The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) is looking for a Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator. According to the transportation agency’s job description, the “exciting position will promote WSDOT’s mission of increasing the mobility of people and goods by improving the state bicycle and pedestrian system.”
The job duties include working with the Cascade Bicycle Club to “coordinate annual statewide bicycle and pedestrian manual count program.”
The “exciting position” promises an even more exciting salary. The job will pay between $66,684 and $89,712 per year.
As KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson pointed out, there is something fishy going on with WSDOT’s creation on the position. Monson recently stated,
“This is almost a criminal transfer of money from the taxpayers to the Cascade Bicycle Club and the bike community. No way do they need a bicycle coordinator for the state DOT.
“This is phony job and phony transfer of money, because the organizations that make big campaign donations to the people of power, are able to leverage this … $90,000 for a phony job that does not need to exist for state DOT. Why not get (the) tunnel built before creating phony jobs.”
WSDOT has not done its public image any favors lately. From the I-450 tolling scheme debacle to ongoing problems with Bertha the tunnel machine, at times it appears as though the agency has simply given up. To say the least, the recent cases of incompetence coming out of the agency have been frustrating. This story only adds to the public’s distrust of WSDOT.
