A moment ago, the Seattle city council transportation committee (meeting now) adopted a resolution that would begin the long process of updating Seattle's transit master plan—a plan so out-of-date that it still includes the monorail. (The plan now moves to full council for consideration.)

This is a small victory Streets for All Seattle, a coalition of over 60 local organizations pressing for comprehensive street improvements throughout the city, including the updated transit master plan. Here's another issue they're watching closely during the transportation committee meeting: city council's proposal to increase the commercial parking tax—from 10 percent to 12.5 percent—in order to fund the seawall replacement project, which will be discussed shortly. As Dom wrote last week, this proposal puts the city council at odds with the mayor, who proposed using that funding source—which is dedicated to transportation projects—to shore up the Seattle Department of Transportation's $8 million dollar shortfall.

This move also puts city council at odds with Streets for All Seattle, who has pledged to raise $30 million dollars to fund bike, pedestrian, and transit improvements throughout the city. The coalition recently sent out a press release expressing its extreme disappointment with council's move.

"Just last week the Council publicly expressed their intention to form a joint working group with our campaign to figure out how to responsibly fund the pedestrian and bicycle master plans, yet less than a week later, without consulting our campaign, they are proposing to allocate one of our limited, flexible transportation funding options to a public safety project," said David Hiller, Streets For All Seattle Co-Chair, in the release.

While the group hasn't proposed a funding package for meeting their $30 million goal, a commercial parking tax hike is one obvious funding option.

"The seawall is not a transportation project," added Craig Benjamin, spokesman for Streets for All Seattle, last week. "Taking these funds to invest in a single, capital-intensive project would cripple our ability to make critical bike, ped, and transit improvements." Benjamin says the group is eager to work with council members, and had hoped the council would table their proposal to use the commercial parking tax to fund the seawall in favor of engaging in a "broader budget discussion over the coming months."

The council has not agreed to table their proposal. However, this morning's agenda includes discussing the creation of a transportation benefit district, which would be another potential funding mechanism for transportation improvements, according to committee chair Tom Rasmussen. We'll see what the transportation benefit district entails, and I'll update as the meeting progresses.