Greetings.
SF ACTIVIST ALERT! **Distribute this message widely**
IMPORTANT WORKSHOPS ON THE REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION PLAN. Vans and
carpooling available.
PENINSULA - Wednesday, September 23, 7-9 p.m.
South San Francisco Conference Center
255 South Airport Boulevard
South San Francisco
ACCESSIBLE FROM S. SF CALTRAIN or Samtrans 7b
EAST BAY/ TRI-VALLEY - Thursday, September 24, 7-9 p.m.
Dublin Civic Center
100 Civic Plaza
Dublin,
Take Wheels bus from Dublin BART just 8 minutes.
Two Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) leaders, Mary King of
Alameda County and Charlotte Powers of San Jose, have called for "smart
growth" study of the Bay Area, in response to a Regional Transportation
Plan that shows congestion skyrocketing by 249% in the coming 20 years,
while public transit, bicycling and walking all decline.
In Portland, a similar "smart growth" study, called LUTRAQ, for Land Use,
Transportation &
Air Quality, analyzed the best ways to link transportation, land use and
transportation pricing policies. That study resulted in abandoning the
proposed Western Bypass freeway, and a popular vote in favor of compact,
walkable communities around the new Westside Max light rail, which opens
next month.
Hoping to take advantage of a new federal fund
available for studies to link transportation and land use, Commissioners
King and Powers have proposed -- but not yet won MTC Commission approval --
for the perhaps the most ambitious study in the United States of how to
bridge the gap between land use and transportation decisions.
At the upcoming public hearings, we need to show again the strong support
for a different Bay Area future. Come turn out! The Bay Area
Transportation and Land Use COALITION, comprised of over 40
environmental and social justice groups, recommends three common-sense steps:
1. CREATE A SMART GROWTH ALTERNATIVE
The region should increase transit and bicycle use, while slowing then
reversing the constant growth in per person vehicle travel. Cities and
counties should also protect more open space. Using the Regional
Transportation Plan as a planning focus, MTC could work with ABAG, local
governments and county
transportation agencies to identify the changes that would be needed to
achieve these goals. Ask MTC to apply for millions of federal
funding that now is available to conduct a Smart Growth planning process.
2. FIX IT FIRST: PROVIDE FULL FUNDING FOR TRANSIT'S CAPITAL NEEDS
Over $10 billion is proposed to expand highways
and build several costly but ineffective BART extension, the "basic
nuts-and-bolts
maintenance" needed to keep existing transit running is not fully funded.
Remaining shortfalls include:
¨ $19 million for Golden Gate Transit
¨ $50 million for AC Transit
¨ $100 million for Caltrain
¨ $200 million for BART
When the roof is leaking on your old house, you don't build an addition.
You fix the roof first. And the Bay Area transit roof needs fixing!
Maps to the public hearing sites will be available on MTC's web site
If you want to carpool call Stuart Cohen of the
Bay Area Transportation Choices Forum at 510-843-3878.
FOR MORE INFO ON THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE
BAY AREA TRANSPORTATION AND LAND USE COALITION:
Contact: Stuart Cohen at 510-843-3878 or stucohen@igc.org
TO WRITE THE MTC, OR GET A COPY OF THE REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION PLAN:
The document can be downloaded TODAY from MTC's web site:
http:// www.mtc.ca.gov
Copies of the RTP will be available for public review
and distribution from the MTC/ABAG
Library. Additional copies will be provided to major public
libraries in each of the nine counties.
The Commission is scheduled to approve the 1998 Regional
Transportation Plan at an October 9 committee meeting and the
October 28 regularly scheduled Commission meeting.
For more information, contact the MTC Public Information Office at
510/464-7787 or info@mtc.ca.gov or visit the MTC web site.
Stuart Cohen
Bay Area Transportation Choices Forum
1715 Delaware St.
Berkeley, CA 94703
phone: 510-843-3878
fax: 510-540-7229