Three new community leaders have been appointed to Metro’s Transportation Policy Alternatives Committee.
The 15-member committee reviews regional plans and federally funded transportation projects across the tri-county Portland area. Its community representatives bring various areas of interest and expertise to the regional transportation conversation. Nine committee members are appointed by area jurisdictions, and six are at-large community members.
Patricia Kepler joins to bring the voice of those with disabilities. Legally blind herself, Kepler is also involved with the Oregon Disabilities Commission, the Oregon Commission for the Blind and TriMet’s Committee on Accessible Transportation and works as an independent living specialist with Independent Living Resources, which is an advocacy organization for people with disabilities.
“I am a person with a disability so I’m very dependent on public transportation to get where I need to go,” Kepler said.
“It’s very easy for engineers to put these plans together and think about the ideal city and the ideal physically fit person,” she said. “But we just need to keep in mind that all users aren’t athletes.”
Another big issue, she said, is taking into consideration the wide range of disabilities people have.
“When it comes to disability access,” Kepler said, “people think ‘ramps’ and it’s done.”
There are other types of accessibility challenges, she said. “I need signage, either brail or audible tactile cues.”
Kepler said she intends to shed light on the many types of accessibility needs.
Charity Fain is the executive director at Community Energy Project, a Portland-based nonprofit that works to empower people through addressing their homes, making them more environmentally friendly and safe. She is involved in many community groups and serves as the chair of the Multnomah County Healthy Homes Coalition.
Fain said in her job she works with communities of low-income, color, and seniors and she often works in their homes and gets to hear what they have to say concerning how they get around and balance available resources.
“We’re seeing a lot of issues with displacement from inner Portland to outer Portland,” she said. “People are moving outward to save money, but then the transportation costs are higher.”
She said her main goal is to bring the interests of the communities she works with to the table.
“I feel like there are really good connections to be made between these communities and policy makers,” Fain said.
Heidi Guenin is the executive director of the Sustainable Transportation Council, which focuses on improving performance of transportation plans and projects. She participates in transportation-related groups in the region and state and volunteers with the Center for Intercultural Organizing and New Avenues for Youth.
Guenin is also involved in groups focused on housing, poverty, homelessness, social justice and economic development.
“I work in a few intersections,” she said. “Because there are no specific-interest area seats, I can bring those perspectives.”
Guenin feels her involvements have given her an informed opinion of what the community’s values are, and says now she’d like to see those values paired with practical implementation.
In TPAC, she wants to bring it together. “We’ll be listening to community members and policy makers to create a shared framework,” she said.