♪♪
-Good morning, everybody.
-Good morning. -All right.
We got some beautiful weather here.
I'm Greg Spotts,
Director of Seattle Department of Transportation.
And we're really excited to be here
to announce the mayor's plan for the new transportation levy.
We all got together four weeks ago in Rainier Beach
and we announced the mayor's
Draft Transportation Levy Proposal for Public Comment.
And we've had a month of extensive public dialogue
with all sorts of stakeholders
about the $1.35 billion worth of investments in our street system
that the mayor proposed.
And if I were to summarize what we heard in all these dialogues,
I could just put it into two words: yes, and.
We heard from people loud and clear
from all walks of life in Seattle.
Yes, we want to make a big-time investment in maintaining
and modernizing our streets and bridges.
And we heard a lot of great ideas on
how we can make the package even better.
A few other exciting developments
that happened in April. In April,
the Seattle City Council unanimously adopted
the Seattle Transportation Plan,
establishing a 20-year framework for investments
in our transportation system.
Thank you, Mayor, for your leadership on that plan.
That means that we have broad political consensus around
the core ideas that informed the mayor's levy proposal.
Also, in the last month,
we've had two groundbreakings of levy-funded projects
under the current Levy to Move Seattle.
So far in 2024, we've doubled the pace of construction starts.
It was one a month the past two years.
Now we're at two a month.
We've done eight construction starts in four months
and we're going to keep going at that pace
or even faster as we finish strong on the existing levy.
So, at this point,
I'd love to pass it to Mayor Bruce Harrell
to tell you about the additional investments
in the revised package.
-Thank you, Director Spotts.
Thank you.
In addition to Director Spotts for his leadership and the SDOT,
quite candidly, there are so many people to thank,
I'm not sure where to start.
Thank you for being here this afternoon,
but most importantly for the last year
and in the last -- intense last month.
Thank you for so many folks that care about transportation,
safety and maintenance in this great city of ours.
This is one of the few times
where I'm not sure where to start.
This is such a broad
and diverse coalition of leaders and advocates
representing neighborhoods and communities,
businesses and workers, climate warriors and activists,
equity advocates, disability advocates.
Truly, Seattle at its best.
And when I say "Seattle at its best," this is a great day.
Look at it.
And let me just address one thing
before I go into the further substance
of what this exciting news we're going to announce.
Chris, you look really cool sitting there right now.
You look so cool you're almost distracting.
Our focus from day one on the levy process
was to create a package
that invests in the essential needs of our communities
and creates a safe and welcome
and reliable transportation system.
It's to build a consensus across communities
that historically could be at odds with one another,
thinking about their priorities
should be in front of another particular advocacy group.
That's not a One Seattle approach on
how we approach transportation.
I'm very proud of the Seattle Department of Transportation
on calibrating the need for an investment strategy
that listens to everybody. We know there's still work
to do to fulfill our vision for Seattle's
transportation systems. Bridges we all can depend upon.
Buses carrying students and workers
get slowed down by traffic.
We know that our sidewalks are buckled and need repairs
to be safe and accessible.
We know that our streets have potholes
that slows down everyone regardless as to your mode
of transportation.
Fortunately, we have some amazing work at hand.
Director Spotts talked about the pace
by which we are spinning our Move Seattle dollars.
More RapidRide bus services coming in neighborhoods.
Community support for investing in a safe,
reliable and connected Seattle has never been higher.
So, since we announced our draft proposal,
Director Spotts and our SDOT Levy Team and my staff
and I've been actively engaging
with community groups and city boards and commissions
and most importantly leading by listening.
We've used public polling in depth, briefings,
multicultural media, roundtables in City Hall
to learn exactly what this city wants.
We engaged with over 60 organizations
through four mayor roundtable events,
conducted over 850 conversations with the public
at nine tabling events.
We had close to 2,000 community questionnaires completed.
We are aggressively staying aligned with what people want.
So, today's updated levy proposal is a reflection
of those conversations in this listening exercise,
balancing essential needs and affordability.
And now we are proud to announce
that we will allocate an additional $100 million
to fund priorities raised by our neighbors,
bringing our final proposal
that we will introduce to the City Council to $1.45 billion.
This is big thinking.
Let me talk a little bit about the composition of the $1.45.
$221 million to keep Seattle bridges
in a reliable working condition.
We're adding $3 million to expand bridge preservation
so bridges are well maintained.
And that's -- and we're not subtle
when we're right here looking at a few bridges,
we're not trying to be subtle. $162 million
to make Vision Zero safety improvements
to streets and sidewalks and intersections and crossings
to reduce traffic collisions.
Adding $41 million to fund neighborhood-initiated projects
and $14 million to address emergent community concerns.
$145 million to connect people safely to transit hubs.
We realized that we still are in a city
where people are hungry for good transit.
This includes Link light rail stations and bus stops,
which includes a $23 million addition
to improve transit reliability and safety reflecting this --
again, this region's love for transit.
Yes. $135 million to build and repair sidewalks.
And we've heard that the pace --
we're building sidewalks and we've heard about the pace
and making sidewalk repairs was not enough.
So, we're accelerating sidewalk construction
with a surge to build 250 blocks in four years
and establishing a task force for innovative approaches.
Now, this will double -- yes.
This doubles our sidewalk construction pace with the levy,
accompanied by an additional $26 million
for pedestrian safety.
$114 million to expand our protected bike lane network
and connect schools to bike paths.
We've spoke to bike safety groups,
we're very happy that many have joined us today
about the challenge of filling in gaps in the network and goals
around bike -- safe biking in the south end in particular
and added a $20 million investment,
increased it to $20 million more to our Safe Bikeways programs.
$66 million to activate public spaces and improve lighting
so people can feel comfortable walking in their neighborhoods.
This adds $11 million to enhance lighting around transit stops
and to create inviting places in our business districts.
Again, we talk a lot about transit
because we realize the importance
and the hunger for a good transit system here in our city.
$59 million
to make direct investments in addressing climate change,
adding $10 million more for EV charging stations
and low-pollution neighborhoods.
And we're very -- I want to thank the advocates that,
again, everything we talk about is, again,
not just for our next generation of people,
but for our planet and our air and our water.
So, we think these are wise investments
that we're very proud of.
I'm confident that SDOT and the City working together
are capable of delivering and making progress.
Our proactive planning is supported by a unified vision
among residents and businesses for a safe,
reliable and interconnected city,
emphasizing and epitomizing the essence
of a One Seattle planning effort.
If there's one thing we should be proud of
is we're not perfect,
but we strive to listen to groups.
You can't -- if I've learned one thing,
one lesson in politics is,
I've been around the block a few times,
you just can't please everyone,
but you could try to listen to everyone
and try to calibrate a package
that makes good sense centered around our needs for safety.
And what -- that's what we think we are achieving with this.
With this levy,
we can make more progress toward our community goals
and our approach and our regional challenges with the --
again, our One Signature approach.
As I relinquish the microphone,
I want to end with how I started.
Thank you.
This is not a victory lap for our administration.
And we're going to propose something to the City Council
and then the work begins, the campaign begins.
But the advocates,
you're advocating for something for other people,
for the safety for the children,
for safety for people
that have challenges getting around our city.
Thank you for that advocacy.
And we hope this package meets the needs of 51% of the people.
No, I'm just joking.
Meets the needs of this great city
because we know they are hungry
for a great transportation system.
Thank you very much
and I'll turn it back over to Director Spotts.
-Thank you. Thank you so much, Mayor.
And before I introduce our next speaker,
I want to thank some of the core team been working on developing
and enhancing this proposal.
From the mayor's team, Deputy Mayor Adiam Emery.
Thank you, Adiam; Adonis Ducksworth and Chris Gregorich.
And the SDOT team, if you're from SDOT, raise your hand,
thank you guys so much.
People have been working seven days a week on that.
Executive sponsor of this effort
is Senior Deputy Director Francisca Stefan,
Project Leader Meghan Shepard
and then our team members Megan Hoyt, Emily Reardon,
Dan Anderson, Serena Lehman and Katie Olsen.
Our next speaker is a good friend of mine,
one of the people who really welcomed me
when I moved to Seattle.
And we've been on every mode of transportation together.
Right, Kirk? -Not paddle board yet.
-How did you get here?
-Not paddle board yet. -Not paddle board.
Let's canoe this summer.
How did you get here today, Kirk?
-I rode my bike to a light rail.
-Oh, nice.
If you rode your bike to get here, raise your hand.
That's awesome.
That's an awesome -- almost 10 folks.
We need like bike parking
next time at our transportation press conferences.
Kirk is one of Seattle's most passionate
and knowledgeable advocates for sustainable transportation,
and a great friend and advisor to all of us
in how to have an equitable system
that works for all people.
I'd like to introduce Kirk Hovenkotter,
Director of Transportation Choices Coalition.
-Thank you. Thank you, Greg. I'm blushing.
And thank you, Mayor Harrell. I'm Kirk Hovenkotter.
I'm the executive director
of Transportation Choices Coalition.
We are Washington State's nonprofit advocate for a safe,
equitable and sustainable transportation system.
Just over a month ago, I stood with the mayor
at the announcement of the draft levy proposal on a much,
much rainier, grayer day.
I was excited about that proposal,
but we knew that Seattle transit riders were
hungry for investment.
And if anyone was out in Bellevue and Redmond
this past Saturday for the Sound Transit 2 Line opening,
you can see that there is a passion, a palpable enthusiasm
for transit investment in our region.
People want to be able to make light rail
an everyday part of their lives
and they want to be able to get around Seattle
without even having to be dependent on a car.
Over the last month,
we shared what we heard from transit riders
on the proposal with mayor and staff.
We heard from transit riders who were frustrated
that their bus gets stuck in traffic.
We heard from residents in North Seattle and Judkins Park
who want a safe walk to the three new light rail stations
that are going to open in Seattle in the next three years.
And I believe that the mayor's
final proposal is the answer to those riders' calls.
We are thrilled that invest another $20 million
in priority transit investments that will speed up bus trips
and get riders out of traffic.
We know that transit trips start at everyone's front door.
We are excited
that the mayor invested an additional $26 million in
to fill key gaps in our sidewalk network
to connect people to light rail stops and our busiest bus stops.
This plan gets people rolling by investing another $20 million
in safe bike paths
and it answers our city's urgent need for safe places
for people to walk, bike and roll by committing a surge --
committing to a surge in sidewalk spending.
It moves forward by moving forward the spending
on sidewalks to the first four years of the levy.
And, by doing that,
it's going to make Seattle a national leader.
These are the investments
that Seattle transit riders have been waiting for.
I want to commend the mayor and the staff
for shaping this proposal. We feel heard.
We think this is the right investment
to make the city more affordable and accessible.
We know that these are popular investments.
They will benefit every single person in our city,
whether they walk, bike, ride,
take transit, drive or paddle board.
Seattle voters want a levy
that's ambitious about the basics.
And for a city that wants to lead in the 21st century,
the basics are safe walks to transit,
bus lanes that speed up buses,
active public spaces and protected bike lanes,
along with smooth roads and strong bridges.
We know that these investments will make Seattle safer
and are incredibly popular.
We think this is a great foundation
and we're excited to work with the council on finishing touches
and we look forward to working with them
to send it promptly to voters.
Thank you so much for your time and consideration.
[ Applause ]
Great job.
-Thank you so much, Kirk.
If we had a --
like a Puget Sound Region Hall of Fame
for transportation ballot initiatives,
our next speaker, Rachel Smith,
would be a member of that hall of fame.
Rachel, you've been part
of just about every transportation measure
for the last 15 years.
It's great to see that -- you know, Kirk currently runs TCC,
but you were a field director for TCC in 2006
and you've worked for King County and Sound Transit.
And now, in your current role leading our Chamber of Commerce,
you're really one of the great folks shaping an environment
where we can invest together in a growing and dynamic city.
So, I'm so happy to have you here today.
Let's hear it for Rachel Smith,
president and CEO
of Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.
[ Applause ]
-Well, good morning, everyone. My name is Rachel Smith,
president and CEO
of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.
And, as Greg was saying,
many of you know I spent many years in government.
In fact, I like to say that I'm recovering from government.
And transportation has always been my passion.
To me, it is both fundamental and transformational.
And that is why I am so excited to be here.
And I want to say thank you to Mayor Harrell
for his leadership
and for putting forward a transportation levy proposal
that incorporates feedback from employers, large and small,
from across the city.
Ooh, excuse me.
I also want to shoutout the SDOT staff
and the other city staff who have worked so hard on this
and who deal with many, many stakeholders,
all of whom are sure we are the best transportation planners
in the entire city.
The Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce
and our friends and partners
at the Downtown Seattle Association
have come to the table because a thriving,
equitable and inclusive regional economy, our mission,
is predicated on Seattleites being able to safely
and reliably get to work,
get to school and get back home to the families,
as well as enjoy the natural beauty and recreational
and cultural opportunities that surround us.
To us, this means five things.
One, fixing our roads and bridges.
Two, investing in safety.
Three, making our busiest transit routes more reliable
and making it easier to get to light rail,
as Kirk was talking about.
Four, prioritizing downtown Seattle.
And, five, doing the work equitably across the city.
The punch line is this, the levy is important,
the right stakeholder and voter priorities are reflected,
and we look forward to working with the Seattle City Council
as it considers the proposal.
Investing in transportation adds to our region's prosperity.
And prosperity is a good thing.
We just need to make sure everyone has access to it.
Thanks again to the mayor
and to the entire City team for the great work
putting this proposal together.
Thank you.
[ Applause ]
-Thank you so much.
Our next speaker, César García,
is one of the first people that took me for a walk in Seattle.
When I came here in September 2022,
I started a listening tour.
And our next two speakers, César and Anna,
both took me walking
or biking into my very first month on the job.
César, you took me to one of the last two
trailer park communities way up north
and introduced me to some kids
who are in a daycare playing on this tiny little porch
of the trailer and they have nowhere to play.
They're not even allowed -- people aren't allowed
to use the driveway of the trailer park to play.
And the parks are very far away
and you have to cross dangerous streets to get there.
And it was such a powerful awakening for me
about what we can do to make our streets and parks
more meaningful and useful for underserved communities.
César leads the Lake City Collective.
He's been a member of our SDOT Transportation Equity Workgroup.
We've done several projects up there together.
We just finished the Little Brook's Sidewalk Project.
And we thank you so much for your great efforts
on behalf of Lake City.
Come on up, César.
[ Applause ]
-Good morning.
It's an honor to be here speaking in front of you
and I appreciate the invitation to be part of this
in a beautiful park.
We have also in the house
we have our park superintendent, AP Diaz, here.
Thank you for being a great host.
I'm also standing here in memory of community members
like Maria Banda, who died from injuries sustained
from a hit and run driver
who is still driving in our community free.
And our current levy actually funded a stoplight
and improvements around that intersection...
[ Air horn blows ] [ Chuckles ]
...that will prevent... [ Air horn blows ]
...any injuries like that in the future,
any fatalities in the future.
So, that's an example of what the levy can do
for our communities.
To give you a little bit of a background,
I'm going to try to be very quick,
but, before we started Lake City Collective, my wife,
who is a co-director and co-founder
of Lake City Collective,
she started advocating for a safer crosswalk in our street
where families from different backgrounds,
our neighbors, needed to risk getting to the park or school.
It took a couple of years,
but a marked crosswalk with a flashing beacon
is now there as a testament of what community advocacy can do.
Fast forward to the pandemic era,
now as the collective and settle in Little Brook thanks
to a EVI grant,
we did a pilot project with SDOT regarding the program
Stay Healthy Streets to learn why people in Little Brook
were not using the routes in the single-family-home neighborhoods
of Olympic Hills and Cedar Park.
The response was very clear.
People in Little Brook wanted an opportunity
to work safely in their own community,
in their own environment,
no matter how urban and messy it may be.
And that, dear guests,
is at the center of what you need to do with levy funds,
work directly with community
and [inaudible] that share the same struggle.
Today, what later became the smallest
and arguably the most activated Stay Healthy Street in Seattle
is being transformed into a plaza.
And thanks to our partnership with SDOT and with Parks,
but most importantly thanks to a partnership to the --
a trusting partnership with SDOT staff.
And we need more people like them.
We need them to work with us in the long term
to advance equity and infrastructure
in underinvested communities.
Thanks to that and our street mural down the street,
we doubled the size of open space,
safe space for our dense community.
Public streets and public spaces' projects
can accomplish this and more in some neighborhoods like ours
that deserve to have spaces like this in our --
in their own community.
Unfortunately, we don't have backyards with lawn chairs
to sit down and relax and enjoy serene vistas like this
with birds chirping and a beautiful stream in front of us.
We have noise pollution and uncontrolled pathways
that developers are not accounting for.
Where our kids -- I have my kids right here with me,
my two -- my 14- and 11-year-old,
[inaudible]
Our kids deserve better. Our kids deserve --
and this levy can offer that better for them.
I'm going to finish with this.
In two years, we will have the world cup in our city.
Growing up at age 11, oops, I think I just gave you my age,
I remember that even though I didn't live close
to the Azteca Stadium during the World Cup in 1986,
the whole city celebrated,
felt safe and enjoyed just as a tourist did in my city.
This event is our 1962 World Fair over time.
And I submit to you
that unless we can build another Space Needle in two years,
our landmark is going to be the experience,
the experience of how we safely move people during that event,
how safely we move services and goods
during that time to make the world cup of the people.
From Hillman City to Little Brook,
this levy will contribute to that experience.
Thank you so much. -Thank you so much.
Thank you so much. Let's live up to that.
What a beautiful vision for the world cup.
Our final speaker, Anna Zivarts.
I think you contacted me my first week on the job
because it was A Week Without Driving was coming up.
-It was.
-And you asked me if I wanted to join it
and I didn't bring my car here so every week is
A Week Without Driving.
So, I said, "Sure, let's do it."
And then we went on a bike ride together through District 2.
And, on bike together,
we were talking about how Anna's a former bike racer.
She's a bike racer and a mom who also isn't able to drive
because she's got a vision impairment
and she's a very powerful advocate for the 25%
of our society who can't drive,
young, old, people with various health conditions.
And how do we make sure
that our infrastructure is welcoming to everyone?
How do we make sure that you can get your kid to little league
if you can't drive?
Anna, you've brought forth so many meaningful
and powerful stories about how we --
the people that we need to help
as we make a transportation system for all.
So, representing a disability mobility initiative,
Disability Rights Washington,
I'm really proud to introduce Anna Zivarts.
-Thank you. Good morning.
I woke up this morning and I was really excited that our friend,
the zebra, in North Bend was still on the loose
and I could rock this outfit.
Vaguely, yeah, appropriate for today.
So, hi, everyone. Anna.
I work for Disability Rights Washington
and I direct a program called
the Disability Mobility Initiative
that organizes nondrivers across our state.
And we actually have new numbers from a study from the JTC
where actually 30% of the state population is nondrivers.
And it's probably even higher here in the city of Seattle
where we do have such a great transit system,
wonderful buses and sidewalks in much of our city.
But there's much of our city that isn't accessible.
Sixty percent of our streets have sidewalks
that are either missing or inaccessible.
And we have to fix that.
And we're excited to be here today
because this levy proposal really does start
to address that gap.
The accelerated sidewalk construction is
a big step forward. And, also, there's a recognition
that this isn't going to be enough with the money
and the levy to complete that sidewalk network,
but there's a process to get there,
to figure out how we're going to get that additional funding
we need to have our sidewalk network be complete
and accessible
so that everyone can get where they need to go without driving,
even if they can't drive, if they can drive,
that our city can be an accessible place
that's inclusive for everyone.
So, thank you. -Thank you so much.
Come on up.
-I'm going to take a quick photo.
Or we could open for Q&A. -Whatever you prefer.
-Yeah, why don't we do that.
So, we're going to open up for Q&A to the media.
And, the speakers, if you're going to answer the question,
if you can come to the microphone [inaudible]
Does anyone have any questions?
-All right, so you're making the biggest levy request
in the city history even bigger.
Are you worried that you're asking for too much?
-For those who didn't hear the question,
the preface was this will be the biggest transportation measure
in history, are we worried that we're asking for too much.
We think we've tendered a smart package to the voters.
The point of the outreach
is to make sure we are aligned with what they want.
So, we think we are tendering a proposal
that the voters will approve.
We also have discussions with people on fixed income,
people that realize that they're struggling
to still buy a loaf of bread in the city.
And, so, we tried to calibrate the need for someone
that is still worried about their financial situation,
calibrating that against the need for the system
we have to have to be the city we want it to be.
So, we think this is the right amount and,
hopefully, the voters will agree with us.
-Question for the Mayor...
Vision Zero is the 2030 plan that calls for [inaudible].
How confident are you that we're going to get to
close to zero traffic deaths or serious injuries by 2030?
-Yeah, thanks, Erica.
Again, for those who didn't hear,
with our Vision Zero target of 2030,
how does that align with what we're trying to do
and how confident are we in meeting that goal.
Director Spotts, I'll let you take a shot at it.
-Sure.
So, you know,
the mayor's first priority for me
in arriving here was to strengthen our safety programs.
And after our top to bottom review of Vision Zero,
I appointed our first chief transportation safety officer,
Venu Nemani.
And we're seeing a lot of faster progress
on making safety related investments
that are data driven under Venu's leadership.
So, I'm very confident that we have the people,
the systems, the technology and the funding
needed to start really significantly reducing
the number of people killed
and seriously injured on our streets.
And, so far this year,
we actually do have a reduction in the number of deaths
in the first four months.
-[inaudible]
-Sure. I mean, the levy's significantly increasing
our investments in safety.
There's a large, you know, nine-figure section for safety,
but we've infused safety within all aspects
of the different categories of investments.
And I think a place
where we're bringing some innovation is with this maintain
and modernize concept.
We're going to make streets safer
when we pave them by making investments,
better connectivity for walking, biking and transit.
And we're going to do that when we invest in bridges.
So, we're not just going to lock in an outdated street design
from the '60s,
we're going to actually update it and make it safer.
So, I think the entire package will drive a safety outcome.
-One of the concerns that's been raised
is that this proposal includes less concrete targets
than New Seattle.
There's no target for expansion of the bike network,
for example,
a lot of candidate projects and not specific commitments.
Can you speak to what that looks like in the final proposal
and whether you're concerned that there is enough specificity
about what you're going to do with the level funding?
-Do you want me to take that one?
-Yeah, sure.
-So, the question is, you know,
how are we balancing specificity of exactly
where we're going to make these investments
and the number of widgets we're going to make in each category,
you know, with having some flexibility.
You know, the current levy
to Move Seattle has 30 different categories of investments
and we thought,
having gone through eight years of implementing it,
that maybe it was a little bit too prescriptive
in terms of focusing on outputs rather than outcomes.
And our --
the mayor's draft proposal tried to strike a balance there
and have some more outcomes rather than just counting
different types of interventions that we would make.
But, actually,
when you see the legislation we're introducing today,
there is quite a bit more specificity in places
where different types of investments will be made.
And we're looking forward to your coverage about that.
-Let me address one thing, too.
Let me -- I think you've got a follow-up question,
but let me respond by saying from the mayor's perspective
my directive to SDOT,
we look at the political landscape
as well as what's changed between the last levy.
We have shifted to a district system.
We now have seven district councilmembers.
I expect each of the seven district councilmembers
to know their district inside and out.
So, we wanted to bake in a little flexibility
for the City Council to know their sidewalks, their streets,
their cycle networks to be able to have that communication.
So, that is a significant change in how we make political
and investment decisions, number one.
Number two, we have to be data driven.
And, so, my directive to SDOT
through the strong leadership of Deputy Mayor Adiam Emery
is where does the data lead us.
And data is a moving target,
where are the high traffic collisions,
where are pedestrians exposed. And we have to be fluid enough.
So, there, we had to bake in a little bit of a flexibility
because we continue to gather data on
where our high-risk areas are.
When we looked at where we are delaying the free right turn
or prohibiting the right turn,
those are not arbitrary decisions,
the data led us to these certain areas.
And, so, we continue to work on this levy.
Even how we govern it during its eight-year course,
it has to be some fluid.
So, it's very intentional to have some baked in flexibility
as you -- as Director Spotts talked about.
We did have a concrete strike
and we had COVID in the midst of the last levy.
And, so, what we're able to do now using data and information
that we're able to accelerate the pace by which
we start projects.
We announced one yesterday over on 11th and 12th.
And, so, we're going to continue
to let the data drive our decisions.
And we think that's the appropriate approach.
And, so, specific, yes, data driven, yes,
but also fluid enough to address the data
as it leads us in the right places.
So, I appreciate your question. You have a follow-up, go ahead.
-Yes, [inaudible] Mr. Mayor.
Nine years ago, when you were on the council,
you amended the New Seattle levy
to include the Accessible Mt. Baker Project.
Do you have -- is that still a priority for you
or do you have any other personal projects
that you were hoping that this levy can accomplish?
-Yeah.
So, the question is -- I don't --
I do not have any personal priorities.
There's 84 square miles in this city
and I treat them all equally with a lens of equity.
That area is one of the areas we've targeted as a city
to make sure we have some improvements.
And, so, I'm relying on the expertise and the engineers
to help reconfigure that.
When I was a district councilmember,
certainly, that was a priority,
as that should be as a district councilmember.
But, as mayor,
I not only look at that particular intersection
that has been sort of fraught with a lot of issues
for the last 30 years, quite candidly,
but I have to look at them all equally.
So, I can't say I have a personal preference.
I don't know if any of the engineer types
want to chime in on that particular configuration,
but it's not a preference of mine, I should say.
I'm no longer a District 2 councilmember, so.
-Greg, you mentioned -- off the top,
you stated [inaudible] the bridges there in the background.
A month ago, there wasn't a lot of specificity
about how the levy made through [inaudible] specificity
now about the bridges that you're targeting
and what kind of allocations to those.
-Question about bridges
and which bridges might need investment.
Something that I think should the voters -- so,
the council put this levy on the ballot
and the voters approve it.
I think something
that will really be an amazing legacy piece for this mayor
is making a proactive bridge maintenance program
that cycles through all the bridges doing
the proactive maintenance that's needed.
We currently don't have that.
We currently fix things when they're broken.
And this package sets up the ability
to proactively resurface the bridge deck,
redo the expansion joints, repaint the bridge.
So, there's a lot of like proactive maintenance
that was all recommended by the bridge audit
that this package will enable us to fund.
There's also a part of the bridge --
a component of the bridge section
that will allow us to do project readiness
for much larger projects on individual bridges
where we would need a large federal funding commitment.
And we're going to be able to bring like three to five
of those type of large projects to 30% design
so that we'll be able to compete
for those big-time federal funding opportunities
that sometimes can bring up to like
an 80% contribution for those larger projects.
-Can you be specific on that?
I mean, Magnolia bridge...
[inaudible]
-You know,
when we do an implementation plan for the levy next year,
you know, we'll release more detail
on which bridges we'll start developing
as those candidates for federal investment.
-Okay, that is it.
We are done with the press conference.
If you have some follow-up questions for Greg,
we can do some one-on-ones after this.
But we're going to take a photo op right now.