Public Testimony: #STOPtheSTIP and Invest in Non-Highway Alternatives
Public Testimony at the Oregon Transportation Committee Meeting
Hello Committee Members,
My name is Danielle Maillard. I live in South East Portland and am an organizer with Sunrise PDX. I’m here because I have become overwhelmingly disenchanted by the conditional equity practices that plague ODOT and so many other groups. As individuals, I am sure we hold similar values - and I am aware of the work that some of you have done and are doing to promote equitable and sustainable futures for your communities. However, in much of ODOT’s work, equity is promoted only if it’s convenient and profitable.
ODOT’s own site reads: “Historically and currently underrepresented and underserved communities experience negative impacts from our existing transportation system due to past investment and development patterns.” If anything other than the choice to fund the “non-highway” scenario is made, the OTC is contributing to these same impacts that ODOT has publicly condemned...and I don’t get it.
The whole page labeled “equity and mobility” is filled with this flowery language. There’s an entire section dedicated to stakeholder involvement, and you just violated the public involvement policy - furthering the inequities already inherent in the process of public engagement.
It’s upsetting and it’s dangerous...Ironically, as safety is what ODOT claims to be at the center of its proposals. But it’s the same pattern: safety is promoted when it’s convenient and profitable. Because middle schoolers aren’t safe when they can’t breathe due to freeway pollution. The people living east of 82nd aren’t safe when they are three times more likely to die while crossing the street than those who live on the west. And nobody is safe when transportation accounts for more and more of the carbon emissions in our state every year.
We need BOLD action on equity, safety, and climate. You have the opportunity today to make a decision that rejects the notion that equity, safety, and climate action are contingent on their convenience and profitability. This is why I am urging you to adopt the original S2 Non-Highway Scenario. We need to begin investing in people, not highways...and there are so many incredible alternatives being formed by those most impacted by transportation injustices. We just need to listen.
Thank you.