From: Eli Goldberg [mailto:Eli.Goldberg@microsoft.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2011 7:34 AM
To: Burrows, Tracy
Subject: Re: Public Comment for tomorrow's CTAC III meeting

Hi Tracy - would love to substitute with the below revised copy if possible. If not, no worries!

Yours,

Eli

Op Jul 5, 2011, om 8:48 PM heeft Eli Goldberg het volgende geschreven:

> Hi Tracy!
> 
> Paulo on the CTAC suggested that you were the contact for public feedback. Attached is mine.
> 
> Thank you,
> 
> Eli
> 
> ---
> 
> Dear CTAC members,
> 
> I live in the University District, and am the co-organizer of University Greenways, a newly formed coalition 
for bringing safe bike infrastructure and livable streets to the University District community.
> 
> The U-district community needs funded safe bike infrastructure. Most of our residents don’t own cars, and 
many of us can’t afford them. With only one in three working residents of the U-District core owning an 
automobile – and an average income of $17,000 – our choices for getting around our community are often 
limited to walking and the bus. And with parking at a premium around the Ave, owning a car often isn't much 
of a help, since there's no guarantee of a parking space convenient to your destination. 


> 
> We watch hard-working University Way shopkeepers clamor for a larger customer base, while we see 
thousands of potential customers live and work within a quick bike ride. When we walk a half hour to the 
grocery store or to University Ave, we're making a trip that safe bike routes could shorten to mere minutes. 
And while the U-district's bus service is fantastic for going downtown or to other neighborhoods, it doesn’t 
offer much help in efficiently and affordably making point-to-point trips within our own community and 
adjacent residential neighborhoods like Wallingford. 
> 
> And we're only going to need the option of bicycling more in the immediate coming years. Beginning in fall 
2011, new UW dorms will begin to add thousands of new car-free residents to the U-district's heart. Tens of 
thousands of car-less commuters are expected to be pumped into the U-district each day through the new 
Brooklyn light rail station, beginning in 2016. We need infrastructure that students hauling bags of groceries, 
families bringing children to the sights and sounds of our farmer’s market, and UW staff wishing to run 
errands or go out to lunch on the Ave – will feel safe and comfortable using.
> 
> Despite our community having this clear need for Greenways and other low-stress bike infrastructure, it 
appears funding simply does not exist for building safe bike infrastructure for everyday members of our 
community to safely and affordably get around the U-District, as they would do in Portland, Eugene, Boulder, 
Davis, Stanford and countless other university communities with whom we compete with for prospective 
students and, in turn, future productive residents.
> 
> We ask that the CTAC dedicate sufficient funds to enable Seattle communities like ours to have access to 
safe and welcoming bicycling facilities. Portland is building 15-20 miles a year of Greenways -- where's ours?
> 
> 
> Thank you so much,
> 
> Eli Goldberg
> co-organizer, University Greenways
>