Smaller Pierce Transit map viable, promising

The Pierce Transit boundary conference is underway.  The first meeting was held last Friday at the Puyallup Public Library.  Derek Young, the representative for Gig Harbor, was elected as chair of the conference.

The first mention of what happened was from Derek himself via his blog Public Record.  Kudos to him for communication with the public.  He included a press release, a map of a draft of the new proposed boundary, and a link to the conference webpage.

If only the Pierce County Urban Growth Boundary looked like this.

As hoped, the new boundary draft removes unincorporated portions of the Key Peninsula, Mid-County, Graham, and parts of East Pierce County - including Buckley, Bonney Lake, and Orting.  It also removes the City of Dupont, which is a new feature.  Pierce Transit could have a fighting chance at the ballot box if the service boundary were redrawn in this manner.

As of this writing I haven't been able to acquire a list of precincts this map removes from the existing boundary, which is necessary to do any vote projections, but at first glance it appears that it's workable.  A minimum of 100 transit-hostile precincts have to go to make the map viable.  

If you'd like to attend the next meeting or submit comments regarding the process, the press release concludes:

The next meeting will be held Friday, January 20, 2012 at 9:00am located at Clover Park Technical College, 4500 Steilacoom Blvd, Lakewood WA, 98499, Building 3, Rotunda Room.   Please visit www.piercetransit.org/ptic.htm for information regarding the Public Transportation Improvement Conference including a map the preliminary delineations, meeting materials and how to make comments to the Conference.

I will be working with community partners throughout the county and the region to support boundary revision that will help to secure the viability of public transit in Pierce County and the South Puget Sound.