City of Newcastle, WA -- Council Meeting of January 15th, 2013
Mayor Rich Crispo said that tolling (charging drivers a fee for the use of a road) on major thoroughfares (like I-90) will be coming to pass and that this will be the wave of the future in paying for public transportation costs, and implying, especially so in states with no income tax, like Washington. The mayor noted that the State of New York has a lot of tolling, but also has an income tax, and neither, acccording to him, brought much improvement of road infrastructure there, but the implication was that things could be worst. Councilman Steve Buri started out the discussion on tolling by acknowledging that I-90 will probably be tolled in 2015 through the likely approval of the state and federal governments. Highway 405 was also brought up in the overall discussion about roads and tolling, but it seemed that the Council believed there would be so-called HOT lanes on 405 rather than conventional tolling. HOT lanes stands for high-occupancy tolls; an acronym for road fees that give single occupant vehicles access to high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes.
In other Council meeting news, a City of Bellevue official, Bruce Jensen, made a 20-minute-or-so presentation about the Coal Creek Culvert Replacement Project. This and various Coal Creek Parkway road repairs are expected to slow down traffic on Coal Creek to some degree later this year, particularly when both projects are being done at the same time. The culvert replacement project is expected to last from April to November.
The Council voted unanimously 5 - 0 (Deputy Mayor Lisa Jensen and Councilman Bill Erxleben were absent) to approve a Proclamation (of achievement) for Mandy Schendel of Newcastle, Miss Washington of 2012, and a 2013 Miss America contestant who was one of the Top 10 finalists. Schendel won the Lifestyle and Fitness Award at the traditional event.
Council candidate, Mark Greene, spoke from the public podium twice: firstly, he noted global warming and climate change as being one of the central crises of our era, and that the world community must take decisive steps to confront it. Greene proposed a 3-person "Global Warming" committee to be appointed by the Council that would make suggestions on what Newcastle could do to tackle the problem. The committee, which Greene said he would volunteer for if enacted, would make suggestions to the Council, which in turn would act on its own or submit plans to Governor-elect Inslee and the State Legislature. Greene pointed out that the power of incrementalism could do a lot and implied that every community in the world had a part to play. In his second trip to the public podium, Greene said that public officials had an obligation to study the health effects of wireless electronic (communications) infrastructure before implementing it willy-nilly, particularly in light of the Council's earlier discussion about a pending franchise agreement between the City of Newcastle and Zayo Group, LLC which relates to the installation of a fiber optic/telecommunications system.
Note: Mark Greene is less concerned about health concerns regarding fiber optic installation than other types of wireless electronic communications infrastructure for various reasons which N.P.R. will discuss later.
[revised on 1/18/2013]
Mayor Rich Crispo said that tolling (charging drivers a fee for the use of a road) on major thoroughfares (like I-90) will be coming to pass and that this will be the wave of the future in paying for public transportation costs, and implying, especially so in states with no income tax, like Washington. The mayor noted that the State of New York has a lot of tolling, but also has an income tax, and neither, acccording to him, brought much improvement of road infrastructure there, but the implication was that things could be worst. Councilman Steve Buri started out the discussion on tolling by acknowledging that I-90 will probably be tolled in 2015 through the likely approval of the state and federal governments. Highway 405 was also brought up in the overall discussion about roads and tolling, but it seemed that the Council believed there would be so-called HOT lanes on 405 rather than conventional tolling. HOT lanes stands for high-occupancy tolls; an acronym for road fees that give single occupant vehicles access to high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes.
In other Council meeting news, a City of Bellevue official, Bruce Jensen, made a 20-minute-or-so presentation about the Coal Creek Culvert Replacement Project. This and various Coal Creek Parkway road repairs are expected to slow down traffic on Coal Creek to some degree later this year, particularly when both projects are being done at the same time. The culvert replacement project is expected to last from April to November.
The Council voted unanimously 5 - 0 (Deputy Mayor Lisa Jensen and Councilman Bill Erxleben were absent) to approve a Proclamation (of achievement) for Mandy Schendel of Newcastle, Miss Washington of 2012, and a 2013 Miss America contestant who was one of the Top 10 finalists. Schendel won the Lifestyle and Fitness Award at the traditional event.
Council candidate, Mark Greene, spoke from the public podium twice: firstly, he noted global warming and climate change as being one of the central crises of our era, and that the world community must take decisive steps to confront it. Greene proposed a 3-person "Global Warming" committee to be appointed by the Council that would make suggestions on what Newcastle could do to tackle the problem. The committee, which Greene said he would volunteer for if enacted, would make suggestions to the Council, which in turn would act on its own or submit plans to Governor-elect Inslee and the State Legislature. Greene pointed out that the power of incrementalism could do a lot and implied that every community in the world had a part to play. In his second trip to the public podium, Greene said that public officials had an obligation to study the health effects of wireless electronic (communications) infrastructure before implementing it willy-nilly, particularly in light of the Council's earlier discussion about a pending franchise agreement between the City of Newcastle and Zayo Group, LLC which relates to the installation of a fiber optic/telecommunications system.
Note: Mark Greene is less concerned about health concerns regarding fiber optic installation than other types of wireless electronic communications infrastructure for various reasons which N.P.R. will discuss later.
[revised on 1/18/2013]
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