City Council chambers are packed—not quite as full as during the Chávez hearings, but there aren’t any open seats on the main floor. People are here to weigh in on City Commissioner Sam Adams’ nearly $813 million transportation funding plan. The city council is considering $463.7 million in fees on city residents and businesses, to pay for things like over a hundred miles of new bike boulevards, repaving crumbling arterial roads, shoring up safety at high crash intersections, and increasing funding for programs like Safe Routes to Schools. (The other funds would come from a county vehicle registration fee—which would be put to a public vote—and a possible state gas tax.)

Breaking it down further: You’ll pay $4.54 per month, unless you qualify for a low income discount or some of the green incentives (like discounts for owning one of the top ten most fuel efficient cars or having a bus pass to get a 10% discount, or not owning a car at all for a 20% discount). If you get the low income and the green discounts, you’ll be paying $2.22 per month. The fee will be on your quarterly water bill.

83 percent of businesses will pay an average of $33 a month, Adams says. They’ll get an estimate of what they’ll probably pay, but they can appeal it and have the calculation reviewed. The goal is to calculate the number of trips the business generates, as accurately as possible.

Thanks to Adams’ 89-member stakeholder committee, two citywide mailings, polling, and 20 town hall meetings, there’s hardly a person or interest group in town that wasn’t consulted about the project. Groups from the Portland Business Alliance to the Bicycle Transportation Alliance have urged the plan’s adoption. Only one group—a coalition of convenience stores and gas stations—have spoken up in opposition, as they disagree with the fee structure (it’s based on how many trips your business generates).

That opposition group says they’ll try to gather over 18,000 signatures to refer the plan to the ballot (they’d have thirty days from the time the city council adopts the plan, which could be as early as next week).

More after the break, as testimony begins…

Sam's going through a power point presentation detailing the proposal. Want to read up on it? Head here, where there's a ton of info. The financial breakdown is here.

Meanwhile, next to me, a guy's cell phone just went off (we were warned to turn them off at the beginning of the meeting. He didn't know how to stop it, apparently, so he took the back off of his phone and whacked it until the battery came out. Nice.

Commissioner Dan Saltzman and Mayor Tom Potter are wondering how the fee will apply to city bureaus and agencies—and did those agencies reflect that fee in the budget proposal they've already submitted? Yep, say the transportation folks presenting the plan.

The first few members of the stakeholder committee to testify—including Bonnie McKnight, representing neighborhood associations—seem like a strong signal of what's go come: A veritable lovefest of people who were involved in the process, and will urge the council to pass the plan.

Kevin Spellman, a member of the stakeholder committee says they were thorough: "We could find no information to contradict the dire state of affairs the city is in," he says, hence the plan.

State Senator Rick Metsger and Multnomah County Chair Ted Wheeler are up now, explaining that they too recognize "the problems our transportation infrastructure is facing," as Wheeler explained it. They're also pledging their support for the other two legs of the funding three-legged stool (the county vehicle registration fee and the state gas tax).

Portland Business Alliance president Sandra McDonough spoke, saying that the plan "is not a complete solution to our transportation problems," but "it's critical that we begin to address the most pressing transportation needs in the city of Portland." (She added: "This is not a sexy topic." Indeed.)

The owner of the Bike Gallery just gave the plan the thumbs up, and now a small business guy is following suit.

Police Chief Rosie Sizer is up now, speaking on behalf of the project (surprise!). The cops were one of the stakeholders in the project, via the traffic division. There's a nurse from Legacy Emanuel Hospital talking about injury prevention. And Dr. Susan Kubota—aunt of Tracey Sparling, a cyclist killed by a cement truck last fall—is up to echo the same message of safety.

"I had no idea who I'd be addressing, Mayor Potter," Kubota said, addressing the rest of the commissioners. "I'm kind of terrified."

"Tracy was killed last October while riding her bike from her apartment to class at Pacific Northwest College of Art," Kubota continues. "She was stopped at a light. When the light turned green, a cement truck turned right, crushing her beneath its wheels."

Kubota's voice is quavering a bit, but she's a captivating speaker as always—she spoke at Adams' press conference yesterday, and at a big bike rally on the waterfront last fall.

"She was a bright, talented, gifted, industrious, kind and beautiful young woman, and she was ripped from our family and this world just because she opted to ride her bike to class instead of a car."

"Her loss is devastating to our family. My sister Sophie would be speaking to you herself, but her sorrow is still too overwhelming. She's asked me to speak and try to reach out in the hope that something positive will result from this tragedy."

Sitting next to Chief Sizer, she continues (and has the entire room captivated): "The Portland police in public statements suggested her death was a consequence of her behavior, and implied that it wasn't reasonable to expect motorists to comply with the law. This callous and indifferent attitude outrages us."

"We need to do everything we can to make the streets safe for all. We need to remind the population that driving is a privilege, not a right. Along with that privilege comes responsibility. That responsibility is to share the roads with the vulnerable pedestrians and cyclists. Otherwise there will be more families that experience the same nightmare currently suffered by my sister Sophie, her husband Lee, and their son Kenny."

"We have the opportunity now to make a change. It can't just be warning cyclists to be more aware.... no more family should pay the ultimate price of the senseless loss of their loved one due to unsafe streets. Thank you so much for letting me speak."

We're still going through invited speakers—and there are 32 people signed up to speak after that.

Oy... the first signed up speaker talked about how he pays $500 in property taxes a month, and doesn't want to pay another $4.54 (especially when he has one car and his neighbor has four and they'll pay the same). Second speaker is urging a ban on cell phones in cars (!!???!!?). Adams jumps in: "As we discussed in the 24 Hour Fitness jacuzzi," he addressed the speaker (whom I don't know, but he apparently does). "The city is not allowed to regulate cell phones."

The next guy is talking about being "the sugar daddy to bicyclists." (Nevermind that cyclists will pay the same amount as auto drivers, as most cyclists also own a car.)

I think my meter's running out... saving me from hearing the rest of this.