Wanna see the TSP? Better bring your wallet.

I haven't seen it yet - the Transportation System Plan was supposed to be ready for distribution to the Transportation Advisory Board on Wednesday, and posted to the TSP webpage on Thursday.  We hope to see the document on Friday.

The problem is that to get a hard copy of the TSP, the City has decided to charge the public a per page fee, usually about 25c.  The complete document is 500 pages including the appendices.  If the TSP were printed on both sides of the paper, 500 pages would a stack of paper about 1 1/8" high.  If the city charges only for the number of pages (250), the cost would be $62.50, about the size and cost of a college textbook.  If each page is counted separately, the cost jumps to a whopping $125!

The Comprehensive Plan, Package #1 was 315 pages total (double sided), in a stack about 7/8" high, and included the draft document, staff background reports, Track Changes, the Housing Needs Analysis, Economic Opportunities Analysis, and multiple sets of Planning Commission Meeting minutes.  And the cost was.....  FREE.  The same was true for Package #2 of the Comp Plan.

There is one other option for getting a hard copy of the TSP - the body of the Plan (100 pages) without the 400 pgs. of appendices can be had for a lot less.  On a per (paper) page cost it would be $12.50; the cost per printed page is $25, and one can look at the rest of the material (80%) online or viewing it in city hall.

It was explained to your tireless reporter that the city manager was concerned about the cost of printing if a lot of people came in requesting a TSP.  Considering the city can make copies for about $.02 per page, the actual cost is about $10 per set not including labor.  If 20 people requested a copy of the TSP, the total cost would be $200 - a cheap price for citizen involvement!  If the city can generate a greater demand for these documents, GREAT!  This is EXACTLY what the City needs to be doing more of!   What a great thing this would be - involved citizens who cared about their city and its governance -  the more the better!

Why would the City put up barriers to citizen participation in their own Transportation Plan?  If he City doesn't want to be seen as tying to exclude meaningful dialogue with citizens, then some of the current practices should change.  Lake Oswego has a long way to go to regain trust in City Hall - opening up the "books" so to speak is essential to that process, and part of public service. 

  This is an open request to City Manager, Scott Lazenby, to make this and other  

  documents available - online, as hard copy, in electronic formats, and at public  

  meetings - without charge, or at a nominal fee only - to the public.  

HAPPY READING! 
(Only 500 pages)