E285 – Chris Smith & Rob Sadowsky: Public Process Needs You!



Chris Smith is a tireless advocate for the public process and works for positive change in active transportation policy.  He describes himself as a citizen activistand is a member of the Portland Planning and Sustainability Commission.  Rob Sadowsky is the executive director of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance.  Steph Routh is the former executive director of Oregon Walks and currently helms theWhy Isn’t Anyone Talking About This? podcast.

Important plans are being laid for the future of Portland, Oregon’s transportation options.  Chris asked to share how everyone can be involved in the process!  There are three different but closely related planning projects that affect cycling and transportation in Portland:

1: The Comprehensive Plan, at City Council now. Contains key policies (i.e., green transportation hierarchy) and the Transportation System Plan project list identifying spending priorities for the next 20 years. The next public testimony opportunity (intended to focus on amendments proposed by City Council are) :

Comprehensive Plan Hearing on Amendments
City Hall Council Chambers 1221 SW 4th Ave
Thursday, April 14 2016, 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM

2) Transportation System Plan (TSP)  Contains additional transportation policies and in particular, integrates the bicycle classifications from the Bicycle Master Plan into the TSP for the first time.  There are two hearings coming up at the Planning and Sustainability Commission on the TSP in March:

PSC Hearing on TSP
Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, 2500 SW 4th Ave
Tuesday, March 8th (meeting as 12:30pm, agenda item time TBD)

PSC Hearing on TSP
Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, 2500 SW 4th Ave
Tuesday, March 22th (meeting as 5pm, agenda item time TBD)

3) Central City Plan (CC2035)  Just to make life interesting, the street classifications (including bicycle classifications) for the Central City are not in the TSP, they’re in the Central City Plan, which is following in the process a bit (it will be the first amendment to the Comp Plan).

This plan integrates the three (we can’t count) Quadrant Plans developed over the last few years into one unified plan for the Central City. Staff has just released the discussion draft and there are a number of open houses and drop-in events coming up.

Other useful links:
Comp Plan  Map App
Comp Plan Map App Explorer (lets you layer multiple maps on top of each other):
(you’ll want to look at both the ‘Transportation Proposals’ and the ‘Reference Layers’)

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