First Round Table Issue: Bend’s Transportation System Plan

What: Round Table with progressive Council candidates
Candidate Panelists: Anthony Broadman, Melanie Kebler, Kat Mastrangelo
Subject Matter Expert: Mike Riley
Hosted by: Indivisible Bend and The Vocal Seniority
Date: Monday, May 18
Time: 10:00 am
Where: Zoom. Simply click this link to join the session (the meeting ID and password are embedded in the link):
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83207840178?pwd=bnpEVEpIckkraWdQWThMUTkzOUU2dz09

The Issue:

The City of Bend is required by law (as are all cities) to periodically develop, adopt, and implement a 20-year Transportation System Plan (TSP) that will set the vision and direction for how people and goods will move around the city and that complies with federal and state regulations. For the last two years, a citizen committee, the Citywide Transportation Advisory Committee (CTAC), has been meeting regularly with City staff and transportation consults to develop that plan.

What’s At Stake:
Over the next two months, our City Council will be making the final decisions on what that plan will be. Once adopted, the TSP becomes a part of the City’s Comprehensive Plan, which is the guiding document for everything that the City undertakes.

Will they agree to the use of an equity lens in determining who benefits from and who pays for transportation projects and programs? Will there be an emphasis on completing connected bicycle and pedestrian networks or on more infrastructure for cars? Will there be an aggressive approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions or just business as usual? Will there be sufficient investment in the use of technology to better adapt to newer and as yet unknown ways of moving people and goods in the City? The answers to these questions and more are all on the line.

The Panelists:
Our candidate panelists for this Round Table are (incumbent in parentheses):

Anthony Broadman, candidate for Bend City Council, Position 2 (Bill Moseley) and lawyer working for Tribal Governments, Indigenous Rights, and Bend Businesses.

Melanie Kebler, candidate for Bend City Council, Position 1 (Justin Livingston) and local crime victims’ rights attorney.

Kat Mastrangelo, candidate for Bend City Council, Position 4 (Bruce Abernethy) and Executive Director of Volunteers in Medicine.

Our SME is Mike Riley, a co-chair of CTAC and Executive Director of The Environmental Center.

Agenda:

Welcome and a quick review of the protocols below
Mike Riley gives an overview of the issue and What’s At Stake
Introductions of panelists and their opening statements
Floor opened to Q&A