ESHD: Clarifying two points

As the current East Side Highway District Commissioner and Chair of the Board, I would like to clarify a couple of misleading comments that were made in the press release from another candidate for commissioner for Sub-Region 1.

First, no current commissioner of the ESHD is in favor of passing forced Local Improvement Districts, including myself. There are only two mentions of LIDs in the recently completed Transportation Plan, one from the Technical Advisory Committee and a second from the Public Outreach. Additionally, this is not something the board has ever discussed at any board meeting over the last three years.

I agree that LIDs should not be forced on any resident or group of residents without their approval.

Second, she claims the Continuous Improvement Plan prioritizes bicycle use over other priorities. A quick read of the point system used to prioritize our projects shows that bicycle and pedestrian uses carries the least weight of the 10 categories.

The residents of the ESHD use our roads for walking, horse riding, cycling and many things other than driving. The district has the responsibility to make sure we are providing the safest roads we can for our residents and all users.

GRAHAM CHRISTENSEN

Commissioner