Dear friends,
Here at Transportation Choices Coalition, we’re navigating some transition, as two long-time team members are on the move. Please join us in wishing Deputy Director Kelsey Mesher and Policy Director Hester Serebrin the very best of luck in their next endeavors, and read more about their many contributions below.
In other news, we’re getting excited for the next big Link light rail opening! On August 30, the Lynnwood Link Extension will open alongside one of the busiest stretches of highway in our state, giving thousands of people a new way to get to work, school, healthcare, recreation, and more.
As we celebrate this milestone and all the people who helped make it happen, we’re also looking to the future. This November, transportation is on the ballot in more ways than one. Read on to learn what’s at stake with the Governor’s race, Initiative 2117, and the Seattle Transportation Levy — and find ways to plug in!
Keep moving,
– Transportation Choices Coalition
WHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO
Honoring Two Beloved Team Members
This month, we’re saying goodbye to Deputy Director Kelsey Mesher, whose final day was August 2nd, and Policy Director Hester Serebrin, who is with us through the end of August. Both Kelsey and Hester have made innumerable contributions to TCC, and helped shape transportation across Washington. They will be missed!
Over the past seven years, Kelsey helped make TCC the magnetic organization that it is, serving as Advocacy Director, Deputy Director, and Interim Executive Director. In her various roles, she built trusted relationships with communities across the state, and helped make TCC a powerful organization that punches above its weight. As Deputy Director, she created a culture of care at TCC that makes people feel valued, engaged, and supported to do the work.
For more than eleven years, Hester has positioned TCC as a policy leader in the state and across the country. Hester joined TCC as a Research Intern back in 2013 and quickly rose to Policy Analyst and Policy Director. Hester has made a major imprint on transportation policy in our state. If you ride a bus today in our state, your trip has been made better by Hester’s work. Hester has also been a phenomenal leader at TCC, supporting staff through key moments of change and ensuring TCC lives up to its values. TCC would not be what it is today without Hester.
Thank you, Kelsey and Hester, for all you’ve given us!
Kirk Hovenkotter
Executive Director
Engaging with the Governor’s Race
The Governor’s race is a huge opportunity to ensure candidates understand the importance of transportation and its key role in creating a safer, more equitable, and more sustainable Washington. Transportation Choices Coalition is a c(3) organization — that means we can’t and don’t weigh in on electoral campaigns. But we can help educate candidates and help the public stay informed as well.
Read our recent blog post to learn more about what’s at stake in the governor’s race and what we hope to see the next governor take on when it comes to transportation.
WHAT’S COMING UP
Transit Trek to Snoqualmie Valley
This month, Snoqualmie Valley Transportation launches weekend service on their Valley Shuttle route. Join Transit Trekker on Sunday, August 18, for a celebratory outing to ride the shuttle and enjoy Tolt-MacDonald Park — or an outing of your own.
Celebrate the Opening of the Lynnwood Link Extension!
On Friday, August 30, from 4 – 8 PM, celebrate the opening of the 1 Line Extension from Northgate to Lynnwood. Our friends at Snotrac are partnering with the Lynnwood Chamber and Sound Transit to hold a community celebration at the Lynnwood City Center Station with live music, food trucks, cultural performances, a night market of arts and crafts, a community resource fair, and fun activities for kids of all ages. Stop by and grab a commemorative tote bag and other swag while supplies last!
Join Us at the 2024 Bike Walk Roll Summit
Cascade Bicycle Club and Washington Bikes are hosting the 2024 Bike Walk Roll Summit in person in Tacoma, WA on September 12 – 13.
This year’s summit, “Safe Streets for Everybody,” invites planners and engineers, community advocates, and elected officials to explore how to embed safety in every aspect of designing our streets and communities. Come learn how to turn your ideas into action from expert speakers and panels, experiential learning forums, and collaborative spaces.
TCC’s Advocacy Director, Matthew Sutherland, will be speaking on a panel with TCC contract researcher Ethan Campbell about our work with the Free to Walk Coalition to reform Washington’s jaywalking laws.
Register now to secure your spot.
Get Your Tickets for Tuxes & Trains 2024
Tickets are going fast for Tuxes & Trains 2024 on Friday, October 4, at 7 PM. We’re hosting this year’s reception-style fundraiser at the gorgeous Seattle Art Museum, and we couldn’t be more excited.
Gather with transit agency leaders, elected officials, planners, engineers, workers, advocates, and community members from across the state as we celebrate a year of major transit project openings in Washington. This year, our gala theme celebrates “The Art of Mobility,” acknowledging the vision, skill, creativity, passion, and perseverance it takes to make these transformational projects come to bear.
Get your early bird tickets now!
Interested in volunteering at Tuxes & Trains?
We’d love to have you! We’re looking for volunteers to support night-of check-in, games and activities, and ushering during the program. Please reach out to McKenna Lux at mckenna@transportationchoices.org if you’re interested.
GET INVOLVED
Volunteer with the No on 2117 Campaign
Initiative 2117 poses a grave threat to transportation across Washington. If passed, it would cut one-third of our state’s already stretched transportation budget, making traffic congestion worse and commutes even longer. It threatens to drastically slash funding for transit service, ferries, road and bridge maintenance, and even the popular Youth Ride Free program, which provides fare-free transit to 1.6 million Washingtonians ages 18 and under.
The No on 2117 campaign is bringing together an unprecedented coalition of over 350 environmental and business leaders, Tribal nations, labor unions, and community organizations to protect our air and water, forests and farmlands, jobs, and transportation investments. Together we can defeat I-2117, but only if we all pitch in.
Please sign up to volunteer for the No on 2117 campaign.
Support the Seattle Transportation Levy
The next Seattle Transportation Levy will make it safer and easier to get around Seattle, with historic investments in sidewalks, increased funding for safe walking and biking, and targeted improvements to make bus trips faster and more reliable. No matter who you are or how you get around, you’ll benefit from the investments in this levy. The Keep Seattle Moving campaign will work to ensure Seattle votes YES on Proposition 1, and they need our help.
Sign up to volunteer with the Keep Seattle Moving campaign.
Would your organization like to endorse the Seattle Transportation Levy? Fill out an endorsement form here.
Share Your Thoughts on Transportation in King, Snohomish, and Pierce Counties
A new Regional Mobility Survey will help TCC and our partner organizations better understand transportation challenges in the Puget Sound region. The findings will inform advocacy, work plans, and services to improve transportation options across the region.
Join a Public Meeting on the Washington Transportation Plan
The Washington Transportation Plan (WTP) is a transportation policy plan for all of Washington State. It provides an overarching transportation policy framework along with strategies for use by all jurisdictions statewide that issue a transportation plan or operate a transportation mode.
The Washington State Transportation Commission is in the middle of its initial engagement on the WTP update effort. From mid-August through mid-September, the Commission will host a series of virtual, topic-specific public meetings focusing on key issues that emerged from regional meetings held this spring.
Long-term Funding: Aug. 22, 10-11:30 a.m. Register
Connecting Communities: Aug. 29, 10-11:30 a.m. Register
Equity in Transportation: Sept. 5, 10-11:30 a.m. Register
STAFF PICK
Paris Shows Us What’s Possible
This summer, Paris offered a different vision of what transportation could look like during major sporting events, and beyond. The European Union’s biggest metropolis prioritized bike travel over all other modes — and it seems to have been successful. One major route experienced more than 11,000 riders per day during the games — a 50% jump in ridership from the same time last year. Meanwhile, big investments in transit have bumped ridership up by 40%. And now, as the hosting torch has been handed to Los Angeles, that famously car-centric city is promising to host a car-free Olympics in 2028. What an exciting vision that is! It gets the wheels turning, so to speak, for how bold we can be when Washington State hosts several World Cup games in 2026. What can we envision for the massive attendance and transportation needs during the World Cup, and what kind of legacy can we leave in place for safer, more sustainable, and equitable transportation choices for our region going forward?
Susan Gleason
Development Manager
WHAT WE’RE READING
Focused on road deaths, King County may equip fleet with speed limiters — The Seattle Times
“As deaths and injuries on the nation’s roads reach 30-year highs, Metropolitan King County Council members voted Tuesday to put in place policies seeking to stop fatalities in the region’s transportation system.”
Train travel is booming in the Pacific Northwest — Axios Seattle
“Train travel in the Pacific Northwest is roaring back, with Amtrak Cascades trains seeing a 75% jump in ridership last year.”
State DOTs could fuel a resurgence in intercity bus travel — State Smart Transportation Initiative
“The DOT in Washington State is also working to restore intercity bus service that was disrupted during the pandemic and once again pondering service expansions it had first considered in 2019.”
Paris Hopes to Forge a New Model for Olympics-Oriented Development — The Urbanist
“The Olympic Village could be a case study for American cities on how to develop social housing connected to transit projects.”
Building housing near transit takes change at every level — Transportation For America
“Advancing equitable transit-oriented development requires all hands at the community level, but leadership at the state and federal level can also help propel change.”
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