A GREAT victory last night for alternative transportation.

The Olympia City Council voted 4-2 to approve a motion by Councilmember
TJ Johnson to proceed with conversion of Capitol Way into a 3-lane plus
bike lane cross-section from the current 4-lane cross section. Voting
FOR the conversion were Mayor Mark Foutch, Laura Ware, Karen Messmer,
and TJ Johnson. Voting no were Jeff Kingsbury (who said he preferred
the 3-lane option, but needed more information to make a decision) and
Doug Mah. Joe Hyer (who also said he preferred the 3-lane option, but
needed more information) abstained.

Many of you participated in the public meetings on this last year,
appeared before the Council, wrote emails and letters, and share in this
victory.

The next step in the process will be a City Council discussion of HOW to
implement the conversion.

We would like to encourage ALL of you to send emails to the City Council
in support of this decision. It can be quite simple: "thank you for
your decision to improve Capitol Way for pedestrians and bicyclists."
Send it to citycouncil@...

We will be following up with a tip sheet on this issue, and will be
encouraging you to send letters to the editor at the Olympian as well.
Please reply directly to me if you'd like some specific information or
guidance in doing so.

--
Jim Lazar, Consulting Economist
1063 Capitol Way S. #202
Olympia, WA 98501
Voice: 360-786-1822
Fax: 253-679-7405

Direct email: jim@...
Listserves: jlazar@...