No Corridor Notes

Comparative Corridor Politics- Don't Snooze Yet

A 'mother of all corridor battles' is underway down in Texas over the Trans-Texas Corridor,  and there's an eye-popper of a website up about it:

www.CorridorWatch.org

I got this e-mail about it from Nan:

Give the website 60—120 secondsof your time – and your eyes will be opened!!

 

I believe that the 3 recommendations that I fear the most (from the WSDOT’s Commerce Corridor Feasibility Study ExecutiveSummary) are pieces that have come into play in  Texas .

Those 3 recommendations for WA include:

 

1) A statewide entity to oversee transportation and energy corridor permitting and construction (read:rubber-stamping body)

2) Streamlining of environmental and landuse permit processes (read: circumvent public comment and appeals processes)

3) Support for private-public projects(read: taking of private land for corporate profit)

 

All 3 of the above are suggested [ in the Feasibility Study as desirable and achievable] through legislative processes in WA.  All 3 will set the stage for various transportation and energy corridors being proposed, and becoming nearly unstoppable if they gain momentum and are “economic.” (ie support corporate profit)

 

I suggest that it is not yet time to snooze.  While Jim Horn has been retired, Doug Erickson and Dan Sweckerare determined to see this through.  They already got $500,000 to “study” this once.  If any of these recommendations move forward in WA through legislative action there is plenty of reason for concern.   -Nan Laney

Study Finds Commerce Corridor too Complex, Expensive

From the State DOT's Commerce Corridor website

Link to press release

Date: Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Contact: Barbara Ivanov, Office of Freight Strategy and Policy, 360-705-7931

“The idea behind the study was to see if such a corridor was possible to build, and if the private sector would support financing it,” said Barbara Ivanov, director of WSDOT’s Freight Strategy and Policy office. “After researching the various elements involved, we learned that there are significant obstacles in both areas.”

Obstacles to building such a corridor include conflicting planning horizons and distribution needs for utilities and freight interests, and significant environmental and community impacts. One element that consultants did feel warranted further investigation was a truck toll route from the Central Puget Sound area, south to Chehalis.

“When you look at the number of truck trips per day along that section of I-5, and compare it to prospective toll revenues, the data suggest such a project may be possible. That said, the data collected in this study are far from adequate for us to determine whether or not such a project will happen,” Ivanov said. “It’s up to the legislature to decide if this should be researched any further.”

Please note: I've been away for a few months (working on the election in Iowa, and subsequently suffering from a bout post-election trauma) and haven't had time to post let alone follow the in's and out's of this story.  In the interests of  keeping an online  record of what's happened thus far  I'll be posting some older material to bring this site up to date.   

Whatcom/Skagit Organizing Meeting! Don't Miss It!

Things have been a little quiet on the Commerce Corridor issue following the initial burst of concern, publicity, and activity. Upcoming hearings on the corridor have been maneuvered beyond the Nov. 2nd election. Doug Ericksen probably has his dear friends at the DOT to thank for that. But in spite of all this manuevering folks in Whatcom and Skagit County are not content to sit idly by: Here's the update from Nan Laney: A Whatcom / Skagit citizens group is planning a Washington Commerce Corridor Workshop for 7:00 - 9:00 PM on Wednesday September 22nd at Acme Elementary School. Acme Elementary School is located on Turkington Road in Acme (turn west just south of the South Fork Nooksack River bridge). The school is about 1/4 mile down Turkington Road on your right. The purpose of the workshop is to organize local citizens to respond to the Washington State Department of Transportation's (WSDOT) Commerce Corridor Feasibility Study that is currently in process. This meeting is a call to action, and although general information will be provided, we would like you to come with your thoughts about what YOU are willing to DO. The workshop will provide opportunity for brainstorming, and will offer guidance for taking action as well as opportunities for further involvement. For those who don't have background information on the Commerce Corridor Feasibility Study - the study is examining the feasibility of privately constructed and operated freight and passenger toll roads (up to 10 lanes), freight and passenger rail lines, and utilities (power lines and pipelines) in a corridor east of Interstate 5 -- roughly following the route of Highway 9 in Skagit and Whatcom Counties. While this may seem like a "far fetched" notion, the WSDOT is due to submit it's final report to the Washington State Legislative Transportation Committee by Dec. 1, 2004. The Transportation Committee then will then make its recommendations to the Washington State Legislature by Jan. 2005. It is for this reason that it is important to make our thoughts and opinions known now about this proposal --- before it moves any further at the state and federal levels. In general, the steering committee of this yet-to-be-named citizens group is looking for people who are willing to assist with: A creative name for our group Getting the word out Organizing events Fundraising Networking with other organizations / groups Setting up and managing an informational website Research (in many areas) Interacting with politicians (and motivating others to do so) Going to elected official and government meetings at the city, county, state and/or regional levels Public outreach (distributing information, petitions, etc) Making signs, posters and buttons Respectfully, Nan Laney Sedro-Woolley, WA

All Growth All the Time

I'm sure I'm not the only one whose interest in local growth has been raised by the specter of the Commerce Corridor. Next week offers three meetings for those wanting to sink their teeth into local growth issues here in Bellingham and Whatcom County. They'll also offer some insight into the context for the Commerce Corridor fantasy being peddled by local officials of all pinstripes. Pro-Whatcom has their quarterly meeting Monday, August 23, 7:00 pm, Bellingham Senior Center at 315 Halleck St. Their guest will be Hal Hart, Whatcom County Planning Director who will speak on "Growth Control: Is Whatcom County Doomed to Become Another Lynnwood (or Los Angeles)?" If that weren't enough two of the last three City of Bellingham's repeating Neighborhood growth forums will be the following Tuesday and Wednesday. People from all areas of the city are encouraged to attend. Forum #1 Tuesday, August 24th at 7 p.m. Fairhaven Library, 1117 12th St., Forum #2 Wednesday, August 25th at 7 p.m. Fairhaven Library, 1117 12th St., Forum #3 Meridian, Guide Meridian To Be Determined More about the forum from the City of Bellingham:

Over the next 20 years, around 62,000 people are expected to move to Whatcom County. That's a nearly 40% increase over today’s population! How can residents sustain or improve the quality of life they currently enjoy? The Bellingham Community Forum on Growth Management is designed to help meet this challenge. Cosponsored by the City of Bellingham, Whatcom County and the Whatcom Transportation Authority, the forum will highlight and gather feedback on creative, localized options for Bellingham’s future. Results will directly influence updates to the City of Bellingham’s Comprehensive Plan and Whatcom County's Urban Growth Area (UGA).

More info at http://www.studiocascade.com/bhm_abt_project.html

Campaign Kickoff Party Alert! Robin Bailey Kicks Off Campaign for Doug Ericksen's 42nd District State House seat

Robin Bailey's campaign kickoff party starts tonight at 6:30 at the Blue Horse Gallery at 301 W. Holly St. We all owe Robin a debt for throwing her hat in the ring and lighting a fire under Doug. I predict Robin'll be doing a lot of talking about the Commerce Corridor debacle this campaign cycle. As a program director for Whatcom Community College's Displaced Homemaker program, I predict Robin will also be talking a lot about rural poverty, social services and other issues Doug's constituents aren't use to hearing about. It's enough to wipe that very presidential smirk right off Doug's face.

Here's Doug in Tuesday's Herald:

First in line was state Rep. Doug Ericksen, who is known for showing up early to file. Seeking his fourth term in the 42nd District, Ericksen was flanked by his wife, Tasha, and their two children as he filled out his paperwork.

"I think it's good to get here early to show Whatcom County how hard I'll work for the people," said Ericksen, who waited outside the Auditor's Office since 5:30 a.m. "People showing up early here show how dedicated our public servants are."

'Known for showing up early to file' would just make an awesome campaign slogan wouldn't it? Especially for your fourth campaign.

Picking Our Jaws Up Off the Floor

Two posts back Don Shank mentioned his (and I think many people's) vote for the most jaw-dropping moment of the Bellevue meeting: when the lawyer with Wilbur Smith Associates (a Mr. Fred Kessler, whose actually with the high-powered L.A. law firm Nossaman Gunther Knox Elliot LLP that Wilbur Smith are contracting out the legal work to) encouraged the audience to consider the great tragedy that might have befallen our nation if the 250-mile long Los Angeles Aqueduct running from the Owens Valley to Los Angeles which begun operation in 1913 had never been built. (Some history is available here: http://www.usc.edu/isd/archives/la/scandals/owens.html )

If not for the aqueduct Mr. Kessler suggested 'L.A. might still be a sleepy little pueblo.' His implication that we should embrace the commerce corridor in the hopes of becoming the new Los Angeles was so ludicrously out of touch with local concerns and interests that it is tempting to question both his sanity and his intelligence. In the past week I've found myself repeating this incident to people as a handy way of describing both the towering arrogance and the staggering absurdity of this push for a Commerce Corridor project.

Of course, this was hardly the only example of arrogance on display, perhaps just the most public. In the hallway I also overheard a well-dressed gentlemen (who did not speak but was seated throughout the comment period with the consultants) expressing at a whisper to a colleague a wish that they could have "obviated" this part of the process. Now my dictionary defines obviate as follows:1. To prevent or counter (an objection, difficulty, ect.) by effective measures 2. dispose of.

Dispose of? Prevent or Counter? Dear God this bald fellow, whoever he is, who is in some way affiliated with the consultants and the Dept. of Transportation, thinks that they can threaten to obliterate hundreds of rural communities, and plot to uproot the lives of tens of thousands of people, and reshape the entire region and they don't have to take public comment? Just who in god's name do they think they are working for? The Chinese government maybe?

It's easy to lose sight of the fact that Mr. Fred Kessler and this anonymous wannabe Chinese politburo member, though they are acting like perfect idiots, are obviously highly educated, highly capable, and highly paid people.

So What Gives?

I admit I've been puzzled by their strange behaviour ever since the meeting. Then this morning I was digging in to The Unconscious Civilization by John Ralston Saul. On page 9 Saul writes:

The reaction of sophisticated elites, when confronted by their own failure to lead society is almost invariably the same. They set about building a wall between themselves and reality by creating an artificial sense of well-being on the inside. [For example] the French Aristocracy, gentry and business leadership were never more satisfied with themselves than in the few decades before their collapse during the French Revolution...One of the trick which makes this sort of closet delusion possible is that the very size and prosperity of the elite permits it to interiorize an artificial vision of civilization as a whole. Thus, ours takes seriously only what comes from its own hundreds-indeed thousands-of specialized sectors. Everything turns on internal reference. Everything is carefully measured, so that the heartening "body counts" of growth or job creation or whatever can be produced. Truth is not in the world, it is in the measurements made by professionals.

And we have a growth and transportation crisis that at least iin part is artificial to match.

When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Form Coalitions

W'eve got some new neighbors: The West Coast Corridor Coalition

The story in today's Olympian "Group Unites Interests of I-5 States"
is right here at http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20040721/topstories/101924.shtml
Here's an excerpt:

Chokepoints in both the rail and highway systems in Washington state are slowing the delivery of goods and putting a drag on the region's economy, according to members of a fledgling group called the West Coast Corridor Coalition. The coalition -- an outgrowth of a regional rail and highway corridor concept dubbed the Cascadia Project -- is just forming. Its participants contend a united West Coast political bloc could deliver enough clout in Congress to make significant improvements to rail and highway routes and that would mean an expanded coastal economy.
"Unless we do it to expand ... it is certain that we will lose freight mobility and trade on the West Coast," said Bruce Agnew, director of the Cascadia Center at the Discovery Institute, a Seattle-based transportation-policy group that has had a big hand in creating the coalition.
It could merge the political clout of Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California into a superbloc that can heft the billions of dollars needed to pay for the work, including added highway lanes and extra rail lines.
"We envision it as a four-state coalition," said Barb Ivanov, director of the freight strategy and policy office for the Washington state Department of Transportation. "We believe we would have a much more compelling story to tell at the federal level when it comes to gaining resources we need in order to make improvements that solve the problems."

While state Senator Dan Schwecker claims later in the article he's not involved with the West Coast Corridor Coalition it's easy to see there's no small shared interest between his Commerce Corridor scheme and the West Coast Corridor Coalition. It's a basic principle of political life that when you face defeat at a particular scale, the best thing to do is scale up. If you can't tell a compelling story at the state level on why the public should either bankroll a Commerce Corridor outright or play a little russian roulette with its credit rating to entice private sector financing tell the story at the Federal level and watch the federal pork roll in. The compelling story these folks want to tell is that unless we build more highways we will lose out to the competition.

All the talk of national competitiveness tossed around by politicians, bureacrats, and corporate executives rests squarely on the idea that a corporation and a nation are really more or less the same thing. As Paul Krugman once pointed out in the March/April 1994 issue of Foreign Affairs:

Most people who use the term 'competitiveness' do so without a second thought. It seems obvious to them that the analogy between a country and a corporation is reasonable and to ask whether the United States is competitive in world markets is no different from asking whether General Motors is competitive in the North American minivan market. In fact, however, trying to define the competitiveness of a nation is much more problematic than defining that of a corporation. The bottom line for a corporation is literally its bottomline: if a corporation cannot afford to pay its workers, bondholders, and suppliers it will go out of business. So that when we say a corporation is uncompetitive we mean that its market position is unsustainable-that unless it improves its performance, it will cease to exist. Countries on the other hand do not go out of business. They may be happy or unhappy with their economic performance but they have no well-defined bottom line. As a result the concept of national competitiveness is elusive.

Not to mention highly politicized.

Los Angeles, Beautiful Flower of the Southland

Fellow Bellevue meeting attendee Don Shank writes:

My vote for the most jaw dropping moment was when the lawyer from Wilbur Smith Associates, seeking an example of how growth brings progress, said that without the Owens River Aquaduct Los Angeles would still be a sleepy little pueblo. He considers this a selling point? The Owens river valley suffered a social and environmental disaster as a result of the aquaduct, inspiring an armed rebellion and acts of sabotage, in return for which they got the rampant corruption and land speculation that spread the L.A. city limits like a malignant cancer. Anybody out there got a spare copy of Mark Reisner's "Caddilac Desert" they can send that guy? We kind of like our sleepy little pueblos along the Nooksack.

Yep, I think a lot of us will be scratching our heads at that stellar bit of public relations work that lawyer did for his friends at Wilbur Smith for some time. But I guess that's why our state hands over the big bucks to these guys.

I've been studying up on Southern California history a bit myself thanks to work of Mike Davis, whose highly readable social histories of Los Angeles are found in his books City of Quartz, Dead Cities, and The Ecology of Fear. Mike Davis's main approach is too examine how in many cases so-called natural disasters are really social disasters. In the process of going back and unearthing the toxic cocktail of poor planning, speculation, corruption and rampantly promoted growth he comes up with a lot of great material that informs our situation here that I'll be sharing with you in the next few posts.

This gem is from the preface to The Ecology of Fear:

"No place on Earth offers greater security to life and greater freedom from natural disasters than Southern California."-- Los Angeles Times, 1934

5 hours since the meeting and still fumin'

It’s going on 5 hours since the meeting in Bellevue ended and I’m still angry. Not really boiling over, just simmering with disgust with the spectacle of arrogance and, in my opinion, criminally misplaced priorities exhibited by the people doing this study, and the legislators who are promoting it.

I have to say though that in the face of this arrogance the folks from Van Zandt, Acme and other parts of the South Fork Valley really stole the show by packing their bus to the hearing and unpacking their hearts and thoughts once they got to there. If and when the Commerce Corridor idea goes down in the flames it deserves to it’ll be hard to forget these people for standing up soonest and pushing back hardest. Keep it up and Sen. Dan Schwecker, who told the crowd he’s been thinking about the possibility of building this truck route for years, will be mulling the idea of airlifting freight from the Canadian border to Arlington International Airport before long.

I didn’t take a headcount but roughly 125 people were in attendance. Citizens, lobbyists, people of all political stripes and all pin stripes. The contrast between the first panel of the consultants doing this study and the second panel of transportation professionals from several of the counties who are actually dealing with the problem of congestion was stark, stark, and stark. Night and day, black and white. I don’t know whose idea the second panel was, but if it was somebody promoting the corridor their either kicking themselves or getting kicked for inviting the second panel. The promoters of the plan clearly think w’ere too stupid to tell straight talk from local transportation planners from a high-priced snow job from a bunch of hired gun attorneys and economists.

More to come shortly.

Public Meeting Moved! Hide and Seek with the DOT Round 2

Here's a Map to guide you from the old meeting point, the State DOT office at 10833 Northup Way in Bellevue, to the new meeting spot at the Ramada Inn at 818 112th Ave. NE Directions straight to the Ramada are posted below:

Just to make our lives more interesting the State Dept. of Transportation decided to move tomorrow's public meeting 2 miles down the road. They sent out an e-mail yesterday, 2 whole days before the meeting, to the handful of folks who signed up with them to receive updates. Apparently the the DOT's Bellevue permitting office, built at no small expense and specially designed (or so w'eve heard) to accommodate public hearings just ain't that accommodating after all. At least not when compared to the state of the art environs of the Ramada Inn down the road.

So who wants to take bets on whether the DOT'll have a person standing outside with a map to the new meeting spot? Or will it be a sign on the door? Or will they even bother to mention it to the receptionist?

Here's the message sent out yesterday, by Joy Dopita, of the state DOT. Lucky duckies who want to be in the know when the DOT bobs, feints and weaves in the future can sign up to receive e-mails from Joy by e-mailing her at dopitaj@wsdot.wa.gov. She's the secretary so please be polite.

Here's Joy's e-mail:

Due to the great response to the Commerce Corridor Feasibility Study the public forum scheduled for Friday, July 16 has been moved to accomodate a larger crowd. The new location will be the Ramada Inn in Bellevue, WA. The address is: 818 112th Ave NE. Attached you will find the new driving directions. I will also be sending a revised agenda shortly. Thank you.

Joy Dopita
Freight Strategy & Policy
PO Box 47322
Olympia, WA 98504-7322
(360) 705-7932

Here's Joy's directions to the Ramada heading South on I-5

1. Take I-5 south

2. Merge onto I-405 S via exit number 182 toward BELLEVUE/RENTON. 16.6 miles

3. Take the N.E. 8TH ST. EAST/WEST exit- exit number 13B. 0.1 miles

4. Take the N.E. 8TH ST. WEST ramp. 0.2 miles

5. Turn RIGHT onto 112TH AVE NE. 0.1 miles

Ramada Inn is at 818 112th Ave Ne, Bellevue, WA 98004-4514

Hope to see you there!