[BATS] Letter to council about transit stuff in budget?

Tue Nov 12 18:04:25 PST 2024

A point I want to share is about the street cars. They are very helpful for riders with disabilities. I know the new one between all the hospitals has been a very good choice for people who use mobility aides or struggle with walking.

kristina
November 12, 2024 4:47 PM, "Wes Mills" <wesmills at wesmills.com (mailto:wesmills at wesmills.com?to=%22Wes%20Mills%22%20<wesmills at wesmills.com>)> wrote:
I made a couple more edits to the draft. Dave suggested a point about how the budget is already needing to scrape for funds, so I put this: "This does not appear to be a productive use of budget funds that the Council will need to balance against important needs."

Maybe we can get it ready for the TRU General Council meeting tonight after all :D

On Tue, Nov 12, 2024, at 13:14, Wes Mills wrote: 
Well, interview done, I hope I didn’t embarrass TRU too badly :D

I stuck with what was in the letter, that we’ve already spent the money on this infrastructure so TRU believes the city should be working to expand and improve the streetcar system instead of taking it back out. Amazon’s going back to the office and we can make investments to make the streetcar more reliable.

He asked about the initial reactions from some people that spending money on buses would be better. My reply was that this usually happens when we are talking about fixed-guideway systems like rail, that “oh, well that’s expensive, maybe we should just do a bus.” But we’ve already built this, we know how to make a useful streetcar (First Hill), and the CCC would greatly improve both routes.

(Oh and that if we just really can’t keep the South Lake Union one, then we should spend the “unused” money on extending First Hill to the ferry terminal.)

On Tue, Nov 12, 2024, at 12:16, Katie Wilson wrote:
Wes I think in the interest of time I will go ahead and connect you with the reporter.
On Nov 12, 2024, at 11:57 AM, Wes Mills <wesmills at wesmills.com (mailto:wesmills at wesmills.com)> wrote:

If no one else wants in, I can do it. I’m free from 1-4:30 for a Zoom or can meet at Seattle Central before class at 6.On Tue, Nov 12, 2024, at 11:45, Katie Wilson wrote:
I think this is great, Wes. And, this media request just came in from KUOW. Anyone want to do it? TRU has taken positions in favor of the CCC in the past so I would feel comfortable with someone basically expressing what’s in the draft letter on behalf of TRU.

—————————
Hi Katie,I'm working on a story today about Councilmember Saka's proposal to defund the South Lake Union street car.Sorry to ask the same day as your JumpStart presser but any chance someone could chat about the street car?This would be pre-taped, not live. I can meet anywhere in-person or on zoom.My questions:- what do you think about South Lake Union losing the street car?- where should the money go instead?Thanks so much,Casey
On Nov 12, 2024, at 11:10 AM, Wes Mills <wesmills at wesmills.com (mailto:wesmills at wesmills.com)> wrote:

I gave it a shot, here’s a draft (before noon! I must be incensed, lol): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dozBRRaULyh73lacuDyskh-oppT4oX1H8hkrURUM_ss/edit?usp=sharing (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dozBRRaULyh73lacuDyskh-oppT4oX1H8hkrURUM_ss/edit?usp=sharing)It’s open for comments on the doc; let me know if anyone wants direct edit permissions.On Tue, Nov 12, 2024, at 07:50, Katie Wilson wrote:
We have a General Council meeting tonight at 6pm, so if you happened to be able to draft something by then, we could consider and make a time-sensitive decision. (We can also do that by email later this week if necessary.) That way it could come officially from TRU.
On Nov 12, 2024, at 7:08 AM, Jo Claxton <msjoclaxton at gmail.com (mailto:msjoclaxton at gmail.com)> wrote:

Thanks Wes. I agree, a letter would be great, and what you have looks really good.Here is something if you want to include for the bus lanes portion, feel free to change to fit in with what you have...
"To meet our city's 2030 climate goals we need to add bus lanes as much as possible for multiple routes, and as soon as possible without delay. Unnecessary reports will cause delays.When car drivers see buses stuck in the same traffic they are, why would they consider taking public transit? Buses that are regular and on time, will convert car drivers into transit riders."

On Mon, Nov 11, 2024, 10:29 PM Wes Mills <wesmills at wesmills.com (mailto:wesmills at wesmills.com)> wrote:
A bunch of new budget provisos just dropped today, largely reported on by Ryan Packer. The big ones:

- Councilmember Saka proposes to “thoughtfully retire” the South Lake Union Streetcar: https://bsky.app/profile/typewriteralley.bsky.social/post/3lapi7aojyk2c (https://bsky.app/profile/typewriteralley.bsky.social/post/3lapi7aojyk2c)

- Also Councilmember Saka, proposing that the 1st Ave Streetcar (Center/Culture City Connector), be officially canceled: https://bsky.app/profile/typewriteralley.bsky.social/post/3laplvfgr4c2b (https://bsky.app/profile/typewriteralley.bsky.social/post/3laplvfgr4c2b)

- Councilmember Nelson proposing to require SDOT to generate a report on “specific criteria” used when considering adding bus-only lanes (and SDOT’s “mobility priorities for bus-only lanes given current commuting patterns in a post-pandemic environment”): https://bsky.app/profile/typewriteralley.bsky.social/post/3lapm2tdke22b (https://bsky.app/profile/typewriteralley.bsky.social/post/3lapm2tdke22b)

I think this is worth a letter from TRU, or TRU BATS if we need to have a member vote to send a letter as the entire org. (We won’t make it to the next member meeting before the budget is finalized; they’re on the same day.)

I can write the draft and send it out for comments tomorrow or Wednesday?

Rough proposal for what I think we should say: The South Lake Union Streetcar and Culture City Connector are a pair and both should be retained, and the CCC should be built. 1st Ave has gone without transit service for long enough, and while we know Metro may be considering a bus again for 1st, that’s only because the CCC has been stalled for so long. The First Hill Streetcar was billed as eventually being connected to SLU and the mobility improvements would be immense because reserved corridors for transit are the best way to deliver transit. Alternatively, if both of these streetcars must be removed, the Council should add that the First Hill Streetcar be planned for extension to, at a minimum, the ferry terminal.

And speaking of reserved corridors for transit, bus-only lanes improve throughput, reliability, and consistent behavior. Instead of pushing SDOT to use valuable staff time on a report, we’d like to see the council ask SDOT to expand the use of bus-only lanes, particularly in dense neighborhoods like Ballard, Fremont, Capitol Hill, the Central District, and more.
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