Three members of the Youth Environmental Justice Alliance urge a yes vote on Measure 26-218
Communities across Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties desperately need transportation infrastructure upgrades and improved safety measures and to meet the challenges of the climate crisis.
Measure 26-218, the regional transportation measure on the ballot this fall, makes necessary improvements in all these areas and will invest billions of dollars into our communities over the next 20 years. For decades, BIPOC communities, low-income, transit-dependent and young individuals have advocated for these changes and have been closely involved in the creation of this measure. Now more than ever, it’s important that we address issues of inequity, access and safety in transportation throughout the region.
Measure 26-218 is widely contested by big corporations arguing that it’s not the right time to place a tax on large businesses to fund transportation infrastructure, safety measures and increased transportation access. However, for more than 20 years, youths of color have been asking when the “right time” is to fund YouthPass, safer routes to school or even give us sidewalks in many parts of the region.
Free fare for all youths, affectionately known as YouthPass, has been a long-fought-for issue in Portland. The demand on the city to provide affordable and accessible transportation for students was started by Sisters in Action for Power, a group of young Black women at Jefferson High School in 1997. They demanded a way to go to school even if their districts didn’t have yellow school buses. For a long time, only high schoolers in Portland Public Schools had access to YouthPass, while many districts and students have been left out.
When HB 2017 passed, TriMet was required to create a high school transit option, but it was clearly not enough to cover the needs of students across the region, considering some school districts, such as Reynolds and David Douglas, have student bodies that are more than 50% transit dependent. Youths at school districts like David Douglas, Parkrose, Hillsboro, Beaverton and others across the region are now asking how they can have access to a YouthPass.
Groups like the Youth Environmental Justice Alliance, Lents Youth Initiative, Momentum Alliance and the Multnomah Youth Commission have worked all year to ensure that Metro’s transportation bond includes YouthPass in its measure so that youths can get to where they need to go without bus fare insecurity. By passing Measure 26-218, it would mean all youths in the Metro region would be able to ride buses for free year-round, regardless of school enrollment or economic status. That means that working families and transit dependent people will be alleviated from transportation costs, and youths who cannot depend on rides from parents will be able to access leadership, social and employment opportunities, and other resources across the city.
Would YouthPass or even East Portland look differently if it was asked for by wealthy white kids? Most likely, yes. For years, youths of color have been told to wait for YouthPass, safe crosswalks, street lights and sidewalks, but because of the delays, they haven’t been able to safely play, walk and bike in their neighborhoods. We believe we’ve only been told to wait because the call for a more equitable community has never been a priority, and it has almost always been on the Black and brown youths to advocate for themselves. We are done waiting, and we have fought for too long for all our communities.
Youths know what we’re talking about when we say our families need affordable housing. We know what we mean by anti-displacement strategies for family businesses and residential housing because many of us know firsthand what it’s like to lose the neighborhoods we grew up in. City planning, ballot measures, all that stuff isn’t hard. What’s hard is being Black and brown, advocating for our rights like access to transportation, clean air and to simply be heard by voters and major corporations.
Youths have been saying for decades that the climate crisis should be a priority and that BIPOC youths are central in this conversation. But because we’ve been repeatedly told to wait, now the region is smothered in unbreathable air and civil unrest. This region will be better off if and when the youths are taken seriously as community members. And we say that voting yes on Measure 26-218 is a step in the right direction.
Edom Daniel and Geo Su are 2020 graduates of David Douglas High School. Gaby Phan is a 2020 graduate of Reynolds High School. All three are members of the Youth Environmental Justice Alliance.
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