I’ve written here briefly before about the PSU/PDOT Traffic and Transportation Class. I believe it was originally the brainchild of Earl Blumenaur when he was Commissioner of Transportation. It was designed as a training ground for neighborhood transportation activists. Ably facilitated by Rick Gustafson, a series of guest speakers provide the background on how the transportation system works, and most importantly, how to access the bureaucracy to get it to respond to issues important to you.
Yours truly got his start in transportation advocacy after graduating from the class seven or eight years ago. And Rex Burkholder was in the first graduating class! I recommend it to anyone interested in transportation as the perfect primer.
Where’s the sidewalk? |
I’ve written here briefly before about the PSU/PDOT Traffic and Transportation Class. I believe it was originally the brainchild of Earl Blumenaur when he was Commissioner of Transportation. It was designed as a training ground for neighborhood transportation activists. Ably facilitated by Rick Gustafson, a series of guest speakers provide the background on how the transportation system works, and most importantly, how to access the bureaucracy to get it to respond to issues important to you.
Yours truly got his start in transportation advocacy after graduating from the class seven or eight years ago. And Rex Burkholder was in the first graduating class! I recommend it to anyone interested in transportation as the perfect primer.
So this class is very well aligned with the mission of Portland Transport and a natural opportunity for a partnership. We have agreed to host the student project presentations here on the blog, and this week I’ll sit on the panel (along with PDOT Directory Sue Keil, and Sam Adam’s chief-of-staff, Tom Miller) that gets to critique the featured presentations.
The first batch were presented last week, and here’s the rundown:
Tim Helzer (PDF, 28K) wants to create new pedestrian paths on Hayden Island, mostly along existing streets to supplement what today is essentially only one pedestrian connection along the length of the island. He plans to mobilize the neighborhood association to work with property owners toward this goal.
Christina Davies-Waldron (PDF 18K) wants to expand use of BioDiesel in the region. Her focus is on analyzing the market and increasing supply and access. There are potentially strong tie-ins here with Oregon’s Ag sector.
Catherine Van Ginkel (PDF 34K) wants to reduce dependence on automobiles and plans to use media advocacy to start by shift trips to schools to non-auto modes.
Debbie Merrill (PDF 812K) wants to re-engineer the intersection at SW 57th and Barnes in her neighborhood to make it safer. And she has the data and maps to make her case.
Michael Kinney (PDF 327K) wants to make a segment of NE 33rd which has no sidewalk safer for pedestrian. He has excellent photo documentation of the problem.