Shockingly enough, we are just now hearing about a little shindig that Futurewise and Transportation Choices Coalition (TCC) are throwing tomorrow, Sat., Feb. 14, from 2 to 3:30 pm at the Rainier Vista Center’s WAMU Room (4410 29th Avenue South) where, according to TCC’s Director of Education and Outreach Shefali Ranganathan:
We are excited to discuss the Transit Oriented Communities Bill HB 1490 with you and hear your ideas. We are looking forward to a productive discussion.
The agenda includes an overview of HB 1490, as well as a time for discussion and feedback, including addressing community ideas and concerns about the bill. Light refreshments will be provided.
Not so incidentally, at last night’s Othello Station Community Development Forum in NewHolly, Lyle Bicknell from Seattle’s Department of Planning and Development made it clear that the city is not cool being told what to do by state legislators in Olympia and does not support the bill.
“We believe that each neighborhood is unique and that planning should occur on a local level,” he said.
But Josh Feit over at Publicola isn’t feeling the city’s love:
Mayor Nickels office can be brilliant. Get this latest trick. They are siding with their longtime nemesis, low-income housing advocate, lesser-Seattle crusader, John Fox. Team Nickels sent a letter to State Rep. Sharon Nelson (D-34, West Seattle, Vashon) criticizing the bill she’s sponsoring that would mandate density around light rail transit hubs. Fox is leading the grass roots fight against the bill.
Here’s why Team Nickels is brilliant. Team “Development” Nickels actually fricking supports Nelson’s bill. Nickels is a huge fan of density and light rail. But the mayor realizes the bill may have been a political misstep because it reads like a top-down mandate from state bureaucrats that ignores local control, and so it plays into populist Fox’s hands. Indeed, Fox appears to have the momentum in this fight, scoring a victory this week when South Seattle’s 37th District Democrats came out against the bill.
Team Nickels’ clever ploy? 1) Halt the bill so density doesn’t look like a Maoist program from state planners. 2) Make nice with John Fox and the neighbors, so it looks like they’re doing what Rep. Nelson didn’t do (get neighborhood buy in). And then, 3) Up the density requirements around transit hubs themselves to 50 units per-acre—just like Nelson’s bill mandates. Read more here.
UPDATE (2/14 @ 8:30 am): TCC’s Director of Education and Outreach emailed The Post last night to clarify that the community really isn’t invited to today’s meeting. Instead, a select group of unnamed “community leaders” will be there to help Futurewise and TCC determine how to “work with the community to address concerns in the bill”.
Can’t make Saturday’s soiree? Learn more next week at Trains, Density & Change; A Workshop on HB 1490, to be held Wed., Feb. 18, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Langston Hughes Cultural Center Auditorium (104 17th Avenue South). I’m not sure, but something tells me the spin will be a little different than what you can expect tomorrow.
Related:
- Sally Clark lukewarm on TOD Bill (2/3/09)
- Will you be impacted by TOD? Check our maps (2/2/09)
- Futurewise says TOD good for environment (1/28/09)
Who to know, where to eat & what to do in one of America’s most diverse zip codes!
{ 12 comments }
I’m not going to defend the community meeting blunder. But please don’t fool yourselves about the City’s motives. They’ve been discussing similar zoning changes for a while. I think Josh Feit hit the nail on the head when he discusses the Mayor’s strategy on ths http://publicola.net/?p=1657.
Thanks for pointing that out, Gidge. I need to get out more…
Geez, maybe “Anonymous” is onto something?
Hoole, Trellis, Anonymous#2, Ratzby, where are you guys?
HB 1490 is a step in the wrong direction. It weakens community input in future planning and shifts more authority for planning to the state. Power over important planning decisions will be concentrated among a handful of politicians and those who have influence over those same politicians. That’s the definition of an Oligarchy. It’s the opposite of Democracy.
HB 1490 reinforces the elitist attitude that those with power and influence are best able to decide the fate of the poor and ignorant masses.
If you support HB 1490 then you really don’t understand the scope of the proposed legislation and the rights you are surrendering. Once those rights are gone it’s unlikely you’ll ever get them back.
This is how it is done constantly; no doubt this is a meeting that only the yes people were told about. They’ll have the yes crowd to tell them what they want to do is the right thing and then they’ll have their mandate even though of course they did not ask you….
Can’t even get to the subject because you first have to fight the process…
“Denise” said:
“Can’t even get to the subject because you first have to fight the process…”
Your words bear repeating. Thanks, Denise.
I attended a meeting at which a city official boasted about the new city buzzword: “Transparency”. Seriously, I’m not making that up.
Remember Ronald Reagan? He called anti-ballistic missiles “Peace-keepers”.
At today’s meeting “Light refreshments will be provided”.
WARNING: DON’T DRINK THE KOOL-AID!
What is the State’s business and what is our business — and we can’t ever let ourselves take our eyes off that — is one aspect.
Just because cities object to the number does not mean they are seeing it from our perspective.
Here is something a person outside of Seattle brought up to me: This bill will INCREASE sprawl. That’s how badly written it is.
Transit Station is so badly defined that a jurisdiction could choose to build a low income mini suburb around a bus ‘transit station’ out beyond where development is now constrained by what is called concurrency – the part of GMA that constrains growth. That kind of thing will surely fly in places like Spokane. Get rid of the ugly trailer parks and stick them out of town.
BYW – Seattle already HAS TOD zoning code. You folks doing the planning now are already doing it.
The real issue in my mind is bullies, and bullies always get together with big money and big money always has a stranglehold on politicians.
“Anonymous” is too smart! HB 1490 is all about power (and bullies). You’re on the right track. Thanks for sharing your perspective.
We should not offer blind trust to our government. Government is supposed to be ‘for’ the people and ‘by’ the people, not for the wealthy elite by the special interest lobbyists.
It’s not paranoia but reality. If only you knew what I know…
Here is some info.
SB 5687 (partner bill to HB 1490) has its first Senate Committee on Government Operations & Elections Public Hearing scheduled on Thursday, February 19 at 3:30PM for in person, likely live on TVW or available online afterwards at http://www.tvw.org
Sponsors include Adam Kline of the 37th and Joe McDermott of the 34th.
You can find the agenda and committee members names here: http://www.leg.wa.gov/Senate/Committees/GO/
The home page for SB5697 is: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=5687&year=2009
HB 1490 is scheduled for and Executive Session discussion in the House Local Government and Housing Committee on Monday, February 16 at 1:30PM. There might be changes to the bill, so check back with the bill’s home page to see if there is an amended version.
Sponsors include Sharon Nelson from the 34th.
You can find the agenda and committee members names here: http://leg.wa.gov/House/Committees/LGH/
The home page for the bill with the history of public hearings is: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?year=2009&bill=1490
You can go to http://www.tvw.org and into the Archives, Audio Visual Archives, then scroll down to the House Committees, Local Government and Housing area to view the public hearings.
History of this bill, where it comes from and who really agreed to it:
Scroll down to the Section titled, ‘Land Use & Climate Change Advisory Committee’ on: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/climatechange/growthmgt.htm and look especially at the attendance rosters the meeting summaries and the (lack of) quality and depth of the briefing materials.
@anon 12:15 AM
Enjoying a little v-day dinner downtown, etc., where you at?
@anon 12:15 AM
I missed all the fun, too. Garden bed prep, Hopper exhibit at SAM, and way too big a bag of Market Spice tea. Tripe and tendons in there somewhere, hombow, pork-on-a-stick.
Maybe tomorrow is a better day to realize the sky is falling, because I could use a nap about now.
(Anonymous#2 doesn’t live here any more, Mrs. Torrence.)
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