The House Transportation Bill is out and being marked up Wednesday by the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee. It doesn't look good for biking. Not at all. We will need everyone who gives a damn to call, fax, write emails and take action any way they see fit to make sure funding for biking & walking isn't cut.
More tomorrow when we learn more.
Remember Altmire is on the T & I Committee so if you're in his district it's NOW or NEVER.
Something to note: we've heard from folks who met with his office last week that the message of older people wanting to "age in place" without the need to drive everywhere is resonating with him. That means sidewalks and safe places to ride bikes.
Hope most of you read the email today. If not, here's the link. Take action (if your'e in Altmire's district). If not, hang tight and we'll get involved in the next week or so. http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Action-Alert--Save-Biking---Walking---Help-Shape-Pittsburgh-s-Future.html?soid=1101521622836&aid=n8h2hU3NY1Y
is it just me or are these sorts of threats happening on a monthly basis?
The Republicans (for the most part) in the House have had TE and SRTS in their sights for a long time and have used tons of different bills to try to eliminate them. However, THIS bill is THE bill. It's the Transportation Bill that could be around for 7+ years, so if we don't get dedicated funding for biking & walking (as we have since 1991) we LOSE and lose big.
In short. We are well aware of advocacy fatigue, but this is NOT the time to give in to not caring. This is when we need everyone to care the most. Federal transportation bills are boring, we know, but incredibly important. Please stay tuned as we get more info out about this.
Scott, I agree wholeheartedly. My comment was more in reflection of the relentless and broad spread push in many levels of government to reduce or eliminate funding for car-alternative transportation.
The sad part is that Mica is leading the charge and his state is the deadliest for pedestrians. What else really bums me out is that this is where the federal govt has a chance to make a difference, to set the tone for the country, and the tone they are setting with this bill is if you don't drive a car you're not one of us.
"...the tone they are setting ... is if you [don't drive a car] [aren't white] [aren't Male] [don't practice Christianity] [don't hate the poor] you're not one of us."
Pick any.
F. All of the above.
this is so sad. I normally hate labels and people twist words politically until they are too reactionary to have meaning, but it's really sad that it's 'progressive' to want to protect our right to safely locomote as our species has for hundreds of thousands of years (walking). Seems like the most epic form of regression to me.
I hate politics.
Am I correct to think that those of us in Mike Doyle's district need to worry less about this, since he is not on the key committee and/or since he is a pretty good advocate on our issues?
I emailed altmire anyhow.
Ian, you are correct. The focus now is on the T&I Committee. The general action alert that will focus on the hundreds of other house members will probably happen in the weeks ahead. The goal is to get an amendment that puts TE/SRTS back in the bill. This amendment is being introduced by Tom Petri (R-WI) and Tim Johnson (R-IL).
Done. Saw it on the Twitter feed first & acted from that.
@ejwme +1
also, excellent use of "locomote"
I emailed Doyle 'cause I could alter the automated letter & ask him to reach out to Altmire on behalf of our region, which is already suffering from bus cutbacks, bad air and obesity (all of which more walking and pedaling could help with).
Thanks everyone for taking part in our action alert. It really means a lot. Now we wait and see what happens today.
I was reading the House Bill 7 last night and from my perspective it carries broad language for CMAQ funding and awful retreads for "congestion relief" in the transportation planning section.
More lanes is not a viable solution anymore - especially in Pennsylvania.
sloaps is dead on with his analysis. more lanes for SOVs is now a legitimate proposal for CMAQ. this bill is headed in the complete wrong direction.
10 reasons this bill sucks for bicycling and walking http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_fQ8L8DWtQ
Aren't the route 28 improvements funded in part by CMAQ? We got a bumpy bike trail out of it.
yeah, but even at one lane one way, 28 moves now. less idling cars. I'm not defending anything else, but two lanes each way of idling cars is definitely way worse than three lanes total of mostly moving cars. Eventually it'll probably be 2 lanes each way of moving cars, which would be good. No more travel lanes, just move the ones that exist with better in/egress. It's one of those rare instances when traffic was improved immediately by the introduction of orange cones.
I may be off, but I prefer a bumpy trail to no trail. Not saying better couldn't be done, but this region has a long history of doing less/worse.
We also need to quit adding more miles of state maintained roads when we can't afford to maintain the ones we have. Road diet to eliminate lanes would make them more affordable to maintain. If we're spending less money poorly maintaining roads that don't do anything to improve traffic, we can spend more money on other things.
Here's a slightly off topic question, but I suspect you guys know the answer - when a developer wants to put in a mess of houses somewhere, like a big housing plan that will hold 100 homes or so, does anybody do any kind of study to see if the extra taxes to the municipality generated (assuming all those families are NEW to the area, big assumption) will pay for the long term maintenance of the new roads?
So Bill Shuster of the PA 9th district, through which much of the GAP runs, son of the King of pork spending, Bud, voted against the bike/ped amendment?
http://support.railstotrails.org/site/PageServer?pagename=20120202_Petri_amdt_vote_results&autologin=true&AddInterest=1481
"Prior to entering politics, Shuster owned a Chrysler dealership near Altoona, Pennsylvania. He also worked as a district manager for a pair of tire companies in Goodyear and Bandag."
Pardon me, but, f'ing dickbag.
Supposedly State Rep, Rick Geist, the head of PA Pedalcycle Advisory Committee (PPAC) even called Shuster (his friend) to encourage him to vote in favor of the amendment.
This really stinks. We're waiting to hear from America Bikes etc on next steps. We're guessing our options are either to get another amendment added before the overall house vote on the floor (date TBD), or we can just put pressure on the house to kill it all together. Either way our work will be cut out for us.
Complete stupidity.
^^ ++++ at the Defazio Rant. That was indeed awesome!
DOUBLE!
I had a teary eyed moment likened to the illustration watching Jon Stewart talk with Yale Law Professor Jonathan Macey last night.
Here we go again
http://blog.bikeleague.org/blog/2012/06/take-action-house-aims-to-eliminate-local-funds-for-biking-walking/
Doesn't matter. Another extension to this +900 days old surface transportation program will ensure its insolvency by the next presidential term - whomever that may be. Too much political gamesmanship on both sides of the aisle and throughout Congress for any meaningful policy crafted in committee, debated on the floor or affirmatively voted into law.
sloaps - the sad thing is, this is no longer election year shenanigans. This is simply the way our government (doesn't) work now.
