“Fun morning walking by the Streetcar maintenance facility, grabbing a quick breakfast sandwich 🥪 and then hopping on the streetcar headed towards Municipal Tower,” Spotts posted Wednesday morning

Greg Spotts’s social media skills are strong. The City Council agrees with Mayor Bruce Harrell that he will also make a good leader for the Seattle Department of Transportation.

Tuesday, the council approved Spotts as the next SDOT director in a unanimous 9-0 vote.

Spotts will now lead the 1,200-person, $700 million a year department that has struggled against safety goals and ongoing traffic and transit woes. Last year, the city hit its highest number of traffic-related deaths since 2006.

CHS reported here on Spotts and his work as chief sustainability officer in Los Angeles.

Spotts says his first-year priorities will include goals including walking and biking tours, a review of the Vision Zero program, and incorporating a “Transportation Equity Framework” into SDOT’s work and priorities:

• Conduct an extensive listening tour to walk, bike, roll and ride transit with staff and constituents, inviting stakeholders to show me what’s working well and what needs improvement. This outreach will also extend to goods movement and the Port.
• Conduct a rigorous review of the Vision Zero program to identify which interventions in which places are most likely to save lives. This review requires both extensive quantitative analysis and deep engagement with the communities who are most at risk.
• Ensure that SDOT has the people, the systems, and the technology needed to implement best practices in asset management for the inspection, maintenance and repair of Seattle’s bridges.
• Bring to life the Transportation Equity Framework by embedding these concepts and techniques in the daily activities and functions of the department.
• Infuse the department with the values of responsiveness, innovation, transparency and accountability; these are the values that guide me as a public sector leader.

Good Morning Seattle!
🏫 School begins today

🚸 Please drive extra carefully – kids and parents are 🚶‍♀️ 🚴 🛴 🚌 pic.twitter.com/pdq2dOb9tG

— Greg Spotts (@Spottnik) September 14, 2022

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