Dear Councilmembers,The Urbanist asks you to rescind your support andoppose Councilmember Alex Pedersen’samendmentgutting a vetted plan and replacing it onewith one funneling at least 75% of newvehicle license fee (VLF) revenue into bridge maintenance.The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) strucka careful balance intheir spendingproposaland incorporated the City's stated prioritiesof safety, reducing climate emissions,mobility justice, and equity. Pedersen’s amendmentdoes the opposite. Instead of valuing inputfrom the City’s modal boards, it bends the investmentstohis own preconceived vision, erasingweeks of work with those groups and devaluing theirtime. SDOT’s proposal to invest 66% of the$20 VLF fee on safe streets, sidewalks, and activetransportation and 7% on multimodalplanning was well-received, but it didn’t even geta full hearing before the transportationcommittee set to work overwriting it dramatically.SDOT’s plan (on the left above) includes 24% for bridgemaintenance, but Pedersen invertedthe spending priorities so that all other transportationpriorities get 25% of the pie while bridgemaintenance hogs 75% or more and bonds on that revenueto lock in that arrangement for 20years. Debt service on the bonding absorbs $40 millionover the next twenty years, more thanthe $25 million set aside for sidewalks, etc. in Pedersen’sproposal. Instead of investing about$5 million per year in safe streets, sidewalks, andactive transportation over twenty years for $100 million in all, the Pedersen proposal would investone fourth as much, offering $25 millionupfront. Immediate funding is nice, but it can’t outweighreversal in priorities.Please stick with the vetted SDOT plan. Even $100million in bonding hoped for in Pedersen’splan would be far from enough to tackle the bridgemaintenance backlog. Rather thanopportunistically raiding a multimodal revenue sourceto offer a temporary band-aid made tolook bigger through gimmicky bonding, the transportationchair should present a plan that fully