Hello
Hope all is well, I'm reaching out as a resident to . It has come to my attention that this morning a bill was introduced to the Idaho State House that, in my opinion, would negatively affect nearly all aspects of the Transportation plans in the Neighborhood Association Plan.
Briefly summarizing the bill, it would:
Move the current structure of Ada County Highway District Committee from a 5 seat committee to a 7 seat committee Require members to align with a political party (from the current non-partisan committee structure) Redistribute the seats to give outsized representation to less populated areas of Ada County. The more subjective outcome of the bill, based on the voting history of the supporting legislators, is to redirect the efforts the county and city has made for bike/pedestrian access to purely fund arterial highway development. It would encourage more road development and would lead to a less safe environment for our pedestrians & cyclists trying to visit the commercial section of Hill Rd as well as our residents living in their neighborhood streets. The full bill is: RS 31410. Countywide highway districts.
Fortunately, the bill was not approved for vote this morning and will have to have some language amended before reintroducing it, but I do expect that to happen in the near future. I wanted to reach out mainly to bring this to your attention but also to see what avenues there might be to help spread the word amongst the neighborhood and to identify how we might be able to support the opposition of the bill. Couple questions:
Are there any opportunities coming up to potentially speak to the association about this? If I were to draft up a statement and have it reviewed and approved by the association, would it be ok to submit it and/or testify on behalf of the association? Has the association supported/opposed bills in the past, and what methods would you recommend? I'd be happy to discuss any other parts of this or the bill itself with you anytime, please let me know what you think!
Thanks!