Tahoe Advocates Unlock Funding for Bike Paths with Successful Ballot Measure

Posted: 11/22/2011

Thanks to the advocates at the Lake Tahoe Bicycle Coalition, a previously off-limits stream of cash will now flow to local bike paths.

The circuitous story starts in 2000, when the community passed a bond measure, taxing properties for recreation facility improvements. Part of Measure S was the allocation of $5,000 per mile, per year, for new bike path maintenance.

At the time, officials projected 25 miles of new bike paths would be built by 2008. But tough economic times put those plans on indefinite hold — and, by extension, put the money from Measure S in a jam.

Because of state budget problems, only 8 of the projected 25 miles of new bike paths had been built by 2010. And while the tax dollars for bike path maintenance were coming in — to the tune of $85,000 per year — Measure S language precluded that cash from being spent on paths built before 2000.

With those old bike paths in need of renovation and dollars for bicycle infrastructure tough to come by, the Lake Tahoe Bicycle Coalition (LTBC) had its eye on unleashing those locked-up funds. Luckily, an opportunity presented itself in 2010. “A year and a half ago, the Mayor came to me and said she wanted to revisit Measure S and find a way of amending it so that accumulating funds could be used,” Ty Polastri, the LTBC’s president, explains.

So the LTBC set out to uncover and understand the finer points and challenges of Measure S. Over the course of many months, Polsatri says, advocates met and listened to the intent of the Joint Powers Authority and even did their own research — preparing a bike path maintenance analysis. But the political nature of the potential ballot initiative, at first, made the Coalition cautious.

“We did not take a stand because we believed we couldn’t — so as not to put our 501c3 at jeopardy,” Polastri continues.

But that didn’t mean the LTBC sat on the sidelines, especially when it came time for public hearings on the new ballot measure this summer.

“We saw how [the language] was still confusing and not clear,” Polastri says. “We decided it was our position to do everything possible to make this process transparent and fight for specificity and clarity of language so the voters could understand the Measure and its implications. We began making suggestions on rewriting the language and still publicly remained neutral. We fought to protect the funds for new bike path maintenance and crafted a compromise that monies could go to old, pre-Measure-S bike paths for funding.”

Under the new Measure R, new and old bike paths would receive approximately $2.7 million over the term of the bond for renovation and maintenance — 43 percent more maintenance funding than under Measure S.

“At that point, we moved to be all in,” Polastri says. “We had to engage the rest of the community, particularly the bicycle community who still didn’t trust the Measure and the people behind it. The LTBC had to take a strong stance to inform, educate, and promote that this measure was the last opportunity and the best one to get dollars for bike paths.”

Staying within the bounds of their 501c3 status — by spending no more than 20 percent of their annual budget on advertising for or against the initiative — the LTBC took a leadership role on Measure R. On November 8, it passed with an impressive 71 percent of the vote.

For Polastri, though, the funding isn’t the only win. The effort also boosted the visibility and credibility of the LTBC for future campaigns. “Now, other public agencies have contacted me to help them with other bike related issues of bike trails and highway safety,” Polastri says. “We’ve demonstrated our commitment and leadership to build strategic alliances and help move community to become more livable and sustainable.”

Read more and access a number of materials related to the Measure R campaign on the Lake Tahoe Bicycle Coalition website.