A pseudonymous reader passed along these two draft PBOT budget documents: a ranking of PBOT programs by senior staff (PDF, 30K) and a text description of potential cut packages (PDF, 63K).
Meanwhile the Oregionian is reporting on the possibility of a five-year moratorium on major repaving projects.
2 responses to “Where the PBOT Budget is Headed?”
When are we going to have the conversation about increasing revenue? There are many opportunities, such as an increased gas tax, additional parking meters, or even an expanded market based parking system like the one used in San Francisco.
I fear the mismanagement in PBOT’s parking division is to blame for this. Hopefully the new leader can put them back on the right track. Market based parking pricing will increase revenue, reduce congestion, and save drivers time.
Interesting to see the PBOT budget presented in this way… that Bureau does a lot of different things.
On a temporary basis, most of these cuts are probably OK (though, I would object to the proposal to “temporarily close” rather than repair wooden stairways, as this would seemingly violate the pedestrian portion of Metro’s street connectivity policy). The problem is whether these changes become the new normal… and the new baseline from which future cuts, in turn, would be made.
Already, I’ve seen degradation of signal timing downtown related to the new MAX line on the transit mall (the “wave of green” hits a red snag on some streets when traveling east/west and encountering the mall)… seems like a signal coordination problem. Hopefully, cutting signal coordination’s budget wouldn’t prevent them from paying attention to such issues…