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.
This position has existed at WSDOT for a long time. It was most recently held by Paula Reeves. The position was reposted two levels lower than what Paula had and moved it from its own program into WSDOT’s transit division. So, not only is this not a new position, it’s a downgrade of the position.
The relationship with Cascade is important. Cascade holds a multi-year contract with WSDOT for conducting annual bike/ped counts across the state using its volunteers. This is the most efficient and cost-effective method for doing this work.
2. That’s how many bikes I have in my shed. I’ll save the state the trouble and expense of counting them. Why do they need to be counted again?
What a waste of tax payers $ to have a stupid position like this!!!
Generally, when one is accustomed to making their living from the public teat, (just like a leech) it’s really hard for them to understand how their victim doesn’t appreciate being bled dry and stolen from. If you want to read more about Brock Howell, the Cascade Bicycle Club Policy & Government Affairs Manager, read here: https://plus.google.com/+BrockHowell/about
I-405 might get more hits in the old search engine if the highway was named correctly. People search for stories on the tolling won’t get this in the results otherwise.
Washington State DoT has been a MONEY PIT for many years, it is one of the most WASTEFUL Depts. in the State, just go watch them operate and if you know a bit of EFFICIENCY you will see How the DoT is wasting Millions of dollars every year but…. nobody is accountable, they even said: “we can NOT track down the cash money collected on the Ferries” but then they say: WE NEED MORE MONEY FOR ROADS (and your private pockets)