Vic Bishop was the Republican nominee for the 48th Legislative District in 2020 and is a frequent pro-car & anti transit speaker. Nieuwenhuis citing him and his testimony is really disappointing, but not surprising.
How're you feeling about that endorsement, ?
Conversation
"Language matters, and [the word manage] just doesn't feel like Bellevue. This Council is known for going big and tackling big problems. We would never suggest Council would have language saying we'll 'manage GHG emissions," we'd say we'd reduce them."
Wow.
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He keeps going. "We'd never say 'we'd want to manage affordable housing in our community,' we'd want to say we'd increase affordable housing. So I would argue that we keep that aspirational language, that we aspire to reduce congestion."
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CM Stokes says this feels much ado about nothing. Thinks management isn't a bad word to use. "I would add language to agressively plan, manage, and expand transportation investments to reduce congestion in a multimodal manner."
Better.
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CM Zahn noting language in another transportation policy that says the city will "address congestion". Does not believe any other changes are necessary. CM Lee, unsurprisingly, agrees with DM Nieuwenhuis and has some comments.
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"Transportation congestion is what we're all concerned about and what we want to address" oh my god he's so out of touch why is he still on this body ugggh. Thinks this will help reduce confusion. "It doesn't hurt it" oh my god there's just no hope for him
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CM Robertson "Congestion isn't just about SOVs, it's about buses getting stuck in the road, it's about people being able to cross the street, it's about bikes not having places to go."
There are tools to fix all of those problems without needing to also reduce auto congestion.
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Seems Council's settling around this language:
"Aggressively plan, manage, and expand transportation investments to reduce congestion and expand opportunities in a multimodal & comprehensive manner, and improve the quality of the travel experience for all users."
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CM Barksdale: concerned that mentioning reducing congestion makes staff focus on that rather than on improving multimodal experience. "People having options *will* help in reducing congestion. Why not put the emphasis where we *should* go big: The multimodal transportation?"
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Transportation staff claim manage or reduce doesn't make a difference because what will implement the policies on the ground are ordinances and the implementation plan.
Okay, but won't *those* be affected by this language?
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So long as we have politicians that view automobile trips as the default solution and other trips as ancillary or secondary in priority, nothing fundamentally is going to change. And it sucks that three of the CMs most adoptive of that view just got reelected.
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CM Lee wants to propose his own variation of CM Stokes' amendment, but that gets shot down. Majority votes in support of Stokes' amendment. CM Lee tries to put forward a motion with no real text to it, Mayor asks if there's a second and promptly notes their is none.
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Brief flare-up happens as CM Lee then tries to introduce another amendment(?) while trying to talk over the Mayor, who calls him "out of order." DM Nieuwenhuis puts forward main motion, which Lee seconds. Unanimous vote.
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Now moving onto NE & NW Bellevue plans. Unfortunately, looks like explicit mention of DADUs might also getting struck from NE Bellevue since it's "implicitly included" in another policy. Was stricken from NW Bellevue plan for that reason in November.
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CM Barksdale offering an amendment for if Council goes w/ 3b: "To create opportunities for a mix of housing typologies..." instead of "Encourage a mix". CM Robertson supports it, thinks it strikes a balance between "housing options and neighborhoods who need stability..."
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She also brings up infrastructure concerns, which has been one of her go-to arguments against upzoning SF districts in the past, so organizers will need to really hone language countering that in their testimony next year as Bellevue discusses housing and the new state bill.
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:@DSA_Eastside Bellevue's going to be looking at its affordable housing plan at the start of '22. I think there'll be good opportunities for us to plug in on that.
I can discuss more on Wednesday (provided I'm COVID-negative. Antigen test was negative, waiting on PCR results)
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