The biggest challenge is implementation, Durkan said, which has been very true for her administration.
The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26 as the 26th iteration of this annual event, is underway in Glasgow, Scotland. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and Washington Governor Jay Inslee made the trip to attend. Unfortunately, back at home, Mayor Durkan’s climate plans don’t appear to be making much headway, especially in comparison to leading mayors like Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
Seattle’s climate emissions continue to creep up, and Mayor Durkan abandoned a pledge to implement road pricing (also known as congestion pricing) in her first term. She has yet to deliver a promised emissions-free zone, let alone lay out a plan to do so — The Urbanist‘s Ryan Packer had to use a public records request to get a peek at preliminary plans, but the exact location of the pedestrianized low-emission zone remains redacted and a mystery. Bus funding has also suffered under her watch, despite overwhelming support from voters.
Other cities have taken huge strides to redesign their streets to prioritize climate-friendly transportation and reduce deadly crashes via pedestrianized streets and districts, protected bike lanes, and dedicated bus lanes. Seattle’s progress on reprioritizing street space has sputtered under Mayor Durkan, with numerous street safety projects delayed, canceled, or watered down. Relatedly, traffic fatalities are trending up despite a City pledge to eliminate road deaths by 2030.
Meanwhile, in Paris, Mayor Hidalgo has taken the pandemic as an opportunity to accelerate implementation of her climate-friendly transportation plans, such as pedestrianized streets including a prominent thoroughfare along the Seine River. Hidalgo also added car-free zones near schools, lowered speed limits, and aggressively rolled out a connected network of protected bike lanes. Paris’ transformation has been hugely successful in decreasing reliance on cars and lowering pollution. Many mayors in Europe, Asia, and Latin America have pursued similar policies.
