O’Brien will Chair the Transportation Committee

It's not just for photo ops, Councilmember Mike O'Brien really does bike everywhere.

But he's also not just about bikes. O'Brien has a seat on the Sound Transit Board, and he has been a strong advocate for biking, walking and transit during his time on the Council. He was also among the only Councilmembers fighting hard against the downtown highway tunnel (he preferred investing in the waterfront, I-5 and transit service instead).

So it's great news that O'Brien will be the new Chair of the Transportation Committee, taking over for longtime Chair Tom Rasmussen, who did not run for reelection. O'Brien is bringing the "Sustainability" with him to the now-named "Sustainability & Transportation Committee," the Stranger reports. These placements all assume Bruce Harrell will get picked as Council President and the Council approves of his assignments.

Former Transportation Choices Coalition Director Rob Johnson will be the Vice-Chair of the committee, and Kshama Sawant will also be a committee member (with Lisa Herbold as the alternate).

This is pretty much a transportation dream team, and I can't wait to see them in action next year.

And they are going to have to hit the ground running. With Move Seattle levy funds kicking in, SDOT is going to have to level up to keep up with the new workload of major transit, biking and walking upgrades. The city will also have a Pronto Cycle Share plan in front of the committee in early 2016.

And, of course, Bertha is supposedly going to start moving again, bringing a ton of questions with it. And we couldn't have better Councilmembers in place to ask them.