Pedestrian Advocates Protest Spending Freeze

Ruby de Luna
08/19/2008

Pedestrian advocates in Seattle are lobbying to save projects that would be shelved for now under the mayor's plan. Last week mayor Greg Nickels proposed a $5 million spending freeze from the city's general fund. In addition to pedestrian safety, the move would affect community center hours, and parks security. KUOW's Ruby de Luna reports.

TRANSCRIPT

THE MAYOR'S RECENTLY PROPOSED SPENDING FREEZE CAUGHT REBECCA DEEHR OFF GUARD. DEEHR IS POLICY DIRECTOR OF FEET FIRST, AN ADVOCACY GROUP FOCUSED ON BUILDING WALKABLE COMMUNITIES. SHE POINTS OUT THAT JUST LAST YEAR, PEDESTRIAN SAFETY WAS A TOP PRIORITY FOR THE CITY.

DEEHR: "It really runs counter to Seattle wanting to be the most walkable city in the nation. And also when we talk about climate change, one of the key things you could do to get more people walking is to make it safer for pedestrians."

WE'RE STANDING AT THE CORNER OF NORTH 45TH STREET AND STONE WAY NORTH, A BUSY INTERSECTION IN THE WALLINGFORD NEIGHBORHOOD. LAST YEAR, THE CITY SHRANK THE NUMBER OF LANES ON STONE WAY TO MAKE IT MORE EFFICIENT. DEEHR SAYS THE CHANGES CREATED A SMOOTHER TRAFFIC FLOW AND SAFER CROSSWALKS.

DEEHR: "It takes four lanes of traffic and it makes it into two lanes of traffic, one going north, and one going south, and then a center turn lane. And in this case they also added bike lanes to the other side, too, which is really great because in Seattle we're trying to make streets more complete for all users and not just vehicles."

DEEHR SAYS THE FREEZE ON PEDESTRIAN SAFETY PROJECTS MEANS FEWER SUCH TRAFFIC IMPROVEMENTS. AT MONDAY'S COUNCIL BRIEFING, SOME MEMBERS EXPRESSED DISAPPOINTMENT OVER THE PROPOSED PEDESTRIAN SAFETY CUTS: A TOTAL OF $750,000. DWIGHT DIVELY IS SEATTLE'S FINANCE DIRECTOR. HE TOLD THE COUNCIL THE CITY IS TRYING TO AVOID A DEFICIT IN NEXT YEAR'S BUDGET.

DIVELY: "As the economy nationally has slowed down, we've seen effects here locally and so we have to plan for that, live within our means, and particularly we're trying to minimize the future effects on things that are high priorities like police staffing, and fire staffing, and human services, and parks and libraries, and by taking action now, we can minimize some of those effects in the future."

IT'S NOT UP TO THE COUNCIL TO APPROVE THE SPENDING FREEZE. THE COUNCIL APPROPRIATES FUNDS BUT IT'S THE MAYOR'S DECISION WHETHER TO SPEND ALL OF IT. MAYOR NICKELS WILL PRESENT HIS FINAL BUDGET PLAN AT THE END OF SEPTEMBER. I'M RUBY DE LUNA, KUOW NEWS.

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