Staff Recommendation and Request

Sustainable Transportation Coordinator

We recommend that the city create a full time Sustainable Transport Coordinator. The position will address the local problems of traffic congestion, parking and air quality. It will also become a focal point for local action on the global issues of greenhouse gasses, climate change and importing foreign oil.

This person will be tasked with two main objectives:

To help create and coordinate the implementation of a comprehensive plan to build a sustainable system of transportation for the community.
To implement a program for congestion and parking relief based on alternatives to full size automobiles as identified in the attached reports.

The full sustainable transport plan will be developed to integrate all the aspects of sustainable transport into a comprehensive system. These elements include but are not limited to:

Reducing the Need for Travel
Human Powered Transport (bicycles, pedestrians etc.)
Electric Cars
Bio Fuels
Neighborhood Transport Vehicles
Mass Transit

The plan will identify everything needed to support and foster the use of all these options. It will layout the ways that various City departments need to participate and work together to make sustainable transport a priority in all their activities. It will line up all the budgetary items needed to implement the plan. It will identify all the regulatory changes needed at the local level as well as legislative issues at the county state and federal level that need to be addressed.

The position would be assigned to the appropriate department and work with an advisory committee to establish priorities and direction. That advisory committee would include the appropriate City management, City board members (at least a Planning Commission liaison) as well as at least three sustainable transport advocates from within the community.

The position is given the title of coordinator, as the work is primarily to help all the various parts of the City staff understand how their roles interconnect in building this system. The person will help staff understand how they can incorporate building the sustainable transport system into their ongoing work. The position would also monitor the progress of each department and provide reporting to the appropriate management channels.