Our team visits with Senator Rebecca Saldaña in Olympia before a press conference. Clockwise from top left: Nivya Murthi, McKenna Lux, Susan Gleason, Sen. Saldaña, Matthew Sutherland, Kirk Hovenkotter, Ethan C. Campbell (TCC’s research partner), Raven Cruz, and Andrea John-Smith.
Hi Washington!
I’m Kirk Hovenkotter, the new Executive Director of Transportation Choices Coalition. I am thrilled to lead the organization that gave me my start in transportation advocacy and to work with such an incredible staff, board, and community of supporters. Together, we will achieve our mission to secure safe, sustainable, and equitable transportation across Washington.
I love this work because we get to make meaningful change in the place that I call home and address some of the biggest challenges facing our state, from climate change to affordability. Building more just and accessible communities through our streets, trails, and transit is what gets me out of bed every morning.
Only 20% of Washington residents live within a half mile of frequent transit. At Move Redmond and Commute Seattle, I worked first-hand with commuters who endured long trips to work everyday and heard how that took them away from their friends and family and put opportunities out of reach. It highlighted to me how investments in transit and safe walking and biking routes to it could tangibly improve people’s lives.
Last year our board and staff adopted our 2023-2026 strategic plan. It is a powerful commitment to making a more just and sustainable transportation system. My job is to implement it along with staff and partners to achieve our 5 stated goals: advance policy, increase funding, build public support, deepen statewide coalitions, and advance racial equity.
Yet we can’t do it alone. I believe the most important word in our organization’s name is coalition. Our state has thrived because a consensus of riders, elected leaders, businesses, transit agencies, and labor keeps showing up for transit. This coalition has been at the heart of transit’s success in our state and made us the envy of the nation.
With this coalition, we have a key moment to advance mobility justice in Washington. 2024 will be one of the biggest years for transportation in a decade with the opening of two new light rail projects and 2 bus rapid transit lines. Over the next 24 months, we will defend the Climate Commitment Act’s transit funding, work with a new governor on their transportation priorities, expand on Move Ahead Washington’s transit investments in the 2025 legislative session, and build coalitions to win additional funding for transit agencies across the state at the ballot.
Together with our small but mighty staff, our board, and our partners, I know we will seize this moment.
See you on the bus!
Kirk
P.S. I’d love to connect with you! Reach out anytime at kirk@transportationchoices.org. And be sure to stay engaged and sign up for our newsletter.
