<div dir="ltr"><div><span id="gmail-docs-internal-guid-287b83dc-7fff-6c9a-8fa0-328fd1adc6e6"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:center;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:italic;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span style="border:none;display:inline-block;overflow:hidden;width:153px;height:43px"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/vkSPjR5TjQWjpfB68KD6Mc4BrWD3mvRIHAIgurPf31v773iEsnV3Cx-2FV0w2Yd6t3UUM2MVWYQFSXWzUl3rss5M0j-k3h1ZOWrLy5OldXO9okjm5dtOeVviix-PoMe7tO5owTv9" width="153" height="43" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:italic;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">          </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:italic;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span style="border:none;display:inline-block;overflow:hidden;width:71px;height:85px"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ITbyXOJloNHBJPtF8RsU2P2a93isdoUfc2k5Xf0hFWH-Szb_UbiCgvlPCcqVU4GYPxtt6hL3wKGIlm6lT4vLUg3hSXTU8oVR7tXEqxMqqeV1go0Vr4lN0SSaIykvswKO2SsI85F3" width="71" height="85" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:italic;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">     </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:italic;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span style="border:none;display:inline-block;overflow:hidden;width:118px;height:69px"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/FrsRn1BTpOSeq88tG0jI01TXbwRu098a4LGx8My2GTGp68YLTAIU7RwpDCJiX-Sbgz2xK8-X5wq006Yn7CQtZ6wT5qxppvbKcktk6f4Bo-jdvXKR-lDAWM9ZZi_mlNZjnhABHRvA" width="118" height="91.81451612903226" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:italic;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">    </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:italic;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span style="border:none;display:inline-block;overflow:hidden;width:116px;height:46px"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ZTqcJwlVbaD5xl_-wM9Y_eONsMp8J2GpQAlwJS-IJB6qaAEu88uajJ7rZ5QblZaIId1lPikCqArPGrO2HrQcMG_JNjtOEVcTbI5R8wjPAbUZkc4R-xqsPuB8vKxrviSuMJiNj6SG" width="116" height="46" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:italic;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">          </span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:italic;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">MEDIA RELEASE: </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> March 18, 2021</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:right;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:italic;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">CONTACT:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:right;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Anna Zivarts, Program Director, Disability Mobility Initiative</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:right;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">206 718 8432 - <a href="mailto:annaz@dr-wa.org">annaz@dr-wa.org</a></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1m5QpjJmISitWpK8i_PMWNSl0nQCmDxBL?usp=sharing" style="text-decoration-line:none"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Audio/Video/Photos of press conference</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1m5QpjJmISitWpK8i_PMWNSl0nQCmDxBL?usp=sharing" style="text-decoration-line:none"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1m5QpjJmISitWpK8i_PMWNSl0nQCmDxBL?usp=sharing</span></a></p><br><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:center;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">BIPOC AND DISABLED WASHINGTONIANS DEMAND SIDEWALKS & TRANSIT FIRST</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Thursday, March 18</span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span style="font-size:0.6em;vertical-align:super">th</span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">, Disability Rights Washington and Front and Centered held a press conference with BIPOC and disabled Clark County residents highlighting the dire need to fund transit and pedestrian infrastructure, investments that should take priority over building new highways. </span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Betty Fitzpatrick and her daughters live near the three way intersection of Minnehaha, St. James and St. John Streets. They’ve been asking the city and the county for half a dozen years to get accessible pedestrian signals installed at these major intersections so that blind and low vision residents of this area can cross safely, but with no luck. </span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“People are so used to going out their front door and jumping into their car, and never thinking about the condition of the sidewalk, because they don't use it. Safety-wise it's critical for people to have good sidewalks,” said Betty Fitzpatrick. “In my work as a rehabilitation teacher for the visually impaired I saw how unhealthy it was for people to be institutionalized. The more people can remain independent, the better self-esteem they have. It is ultimately less costly to the system for us to stay in our homes and have accessible transportation to get to doctors appointments, grocery stores, visit people or go to church.”</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“There are rainy days and there are snowy days. I don’t only go out in the summer and spring during beautiful weather. I have to get out and go places but it’s not that exciting to stand at a bus stop an entire hour waiting for the bus,” said Abby Griffith, a blind student and Vancouver resident, who wishes there was more convenient and frequent bus service for low-income residents like herself. </span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“What I discovered when I quit driving is that the world is set up for cars. When I walked places and had to cross streets, I’d hope there was a sidewalk — sometimes there wasn’t. But just because you don’t drive, your life isn’t over. You still have a lot to give your community,” said Harry Kiick, a disabled  Vancouver resident and chair of the citizens advisory committee for C-Tran, who quit driving because of a serious seizure condition. </span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">This press event is the second in a statewide tour of communities throughout Washington where BIPOC and disabled residents are demanding our legislators reimagine and reevaluate transportation spending. </span><a href="https://www.kuow.org/stories/transportation" style="text-decoration-line:none"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Read more</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> about our Tacoma event. </span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Over the last year, Front and Centered and Disability Rights Washington have been conducting listening sessions and interviews with our community members, resulting in a new report, “</span><a href="https://frontandcentered.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/FC-Transportation-Listening-Session-Report.pdf" style="text-decoration-line:none"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Just Movement Listening Sessions</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">,” and the recently released #MobilizeWA </span><a href="http://www.mobilizewa.org" style="text-decoration-line:none"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">transportation storymap</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">. </span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“The way we have funded transportation has left out too many people, most often people of color and poorer communities but everyone who doesn't drive,” said Paulo Nunes-Ueno of Front and Centered. “Rules that were put in 1944 -- before the civil rights era -- are still guiding where and how we invest our transportation dollars. We can do better than this. Backfilling the human-scale transportation that we need for a fairer, greener future will take the same tenacity and focus that helped us build our amazing car-centric highways and byways.</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The report and storymap document how the burden of lack of reliable transit and missing and incomplete places for people to walk and roll falls especially hard on the full quarter of Washingtonians who don’t have a drivers license. Black, Indigenous, and people of color (“BIPOC”), immigrants, poor people, elderly, and disabled people are much less likely to have a driver license or access to cars and are more likely to be transit-reliant.</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Disability advocates involved with the equity workgroup of the Columbia River Crossing Interstate Bridge Program want to ensure that pedestrian and transit access is prioritized. “Securing better pedestrian pathways, public transportation and safe roads must be core outcomes of any project,” said Matthew Hines, a member of the equity workgroup. </span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Proposals to spend billions of dollars widening the freeway over the Columbia River before investing in crucial health and safety investments are antithetical to the values of Oregonians and Washingtonians,” said Aaron Brown, an advocate with the Oregon-based No More Freeways coalition. Brown has worked with community advocates to raise opposition to ODOT’s Rose Quarter Freeway Expansion and push the agency. </span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Funding for pedestrian access and transit is falling far short of the need. </span></p><br><ul style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px"><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The Regional Mobility Grant Program at the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), which supports transit agencies and is especially critical for smaller agencies in more rural regions, was over-prescribed by more than $30 million (or 60%) for the 2021–2023 funding cycle. </span></p></li><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">WSDOT received 242 applications requesting </span><a href="https://wsdot.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2020/12/03/2021-2023-Bike-Ped-SRTS-Priortized-Project-List.pdf" style="text-decoration-line:none"><span style="font-size:10pt;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">$190 million</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> for Safe Routes to School (SRTS) and Pedestrian and Bicycle Program grants for the 2021-23 grant cycle. However, WSDOT anticipates only being able to support fewer than 20% of the proposals with available funding. (Here’s </span><a href="https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1LT_CKjpAmx2DBo9IkhAGmop6KT7KUURJ&ll=32.72154968654055%2C-92.41699249999999&z=4" style="text-decoration-line:none"><span style="font-size:10pt;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">a map</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> that shows the exact location of unfunded bicycle, pedestrian and SRTS projects, statewide.)</span></p></li></ul><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"># # #</span></p></span><br class="gmail-Apple-interchange-newline"></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><br clear="all"><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><font face="comic sans ms,sans-serif">Beth Greenberg</font></div></div></div></div></div>