Cyclists smiling on the bike path through Waterfront Park on Saturday, August 7th. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
It should not be news to anyone by now that the Portland Bureau of Transportation is in its worst budget crisis ever. Because funding politics always took precedent over sound funding policy, the bureau has been on a strict spending diet for decades. And as the transportation system has grown and taxes and fees kept up, PBOT is now so hungry for cash they have to go beyond carving the fat and might be forced to remove entire appendages.
As they map out a plan to dig out of the gaping pothole they’ve fallen into, they want to know what Portlanders want prioritized going forward. In other words, which parts of PBOT should they keep and which parts can they afford to cleave off.
PBOT has released a new survey that everyone needs to take. “Your feedback will be added to other input informing the development of budget and revenue strategies during this time of constrained resources,” reads the intro to the survey.
Questions from the survey.
When you take it, you’ll get to rate how well PBOT is doing their job. Fun, right? And there’s also an open question that asks, “What is most important transportation issue you’d like PBOT to address?” You’ll also get to rate the quality of bike lanes citywide and in your neighborhood.
But that’s the fun stuff. The meat of the survey is where they focus-group some messaging and then ask survey-takers to prioritize which services should stay and which should be cut.
It’s sad to see PBOT is considering reducing spending on things like Sunday Parkways, biking and walking projects, and traffic safety education in schools (among other things); but these are very lean times and without a major infusion from a new revenue source, something’s gotta’ give.
Please don’t waste this opportunity to share your input. Take the survey before Monday, August 14th.
Here’s the link – https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PBOTCommunityBudgetSurvey
