PRESS RELEASE

For Release at 11am: Wednesday, June 23, 1999

For More Information: Stuart Cohen (510) 740-3100

Over 50 Organizations Unveil New Vision for Regional Transportation

Report Shows Bay Area on Collision Course with Sprawl

Citing intense threats to the environment, skyrocketing congestion, ailing urban transit systems, and deteriorating quality of life in the Bay Area, a coalition of over 50 groups unveiled a regional campaign to reverse the region's intensifying suburban sprawl, and the environmental and social problems it is leaving in its wake.

In a report entitled "Warning Signs" members of the Bay Area Transportation and Land Use Coalition state that nothing short of a fundamental shift in our growth patterns and transportation investments will save the Bay Area from the approaching "wall of sprawl."

Among the top priorities announced:

• Leading the campaign to establish a Smart Growth planning process in the region to better coordinate local land use plans and regional transportation investments.
• Focusing new funding sources -- including county sales taxes, state bonds and a possible regional gas tax -- on improving public transit options and making streets safer for bicyclists and pedestrians.
• Establishing a Fix it First policy that prioritizes the $5 billion backlog in local road and bridge repair and the similarly large shortfall for public transit

"Our regional transportation investments assume sprawl will take place, and focus billions of dollars of taxpayer money towards supporting it with new highways and other infrastructure," said Stuart Cohen, co-chair of the Coalition. "This platform lays out our plans for ending this self-fulfilling prophecy of environmental degradation, urban decay, and traffic gridlock."

Coalition leaders are already working with other agencies to create the "Partnership for Smart Growth." The first proposal for the Partnership was drafted by staff from Metropolitan Transportation Commission, Association of Bay Area Governments and the Air District along with a number of coalition affiliate organizations such as Surface Transportation Policy Project, Greenbelt Alliance, Environmental Defense Fund and the Bay Area Transportation Choices Forum (a project of TALC as of 2003). The partnership will involve a comprehensive regional outreach and planning effort involving local elected officials, community groups and business leaders. The project will focus on creating incentives for local governments to develop land use policies that reduce demand on the transportation system, preserve open space, and create better access to jobs and services.

"We are going to build intense public support for this partnership," said James Corless of the Surface Transportation Policy Project. "Smart Growth planning is taking off all across the country and we need our agencies to step up to the plate."

"To give people transportation options, we must focus investments towards communities that have housing near jobs, recreation, transit and other services," said Rachel Peterson, Executive Director of Urban Ecology. "We are already working to get various counties as well as the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to change their priorities to support this type of Smart Growth."

"What distinguishes our coalition is the incredible diversity of groups and players coming together," said Cameron Yee of the Urban Habitat Program.

"Suburban commuters worried about congestion are joining forces with social justice advocates concerned about loss of jobs from the urban core."

The Bay Area Transportation and Land Use Coalition is a partnership of more than 50 groups working to maintain our region's renowned high quality of life, achieve greater social equity, and protect our natural environment.

The coalition has regional meetings as well as sub-regional chapters in Alameda County, San Francisco, and for the Peninsula/South Bay. For more information including a list of the organizations signing the coalition platform as well as the report Warning Signs please check the coalition web-site at www.priven.sf.ca.us/coalition.
 

Updated: 6/2/00