The Covid-19 pandemic has upended transit as we know it, devastated transportation budgets, and imperiled planned infrastructure upgrades. The advocacy organization Feet First is hosting a webinar 9am tomorrow May 29th to discuss the crisis with a panel of leaders on the issue. Register for the webinar via this link.
The panel consists of State Senator Joe Nguyen (D-White Center), Transportation for America Director Beth Osborne, Jessica Engelman of Spokane-based multimodal advocacy group SpokAT, and Shamso Issak of Living Well Kent.
Former Mayor Mike McGinn, who volunteers with Feet First these days, helped organize the panel and I caught up with him to hear about what to expect.
“The point of the panel is talk about how do we prioritize what we do,” McGinn said. “Transit needs funding. There are more people walking. There are more people biking. But is the State gonna, come hell or high water, fund highway expansion or are they going to look to re-prioritize their spending?”
With representation from Spokane and Kent, the panel will take a statewide perspective and McGinn noted that the suburbanization of low-wage workers and communities of color meant that places like Kent sorely need affordable transportation options. “For many of them transit is essential,” he added.
