At a hearing Tuesday, July 21, community members told the Seattle City Council that though they liked elements of the Draft Pedestrian Master Plan, it may be too idealistic.

After hearing about plan updates from the Seattle Department of Transportation, council member and co-chair of the Pedestrian Safety Committee, Jan Drago, council members Nick Licata, Tim Burgess and Sally Clark heard citizen comments, questions and ideas concerning the plan.

“It’s been a long process but it’s also been very engaging with citizens across the city, city departments and consultants since the draft summary came out in May 2009,” Licata said.

The recently released draft of the pedestrian plan states that its vision and goals were rooted from the Pedestrian Master Plan Advisory Group to make Seattle the most walkable city in the nation based on four goals: safety, equity, vibrancy and health.

Though it is supported by a number of residents and groups, some still felt the plan could use a little tweaking to prioritize pedestrian improvements.

“We strongly support the Pedestrian Master Plan and believe in the framework of improving safety, health and environment,” Dale Johnson of the Broadview Community Council said.

Johnson said he appreciated that the plan was presented to his community earlier in May, but said the community council was concerned about the high cost, an estimated $8 million, and potential to need even more funding to complete the plan's goals.

“We urge to support the increase in pedestrian improvements and some will come from changing priorities of current spending and finding new money,” he said. “It will take vision and a long term commitment to achieve a walkable Seattle.”

The city decided in 2008 that priority areas for the plan would be higher density pockets like business districts and urban villages where there is access to transit, rather than neighborhoods that were less dense, Barbara Gray of Seattle Deparment of Transporation previoulsy told the Ballard News -Tribune.

Following Johnson was Lisa Quinn, executive director of Feet First, a non-profit organization promoting the rights and interests of pedestrians. Also a supporter of the plan, Quinn said she was concerned about having enough funding to implement a successful plan.

“To implement this, it will take more than 18 percent from the Bridging the Gap Funding to fund the plan-- we need more money,” Quinn said.

Quinn agreed that priorities need to be concentrated elsewhere and redirected to focus on walkable communities in neighborhoods and downtown.

“We’d like to see improved pedestrian infrastructure and priority in residential areas should be based on critical land use and equity conditions and making them comparable to arterial or urban village projects,” Quinn said.

Feet First was not in favor of funding parking upgrades in the plan. They wanted the time and money to go toward installing curb and bus bulbs as pedestrian improvement tools.

“We share a similar vision of Seattle to make it America’s or the nation’s most walkable city," she said.