Real Public Involvement in the Central Lane Regional Transportation Plan

To:  Central Lane Metropolitan Planning Organization

We are writing to express our frustration with the public involvement process and to call on you to delay adoption of the regional transportation plan (RTP) update until you can engage the public in real transportation decision-making.

We care about our community's quality of life and environment, and realize that transportation choices have a direct influence on how our community grows. We want to engage in a meaningful discussion about our community's values, our responsibility to future generations, and about the transportation infrastructure and options for addressing future needs before the RTP, our regional transportation blueprint for the future, is too close to adoption for our concerns to make much difference.

We note that the 2004 RTP was adopted over the objections of numerous citizens who expressed their concerns. Work on the 2007 RTP has occurred mostly out of public view, and comments are being solicited only at the very end of the process.

Therefore, we call on you to do the following:

1. Provide the public with the basic information it needs, in plain English, for suggesting alternatives and making choices about how to invest in our regional transportation system.

2. In particular, provide the public with information about the land use assumptions in the plan, a full range of reasonable alternatives for addressing the regional transportation needs, and the performance of each of these alternatives.

3. At any staff meetings where recommendations for transportation priorities are discussed, provide public notice of the meetings in advance, an opportunity for public comments, and minutes reflecting any staff recommendations and the reasoning behind those recommendations.

4. Ask your Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC) to determine if efforts to inform and involve the public are sufficient for allowing an interested but non-technical member of the public to participate in the process and have a meaningful impact. Ask the CAC for their written comments about the RTP.

5. Delay adopting the regional transportation plan until the four steps outlined above have been completed, with a goal of adopting a revised RTP by December 2008, a time which we understand would meet new federal requirements to update the RTP every four years.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Real Public Involvement in the Central Lane Regional Transportation Plan Petition to Central Lane Metropolitan Planning Organization was created by Goal One Coalition and written by Lauri Segel (lauri@goal1.org).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.

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