NEWS
B Y TO N Y C O R C O R A N
TRANSPORTATION
TOUR
A
legislative committee came to Lane County July
20 to hear from ordinary Oregonians about their
daily transportation needs. Whether you drive a
car, ride the bus, bicycle, walk, use a mobility de-
vice, telecommute or a combination of the above,
what’s your story? What problems do you experience getting
from place to place? What transportation investments would
make it better?
The Oregon Legislature sent its Joint Interim Commit-
tee On Transportation Preservation and Modernization on a
field trip to Eugene last week to meet with the Lane Area
Commission on Transportation (LACT) and local business-
es. In the evening, the committee held a legislative hearing
with more than 100 people in attendance, more than a third
of whom testified before the committee.
The 14-member joint legislative committee is touring the
state, meeting with local business and political leaders who
are developing regional transportation priorities. LACT, cre-
ated by the 2009 Legislature, has approximately 30 voting
members, including local elected officials and business lead-
ers.
The committee, co-chaired by Springfield Sen. Lee Bey-
er, is in the middle of a 10-stop statewide field trip. LACT is
chaired by Lane County Commissioner Sid Leiken.
The meeting began with a welcome from Oregon Trans-
portation Commissioners David Lohman and Susan Mor-
gan, followed by an afternoon LTD bus tour of local trans-
portation resources ranging from the Eugene Amtrak Depot
10
July 28, 2016 • eugeneweekly.com
to Mark Frohnmayer’s Arcimoto electric vehicles, highway
projects and the EmX, concluding with the public hearing
at the UO.
Senate President Peter Courtney and House Speaker Tina
Kotek promoted this tour after the Legislature’s failure to
come up with a statewide transportation funding plan during
the 2015 regular session.
That failure led to the loss of some federal transporta-
tion money because Oregon did not provide the matching
funds for these large infrastructure projects. The presiding
officers recognized that the traditional approach — get the
right folks in a room to hammer out a deal — did not work
in 2015. Participants could be supportive of a package dur-
ing the negotiation and then go out and criticize it in public.
With the current hard political divides, Democrats under-
stand Republican fears that any Republicans supporting a
transportation package including a tax increase would likely
face a Tea Party conservative in the next primary. The media
also objected to the “closed door” nature of those session
meetings as legislators, lobbyists and the governor’s office
tried to hammer out a deal.
The tour has two goals. First, infrastructure and transpor-
tation projects are often contentious — e.g., the EmX, our
bus rapid transit system — and it’s important for the legisla-
tors to hear local discussion and disagreement. Clearly there
is no consensus on these projects, even within regional com-
missions. Second, when the Legislature again tries to create
a statewide transportation package in 2017, that plan will
have to belong to everyone. Buy-in from local leaders, local
businesses and local citizens is critical to its success.
The tour is a fact-finding mission. At this stage, the pre-
siding officers are asking the committee to gauge need and
support. The hope is the package will be large enough to
meaningfully address the needs that are out there but also be
within Oregonians’ comfort level.
Kotek and Courtney did not want the committee to go in
with too many preconceived ideas. Gov. Kate Brown has her
own ideas and team of advisors working on a 2017 transpor-
tation package, and while Brown is cooperating with the leg-
islative leaders, she apparently doesn’t plan on any concrete
proposal prior to the November election.
Beyer described the public testimony he had received at
the previous meetings in Marion County and Eastern Or-
egon as generally supportive of an increase in the gas tax.
“That’s not really surprising,” Beyer said. “After all, each
town, or city or county has its transportation projects.”
Beyer pointed out that several conservative county com-
missioners across the state indicated support for a gas tax
increase, including Lane County’s Jay Bozievich.
George Grier from Springfield, a longtime LACT and
Lane County Farm Bureau member, spoke to the legislators
of the need for a state transportation package that includes
both rural and urban issues as we move ahead in a state with
growing agricultural transportation challenges and a grow-
ing population.
Rob Zako of the nonprofit Better Eugene-Springfield
Transit stressed two themes in his testimony: equity and
accountability. He says his organization feels that all Lane
County residents, regardless of age, income or physical abil-
ity, have a right to adequate options to access what our com-
munities and state offer.
Currently in Lane County, many poor, disabled and el-
derly citizens struggle daily to get to work, school, grocery
stores, medical appointments and other important locations
around the area.
As to accountability, Zako argued that Oregonians don’t
like to write blank checks: “ODOT is too opaque and has
skimmed by on too many boondoggles for Oregonians to
be excited about a blanket gas tax increase. We need to re-
form ODOT to make the organization transparent in what
is funded and what benefits Oregonians receive for such
funding.”