Making Advocates


Update: 9/6/06

Note that registration on a scholarship basis (i.e., free to activists) ends on September 13th.


Original Post: 8/22/06

It’s time for the PSU/PDOT Traffic and Transportation class again. I can’t say enough about this class. It’s a great way to learn how the transportation bureaucracy in local government works, and where to apply effort to get better outcomes for your neighborhood or community. This class got me started on my path to becoming an advocate and I recommend it to anyone with an interest in transportation.

Better yet, it’s free to citizens of Portland (unless you want to take it for credit). And you have the opportunity to have your class project immortalized here on Portland Transport.

The Portland Traffic & Transportation class starts September 27. This is a great opportunity to learn about the policies, politics and people shaping Portland transportation.

To register or get more information on this popular course, call or email Peter Hurley at (503) 823-5345 or peter.hurley@pdxtrans.org. To register please go to http://www.portlandonline.com/transportation/index.cfm?c=35727.

Portland Traffic and Transportation Class Fall 2006

Neighborhood traffic, transportation options and how to get things done in your neighborhood are the focus for this well respected ten-week university course. Hundreds of Portland residents have taken this popular class and learned how to negotiate the maze of traffic and transportation agencies and issues. Here’s your chance to hear about how you can make a difference even in these times of budget cuts and shrinking gas tax revenue. Speakers include policy and decision-makers, planners, and engineers from TriMet, Metro, and Portland’s Office of Transportation, people who can make things happen. Facilitated by Rick Gustafson, transportation planning consultant and former Metro executive officer.

What: A ten-week course sponsored by City of Portland Bureau of Transportation System Management and Portland State University Urban Studies Program

When: September 27 to December 6, 2006
Wednesdays, 6:40 – 8:40 p.m. (except November 22)

Where:Portland State University Campus

Who: This course is designed for the neighborhood activist, new or experienced, who wants to make a difference on traffic and transportation in their Portland neighborhood.

Limited space is available for the ten-week class during the Fall Term. Full scholarships are available to qualified City of Portland residents for the non-credit course. To be eligible for a scholarship applicants must live in the City of Portland and not be a transportation or law enforcement professional. Deadline for scholarship application is 5:00 p.m. September 13, 2006. If you choose to the take the course for PSU credit, tuition is $168.50 for one undergraduate credit or $319.50 for one graduate credit.


4 responses to “Making Advocates”

  1. Education on the very complex issues of transportation is vital. To many people do not have enough of a Transportation IQ to understand all of the considerations that are part of this complex issue.

    Thank you for making this information on this class available to the general public.

  2. I might go, but I do say I’m rather fearful.

    From the explanation of the class it sounds more like, “how to get your special interests catered to by the beauracracy” than anything to really do with what transit really is, can be, or has been in the past.

  3. This is not transportation theory class. It IS a class about how things work in the real world, specifically here in Portland.

    Yes, to a degree it’s about how to get heard by the bureaucracy. But I thought citizens’ right to petition government was fundamental, not a special interest?

    I can guarantee you that the special interests already know how to work the bureaucracy. This is leveling the playing field!

  4. “It IS a class about how things work in the real world, specifically here in Portland.”

    Here’s a short course

    “Traffic congestion is bad and getting worse.
    It is a nightmare for commuters and it is choking freight mobility.
    There is no more clear illustration of our inability to meet growth needs than our failure to address our transportation needs.
    Within the transportation arena we are facing utter chaos.”
    From Metro Executive, Mike Burton’s State of the Region Speech, 2000

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