittee met on July 19th. They will move the TPR Mission Statement amendments to the full LCDC at the November meeting in Medford.
The TPR Workgroup will discuss the changes again on August 2nd. To my knowledge, no other formal meetings are scheduled, unless DLCD (or ODOT for that matter because they are funding and driving the process) are pushed.
Apparently LCDC Commissioner Marilyn Worrix requested specific feedback on how the changes shift the policy, which specific changes are problematic and why, and "what is the harm" in the proposal (also echoed by Ron Henri.)
View Issue Paper 2 and other agendas items, etc..
I would like to note that:
1. The original reason to change the rule had to do with the words "Reduced Reliance on the Automobile." A secondary, and more recent issue is the readability. Do these issues warrant a complete rewrite?
2. ODOT states publicly that this rewrite does not alter the policy. However at least two staff/consultants have conceded that this both a policy document and that there is a shift.
3. Public participation has been totally lacking. ODOT failed to post the meeting materials prior to the meeting (but the BTA did) and there are no recorded minutes of either the Workgroup or Sub Committee meetings. In fact, to date, there has been more discussion on Portland Transport (albeit about issues not relating to the topic) than anywhere else.
I encourage people to contact:
LCDC members
Craig Greenleaf at ODOT
Bob Cortright at DLCD
Posted by Scott Bricker at 6:01 AM
Comments
July 22, 2005 7:35 AM
craig b Says:
Interesting. Did the new head of the PDC Warner have anything to do with this change? Might not bode well for new development in PDX under his leadership if he did.
July 23, 2005 10:11 AM
Ross Williams Says:
I think it is a mistake to assume that the shortage of oil will change our transportation system - if that is the implication behind your post.
While clearly an oil shortage will eventually force a change in fuels, it is not at all clear that means that we will become less car dependent.
Only an enormous increase in the current price of gas would cause significant changes in habits in the short term. You can talk to the transportation modelers at Metro about their modeling for TDM. To get even a modest reduction in auto use requires huge increases in costs. They use parking prices as a place holder, but I would think the higher cost of gas would have a similar impact.
In the mid-term, people will shift to more fuel efficient vehicles and make moderate reductions in trips. But those will not have significant impact on the overall transportation system. At least they didn't seem to have much effect during the 70's.
In the long-term we are likely to see fuel shifting to one of the more exotic alternatives. It may be that the only realistic alternatives will be increased transit use and changes in urban form. But I don't think that is a given. Its just as likely we will replace our oil driven vehicle for one powered by electricity.
