UW Transportation services is hard at work installing new bicycle enclosure parking at the following 3 locations:
– Surgery Pavillion (35 spaces)
– Columbia / Cascade Tower (30 spaces)
– Smith / Gowen (19 spaces)

This is part of the UW’s committment in the 2018 Campus Master Plan to provide more secure bike parking to areas of campus with the highest demand.

These new enclosures are expected to be available by Fall Quarter 2019

More about bike parking on UW Campus here: https://transportation.uw.edu/getting-here/bike

The UW Regents have ratified the changes to the Washington Administrative Code (WAC)
and also approved new parking rates for the UW Seattle campus. The new rates begin on July 1st, 2019

This spring, the University of Washington began the process of developing a new comprehensive built environment accessibility improvement plan for each campus. This will be accomplished through phases and aspects that will be ongoing for years to come, but work has been begun to identify and inventory campus points of entry and other early phases of assessment. All the work collected and inventoried will ultimately inform the creation of an updated ADA Transition Plan that will lead to improving these areas, as needed, over time. For more information on this project check out our information on the web: www.uw.edu/ada/transition-plan

The process will begin with assessing the physical sites and facilities of the Bothell, Seattle and Tacoma campuses using the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design. The current survey and assessment phase is focused on exterior facilities, including:

• accessible paths of travel
• parking
• transportation
• exterior signage, and,
• estimated cost ranges for the improvements recommended

Please share this updated invite with your communities of student employees, staff, faculty, alumni, etc. so they can share consider sharing feedback either in person or online.

Feedback Options for Seattle Campus*:

· May 28th 3:30-5pm — HUB 337

· May 29th 2-4pm — Alder 107

· Seattle Campus Survey online and open for feedback (closes June 12th)

If you have specific questions on the assessment project you can contact:

JULIE BLAKESLEE, AICP
University Environmental and Land Use Planner
UW Facilities Asset Management
206.543.2425 (Voice & Relay)
jblakesl@uw.edu

*Health Sciences will have a Summer 2019 open house and Tacoma will later into fall (Bothell’s has already occurred).

Initiative-1000 (Concerning diversity, equity and inclusion) passed the legislature on April 28, 2019

What did I-1000 do?     (Source: Ballotpedia.org)

Initiative 1000 allowed affirmative action without the use of quotas in the state of Washington. This means that characteristics such as race, sex, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, sexual orientation, disability, or veteran status can be used as factors when considering a person for education or employment opportunities. I-1000 bans preferential treatment, meaning those characteristics could not be the sole or deciding factor when considering a person for education or employment opportunities. The measure created the Governor’s Commission on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion which is responsible for ensuring compliance with the measure, and is required to issue an annual report on the progress of state agencies in achieving the measure’s goal of “guaranteeing every resident of Washington state equal opportunity and access to public education, public employment.”

Full article here:

https://ballotpedia.org/Washington_Initiative_1000,_Affirmative_Action_and_Diversity_Commission_Measure_(2019)

 

 

Let us know what your unit is planning around the new I-1000 legislation     Email us

 

Please consider a recurring payroll contribution of a dollar per paycheck to support the work of the PSO 

UPDATE: 5/2/2019

Thank you to all who turned out for the Public Comment meeting last Friday to voice your concerns about the UPASS and parking rate increases.

Parking Rates:

The main parking-related concern we have heard is that Carpooling incentives are not what Pro Staff expect, so we have requested a conversation about that at a future University Transportation Committee meeting.

UPASS Transit Pass Rates:

As a result of Union and PSO staff representation “No” votes, including that of the PSO, and in conjunction with the Public Hearing comments last week, a decision has been made to withdraw the proposed Fac/Staff UPASS rate increase.

This note was sent by Lou Cariello to the UTC committee members:  (excerpted)

Thank you for your feedback on the proposal to raise parking and faculty/staff U-PASS rates. Your concerns about the impact of the U-PASS increase were echoed at the public hearing and in discussions with other campus constituents. Concerns about sustainability and equity were common themes.

 

There is a pending Fines and Parking rates increase that the Regents will review and likely vote on at the May 7/8 meeting

More here:

https://transportation.uw.edu/news/parking-and-u-pass-rates

 

P.S.  Please consider a recurring payroll contribution of a dollar per paycheck to support the work of the PSO 

There is a Parking and UPASS rate increases public meeting this Friday at noon at HUB room 145

04/26/2019 @ 12:00pm Husky Union Building room 145.   The proposed rate changes are posted at the following link: https://transportation.uw.edu/news/parking-and-u-pass-rates

Facebook page on this issue is here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2262781373963808/

On Monday, 4/22/2019, the PSO voted for Parking increases and against UPASS rate increases at the University Transportation Committee meeting.

The motions for increases to both the Parking rate *and* UPASS rate PASSED with dissenting votes from PSO and Union representation.  The Rates recommendations now leave the UTC and head to the Regents.

 

 

The UPASS position statement entered in the public record follows:

 

Statement For UW PSO UTC Rates meeting 4/22/2019

The Professional Staff cannot support the employee UPASS rate increase

As you may know, the UPASS program pays for each and every transit trip taken.
As the out of pocket price of the UPASS goes up, the lighter users of the program drop out. We have data that shows how participation has declined as program costs go up.

The employees who then remain in the UPASS program are the heaviest users – and the income of the program is further strained to cover the costs. As employees find other ways to get to campus, including ride-sharing, carpooling, or cycling or come to campus fewer than 5 days per week, as reported in the last transportation survey, the more expensive UPASS makes even less sense – they instead choose Individual Commuter parking Tickets and single use bus tickets. It is a death spiral for the program

For more than a decade we have needed to restructure the employee UPASS program with subsidies and incentives to achieve broad coverage. The Professional Staff have voted for band aids for this outdated financial model in the past but we aren’t going to do it anymore. Out of pocket increases take this program further down the wrong direction.

The Professional Staff vote no on the UPASS rate increase and instead invite a conversation about restructuring the program.

The University Transportation Committee has begun a rates review process.

Several years have passed since the last UPASS and parking rate increases took effect.   The University Transportation Committee and other stakeholders are being consulted about a possible 2019-2020 rate increase to cover rising costs, including increased parking taxes, investments in maintenance,  IT upgrades, and the impact of CPI increases.

 

A formal proposal still needs to go to the Board of Regents as well as holding a public meeting and comment period. The Board of Regents must approve any rate increase

A public meeting for people to comment on rates is in the works and will be announced shortly

 

More information can be found here:

https://transportation.uw.edu/news/parking-and-u-pass-rates

https://transportation.uw.edu/annual-renewal

UW Transportation Services is proposing a variety of changes to state law

The Washington Administrative Code (WAC) update contains new language for Disability Parking, ebikes, bike share, and scooter use/parking on campus.  For example one change is that a disability parking permit MUST be accompanied by a valid UW Parking permit or a ticket will be issued.

These rules will go before the Regents for a vote soon and will take affect starting July 1st, 2019

If you are interested in participating and/or reviewing the changes before they go before the Regents, there is a public meeting scheduled to review the WAC changes:

WACs Updates Public Meeting:

4/19 (Fri) 10:00 – 11:30 a.m. UWPD Conference Rm (3939 15th Ave NE)

 

 

More about the WAC:

If you could offer hope to someone dying from cancer, would you?

Joining the Be The Match Registry® means volunteering to be listed as a potential blood stem cell donor, ready to save the life of any patient in need of a transplant.

You could be someone’s cure. You could literally save a life.

All that is required is a quick registration, a cheek swab, and dropping the return kit in the mail

Find out more & answer my questions about this!

Sign up by text message

The Whole U page on Be The Match

 

Why UW.
This is a bold, new partnership, but one with deep ties to the UW community.

Research and treatment done in collaboration between the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the UW—including one of the first live marrow transplants—was integral to the establishment of the first marrow registry. As the first institution to be a community supporter of Be The Match, the University of Washington is excited to continue to serve in this life-saving mission.

More recently, in May 2016, UW professor of sociology Alexes Harris was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer and soon learned that a marrow or stem cell transplant would be her only hope of a cure.

Two years later, after receiving a successful stem cell transplant using umbilical cord blood at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, she is living cancer free and recovering well, but the difficulty of finding a donor with a 100% matched made her realize the fight had only just begun.

Why ancestry matters.

“We immediately started research to learn about how matches were found and I discovered that finding a non-related full match is difficult if you are a person of color, especially of mixed race origin,” says Harris, whose background is African American, Filipino, and Caucasian.

Having a 100% match is crucial in predicting positive outcomes post-transplant, but the percentage chance of finding a perfect match is skewed against minorities because ethnically diverse and mixed race donors are underrepresented in the registry.

While Caucasians have a 75% chance of finding a full match in the existing marrow registry, African Americans only have a 19% likelihood of finding a match and comprise only 7% of the United States registry.

Within the United States registry, the likelihood for finding a full match is higher for people of Mexican (37%), Chinese (41%), South Asian (33%), Hispanic Caribbean (40%) and Native American (52%) ancestry than for African Americans, but still significantly lower than the likelihood for Caucasians.

The good news, Harris says, is that there are tangible ways to make a real difference—here and now.

“When it comes to marrow donation, and other blood products and organ donation, we can make a difference,” Harris says. “We can, for ourselves, save ourselves.”

The University of Washington Retirement Plan (UWRP)/Voluntary Investment Plan (VIP) Fund Review Committee (FRC) has scheduled the annual UWRP/VIP participant meeting:

 

WHEN: March 6^th from 1 to 2PM in the

WHERE:  UW Tower 4^th Floor Auditorium.

 

The FRC is charged with the task of monitoring all of the investments offered through the UWRP and VIP.

All participants are encouraged to attend!  It is an excellent opportunity to learn more about what the FRC is and what we do.  Participants will also receive updates on recent committee activity, get a quarterly investment update (just like a regular quarterly FRC meeting), and have the opportunity to ask questions and comment on potential concerns your FRC may wish to address