What's Our Transportation Future? Nov 13th
Reminder : This event is tomorrow.
We know how much you like to talk about transportation. Can you join us next week? The following invitation came to us via our friends at Transportation Choices:
As we plan for the future of our transportation system, Tacoma and the South Sound face many tough decisions.
How do parking policies affect the city’s goal to activate the streets with people and commerce? How do we extend the Tacoma Streetcar system? How do we reshape Pierce Transit’s bus system? How does the City best connect regionally? How can we plan for a multimodal future?
To get at these answers and more, The Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, the City of Tacoma, Transportation Choices Coalition, Cross District Association, Tacoma Wheelmen, and others will host a brown bag lunch and interactive discussion with Tacoma’s transportation policy-makers, including:
Eric Anderson, City Manager, City of Tacoma
Lynn Griffith, CEO, Pierce Transit
Ric Ilgenfritz, Planning Director, Sound Transit
David Hiller, Advocacy Director, Cascade Bicycle Club
Open to all—bring your lunch and your questions! What do you want to know?
Details
Friday, Nov. 13th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Simpson Room
Tacoma Chamber
950 Pacific Ave.
Filed under: Events, General
6 comments
T Tacoma1 November 14, 2009
Did anyone make it to this today? Any feedback?
S Sarah Snow November 14, 2009
I’d love to hear how it went. My feedback- I live in Tacoma and work in Olympia, so a noon meeting in Tacoma is impossible. In my wildest dreams, I want Thurston County to join ST and improve the bus service from Tacoma to Olympia. Ok, really my wildest dream is a commuter train to Olympia, but I’m fine with starting with a bus that takes less than 50 minutes and has ample seating and good lighting!
D dolly varden November 14, 2009
I totally agree that Thurston should join Sound Transit. In addition to Sarah’s good points, it would place Tacoma in the middle of ST’s range rather than on the periphery. That would result in good things…
T Tacoma1 November 14, 2009
Thurston County joining ST is a great idea. I wonder what the Thurston County masses would think. They would of course have to vote to join (and tax themselves). By having Thurston County in the fold, it could bring up rural Pierce County’s support of ST too. Currently, Fort Lewis, Yelm and Dupont have to commute a bit to use the ST services.
As far as extending Sounder to Olympia, I don’t know if ST has cost or ridership estimates available. It would be interesting to know what the numbers are. ST’s long range plans according to their website only goes as far as Dupont. If Thurston county did enter the RTA zone, I can imagine that a stop at Dupont, Martin Way, Lacey, and one or two stops in Olympia could serve enough people to be worthwhile. In addition, by connecting the State Capitol via commuter rail to T-Town, it just might provide us a little bit of prestige too.
S Sarah Snow November 15, 2009
I believe that in 1996 (or whenever ST got off the ground) the good folks of the Thurston County Council decided not to put it on the ballot- either that, or they did, and it got voted down. It is hard to imagine their voters voting to join it now, but again, it’s a nice dream. Sometimes I wish things were a little less democratic, or possibly that our elected leaders had a little more gumption!
I know there are quite a few state workers who make the commute south from Tacoma or Lakewood, and there are even folks who drive down from Seattle. I don’t know if it is enough to pencil out for ST, but in my mind, if they build it, it would take a lot of pressure off the I-5 corridor as our region grows, and would give state workers more options of where to live.
C Carla A. Gramlich November 15, 2009
There was a full house, around 60 people that attended this noon meeting. Glad to hear discussions that include other means of transportation besides cars. Lots of things can be done but money will be the roadblock for the next couple of years.