Ideas for the future of transportation in the Portland region came in quickly last week as community leaders provided feedback on six proposals for Metro's efforts to curb tailpipe emissions in the Portland region. Those ideas came at two workshops used to gather perspectives on transportation in order to shape the region's preferred approach for reducing greenhouse gases.
About 20 leaders from various sectors, including the business community, public health, environmental justice and equity came together to discuss how the region should invest in transportation in order to meet the state mandate for greenhouse gas emissions. This mandate, created by the Legislature in 2009, requires that the Portland area reduce tailpipe gas emissions from 2005 levels by 20 percent by the year 2035.
Metro's look at how to meet the mandate is called the Climate Smart Communities Scenarios Project.
Community leaders at one forum, held last week in Metro Council chambers, said that they do not want this greenhouse gas reduction to come at the expense of a sense of place.
"We want connectivity (in transportation), but not if it comes at the expense of the environment," said Mike Houck, executive director of the Urban Greenspaces Institute.
Metro Councilor Bob Stacey agreed.
"We're trying to reduce greenhouse gas from transit and improve quality of life in communities," Stacey said.
Stacey addressed the community leaders to open the first meeting and asked them to take a critical look at the proposals under consideration.
"We don't quite know what choices to make," he said. "We want to learn from you how to weigh these different options."
Feedback from these community leaders will be given to the Metro advisory boards Metro Policy Advisory Committee and Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation. Both committees are scheduled to present their recommendations to the Metro Council this spring and a final adopted approach could be submitted to the Oregon Land Conservation and Development Commission next January.
Sylvia Cibrorwski, project manager for JLA Public Involvement, set the stage for the workshops by explaining some of the big takeaways from stakeholder interviews. These lessons included a need for better regional connectivity, improving roads and the safety of walking and biking. However, public transportation was the most popular topic.
"Transit was seen as they highest priority of everyone we talked to," Cibrorwski said.
Community leaders broke up into small groups to discuss the scenarios. The discussions were fast-paced with people agreeing with ideas or raising issues and concerns. There was little in-depth discussion, but instead the session acted as more of a brainstorming exercise.
The groups brought up tough topics like: the need to change the perceived safety of walking and biking before participation rates will increase; how to create a parking policy that works for different regions and neighborhoods; and, the possibility that it may be more likely to increase the rate of walking and biking for pleasure or shopping but not for commuting purposes.
One consistent issue was how important the implementation process was. Participants felt that in order to effectively serve low-income residents and minority groups how the project is implemented would be important. The second workshop was entirely focused on implementation.
"How this is implemented is important and there will be a follow up meeting about how best to do that," Jeanne Lawson, principal of JLA Public Involvement, said during the first workshop.
The forum was part of a broader effort to get feedback on the tailpipe emission reduction project, an effort that includes a major public involvement effort by Metro. The regional government posted a survey, and has scheduled community forums in Portland, Milwaukie and Beaverton this month.