The Central West End Association hosted a forum on August 21 at New City School featuring 9th Ward Alderman Michael Browning speaking on the topic of “traffic calming and the city’s current funding structure.” There was discussion of city-wide traffic calming initiatives that are somewhere on the horizon, but the bulk of the meeting was about Browning’s efforts to create a new Department of Transportation. There was so much information presented that there was no way I could synthesize it for you, so I asked the alderman if he would send a synopsis of the forum.
Browning sent the graph below to explain why he thinks the creation of a Department of Transportation in the City of St. Louis is necessary. This idea has since become a proposed amendment called Prop T, which is on the November 5 General Election ballot (sample here). If passed, Prop T would go into effect in 2029.
Coincidentally, the CWE’s TechArtista published an article in this week’s “Weekly Drip” newsletter by Kea Wilson who writes for the USA Streets Blog. The article’s tagline, St. Louis is Ready to Restructure its Transportation Model, Not Everyone Thinks It’s a Good Idea, caught my eye. When asked how he felt about Wilson’s article—since he figures so prominently in it—Browning said, “I quite enjoyed Kia’s piece.” I think you will too.
Browning’s easy-to-understand graph on why we should vote YES on Prop T follows:
