Olympia’s Parks and Sidewalks Tax: Leaving Butt-Prints in the Sands of Time Karen Messmer Olympia...
Transcript of Olympia’s Parks and Sidewalks Tax: Leaving Butt-Prints in the Sands of Time Karen Messmer Olympia...
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Olympia’s Parks and Sidewalks Tax:Leaving Butt-Prints in the Sands of Time
Karen MessmerOlympia City Council
Jim LazarOlympia Safe Streets Campaign
Presented at:
Pro Walk / Pro Bike
Madison, Wisconsin
September, 2006
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Get the Money!
First Law of Politics
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Sidewalk Funding in Olympia
• How did this happen?– Inspiration
– Community commitment
– Developing the Plans
– Convincing the City Council to put the Parks and Sidewalks Tax to the voters
– Convincing the voters to support the measure.
Insert graphic of $50k rising to $1.2 million from 1990 to 2006.
City of Olympia Annual Sidewalk Funding
$0
$200,000
$400,000
$600,000
$800,000
$1,000,000
$1,200,000
Before Parks and Sidewalks Measure
After Parks and Sidewalks Measure
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Olympia’s Commitment• Olympia is a city of about 45,000
people; well-educated workforce, with progressive politics generally.
• Funded School Walking Route Program (1990)
• Established Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (1993)
• Adopted a Comprehensive Plan Vision: A Walkable, Pedestrian-Friendly Community (1995)
• Established New Development Standards requiring sidewalks, planter strips, streetlights (1996)
• BUT: As of 2004, funding was $150,000 per year – a 300+ year backlog to put a sidewalk on one side of major streets.
The problem:
LOTS of older streets built in “car” era without sidewalks
Not Enough Money To Move Quickly
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Getting Inspired• Pro Bike / Pro Walk
conferences in Seattle, Arlington, Va, Portland, Or, Portland, Me, Santa Barbara, California…
• Regional conferences in the Pacific Northwest
• More than anything: Inspiration from Dan Burden’s presentations
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Leaving Buttprints in the Sands of Time
• “You can’t leave footprints in the sands of time if you’re sitting on your butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?
– Ellen Vanderslice citing Bob Moawab
– Victoria, BC Bike/Ped Conference 11/98
• Hearings on Comprehensive Plan (1995) [butt-time]
• Hearings on development standards (1996) [butt-time]
• Development of Parks Plan (2000-2003) [butt-time]
• Development of Sidewalk Plan (1997-2003) [butt-time]
Ellen Was only Part Right!We left a lot of butt-prints in the chairs of local government
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The Olympia Parks Plan
• Parks Department hired a consultant to update Parks Plan.• Planning Commissioner liaison to Parks Advisory
Committee• Ensured that walking questions were included in the poll.• Poll results: walking is the #1 form of active recreation.• Ensured that walking goals and policies were in the Plan.
• Established, unquestionably, that walking – on sidewalks – is a “Parks and Recreation” activity. This was VERY important when it came time to link the funding to Parks.
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Olympia Sidewalk Plan
• BPAC field-checked every neighborhood collector, major collector, and arterial.
• Identified 255 segments without sidewalk.
• Prioritized missing sidewalk based on 10 objective criteria.
• $53 million sidewalk deficiency – and a $150,000/year sidewalk budget. (353 years!!)
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With the Groundwork In Place…
• City staff had proposed a parks funding measure to implement the parks plan.
• City appointed an advisory committee to guide a funding measure decision to be put to the voters.
• We needed to influence this process.
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The Pre-Campaign
• City Parks staff very focused on their measure, a 2% increase in the tax on phone, electric & gas.
• Two city council members were persuaded to include sidewalks in the assignment to the advisory committee.
• Needed to infiltrate and influence this committee.• We identified pro-sidewalk volunteers well-
connected to the City Council to serve on the committee.
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Getting a Core Constituency Mobilized
• Created Walkable Olympia Neighborhoods
• Printed simple literature
• Installed realtor “infoboxes” at key locations.
• Developed an email list to turn people out.
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Influencing the Dialog
• At first meeting of the advisory committee, there were five members of the public present…all sidewalk advocates
• At the second meeting of the advisory committee, there were 15 members of the public present…14 of them ours.
• Poll commissioned to guide the funding measure decision: – Our task: getting the questions on walking and
sidewalks included in a Parks Department driven survey; we were confident of the result.
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Poll Results: A Critical Turning Point
• Poll results showed:– 42% approval for a 1% increase in utility tax for
sidewalks– 49% approval for a 2% increase for parks.– 57% approval for a 3% increase for parks and
sidewalks.
• Suddenly we were the margin of victory, not the insurgents!
• The advisory committee recommended a 3% increase, 2% for Parks, 1% for Sidewalks.
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Next Step: The City Council Decision
• We did not wait for the public hearing. 150 yard signs placed before the City Council decided to put it to the voters.
• At the public hearing:50+ people spoke40+ pro-sidewalk 3 opposed the tax increase.
• City Council moved forward with a 3% increase proposal.
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Forming a Campaign Committee
• Once the poll results were in, all uneasiness of Parks advocates disappeared.
• Joint committee formed, roughly 50% Parks advocates and 50% sidewalk advocates.
• Our name told the whole story: Olympians for a Livable Community: Parks,
Open Space, and Sidewalks.
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The Message for Parks and Sidewalks
• Developed our message to voters based on the poll results.– A Legacy of Natural Treasures– A Livable Community– Health and Safety
• Raised about $12,000 to pay for campaign literature.
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A Tactical Low-Budget Campaign
• Hired two college students for the summer for $2,000
• We headed off potential opposition– Chamber of Commerce convinced to be silent– Low-income advocates recognized the benefits
to low-income citizens.
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Some Critical Campaign Elements
• Early deployment of signs• Letter-to-the-editor coordinator • Doorbelled walkable precincts.• Mailed to harder-to-walk precincts.• Lots of Signwaving• September election: better weather, and less “clutter.”
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September 20: We Won!
• Remember those poll results: With a strong, coordinated campaign for Parks and Sidewalks, we could earn 57% of the vote?
• The final tally:
57.1%
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What We’re Doing With the Money
• We are aggressively acquiring new parkland and open space.
• We are building sidewalks every year.– Established a sidewalk design and
project management team.– Using porous concrete to reduce
stormwater impacts– Sidewalk plan is prioritized:
getting the most important sidewalks in place first.
– Parks and Pathways logo on each project.
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San Francisco Street: Before and After
San Francisco Street Near Reeves Middle School
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