[Transit] Fwd: [URGENT] Existential Threat to Route 40 Transit Plus Project Via Budget Amendments

[Wes Mills]

They just won’t knock it off...

I’m in favor of the mass email idea.  I don’t think trying to “back room deal” this is going to work out for us for this sort of thing, especially since the “deal” is how our opponents got the changes proposed.

Can we do anything else?  More flyering?  Is someone free on that Tuesday to come to the public hearing?  I have class on Tuesday that I can’t miss or I’d 100% volunteer to slap on my TRU shirt and go.

On Wed, Oct 30, 2024, at 21:31, Katie Wilson wrote:
> Fyi:
> 
>> Begin forwarded message:
>> 
>> *From: *Reed Hampton <ballardbybike at gmail.com>
>> *Subject: **[URGENT] Existential Threat to Route 40 Transit Plus Project Via Budget Amendments*
>> *Date: *October 30, 2024 at 8:44:45 PM PDT
>> *To: *Gordon Padelford <gordon at seattlegreenways.org>, Katie Wilson <katie at transitriders.org>, bfg-policy at googlegroups.com, Clara Cantor <clara at seattlegreenways.org>
>> 
>> All,
>> 
>> I hope each of you is doing well. I am reaching out with an *urgent request for assistance*. Today (*10/30/2024*), I received a tip from a *very credible source* of an existential threat to the Route 40 Transit Plus Multimodal Corridor <https://www.seattle.gov/transportation/projects-and-programs/programs/transit-program/transit-plus-multimodal-corridor-program/route-40---transit-plus>. As I am sure you all know, we are in the middle of the City of Seattle Budget Season where City Council Members will get to add amendments to the Balancing Package proposed by Council Member Strauss today. One of those amendments could be a *proviso* of funds which can be used to withhold funding from a specific project until certain criteria are met, or indefinitely.
>> 
>> *The tip I received today, is that Council Member Nelson intends to submit an amendment at the last minute to proviso away the funds SDOT has for the PAINT for the bus-only-lanes for the Route 40 Transit Plus Multi-Modal Corridor*.
>> 
>> Not only is this a legal thing she could do, but these bus-only lanes are also the aspect of this project the opposition (*read Mike Stewart and Pete Hanning*) have wanted to kill the most. This presents us with some unique challenges, mainly that the budget timeline is as follows:
>>  • *Friday, November 1:* Deadline for other councilmembers to propose amendments to the Chair's Balancing Package
>>  • *November 12:* Final public hearing on the City's budget starting at 5 PM.
>>  • *November 13-15:* Council votes on budget amendments
>>  • *November 19:* Budget Committee takes final votes
>>  • *November 21:* Final vote of the full Council on the budget
>> This would give us *2 days* until the amendment would be live and only *13 days* until the final public hearing. With this in mind, I can think of really only 2 potential paths forward which I have enumerated below, *but I would greatly appreciate your guidance and thoughts here on the best path forward:*
>>  1. *"Frontal Attack"*
>>    • This approach has, in my opinion, the highest chance of succeeding. It involves a new email campaign blasting the amendment, public comments, using Council Member Office Hours, and every other public forum to kill the amendment including leaking this to the Urbanist
>>      • This would require a new ActionNetwork (@Clara Cantor <mailto:clara at seattlegreenways.org>*?*), the email list from the previous ActionNetwork (@Katie Wilson <mailto:katie at transitriders.org>) and help across the board organizing volunteers
>>  2. *"Back Room Deals"*
>>    • In this approach we try and play their game by meeting with Council Members and applying pressure behind the scenes to get enough votes to kill the amendment
>>      • We would need 5, I am confident Strauss and Morales would be no's, but we would need 3 more (*Cathy Moore, Hollingsworth, and Rivera being imo the most persuadable here)*
>> Realistically, we will be limited in what we can do by available volunteer hours and the short time frame we have to respond here. I would greatly appreciate your thoughts *as soon as possible* so we are able to hit the ground running as soon as this amendment is announced on Friday, November 1st.
>> 
>> Best,
>> Reed Hampton
> 
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