1)    Introductions/Announcements/Revisions to Agenda

·         Eddy Moore, who was supposed to speak regarding the PCL initiative (Prop 51) was not able to attend the regional meeting.

·         New agenda item 2d—BART bond issue (bonds for seismic retrofit of Transbay Tube)

·         New agenda item 2e—Berkeley Height Initiative (restricting allowable building height in Berkeley)

·         New agenda item 2f—Santa Clara County Measure D (discussion proposed by Irvin Dawid)

·         LIFETIME (Low-Income Families Empowered through Education) is hosting a CalWORKs Transportation Town Hall on Friday September 20, 2002 from 10am-12pm at Chabot College Auditorium (25555 Hesperian Blvd. Hayward, CA).  “Join low-income parents and community leaders to tell elected officials and policy makers the truth about our experiences with welfare-to-work transportation support services and the barriers we experience while trying to participate in welfare to work activities.”  For more information, contact Leilani Luia at 510.452.5192.

 

2)    Campaign Discussions

 

a)     Sales Taxes Galore!

·         Solano County is going to the ballot in November 2002, and both Greenbelt Alliance and TALC are taking a “neutral” position.  Through our combined efforts, we managed to shift funding away from highways and toward transit projects.

·         San Francisco is planning a renewal sales tax measure in November 2003.  A subcommittee is currently working to pick projects for the expenditure plan out of the County Transportation Plan.  There was a suggestion that San Francisco residents should call the SFTA to request to be involved in this process.  The reason for going to the ballot in 2003 and not later is that they hope to get more voters out because of the coinciding mayoral race.

·         Contra Costa is planning a renewal sales tax measure in November 2004.  The development of the expenditure plan is already underway through the CCTA.  In response to this, TALC has been meeting with local leaders of labor, faith, social equity, and environmental groups, trying to develop a platform that we can present to the CCTA as something that all these various interests support.

·         San Mateo will begin to develop the expenditure plan for its renewal sales tax measure this fall.

 

b)     Regional Bicycle/Pedestrian Funding

·         Robert Raburn of the East Bay Bicycle Coalition spoke about the effort to procure part of the proposed new $1 bridge toll for bike and pedestrian projects related to reducing congestion on Transbay or Transbay-related corridors in seven of the nine Bay Area counties (excluding Sonoma and Santa Clara).  There is an ongoing effort to identify projects that could be included in a pot of bike/ped funds, which will be presented at a September 20^th meeting of the Bridge Toll Advisory Committee.

 

c)     BART to San Jose/VTA bus cuts

·         VTA is looking at $1 billion in bus service cuts—unfortunately, we were right in our analysis of the impact of 2000’s Measure A in Santa Clara.

 

d)     BART seismic retrofit bonds

·         Dave Schonbrunn of TRANSDEF moved that TALC takes no position until BART gets its finances in order, seconded by Irvin Dawid.

·         Discussion:  The need for the retrofit is based on relatively new information, not because of an oversight in design.  The money will be spent solely on seismic retrofit, not extensions or other capacity enhancements.  However, if we support this we will need to be extremely vigilant about monitoring what the money is spent on.  A question was raised as to whether an additional tax for BART, even on those who are not directly served by existing service, may help the argument for future BART extensions?  Also, were there any other feasible alternatives to this retrofit, or to this means of getting money to support it?

·         League of Women Voters is supporting the bond issue.

·         Since the information on the bond issue was only submitted for review on the night before the meeting, an official vote couldn’t be taken.  However, when asked whether TALC should take “no position” on the bond measure, 3 members voted YES and 1 abstained.  When asked whether TALC should take a “support” position, 5 members voted YES and 1 abstained.

·         This issue will be voted upon at the next regional meeting.

 

e)     Berkeley Height Initiative

·         This initiative will limit the heights of new buildings in Berkeley to 2 or 3 stories, even along transit corridors. 

·         An official vote could not be held, but no members said they would object if TALC opposed this measure.

 

f)       Santa Clara County Measure D

·         Irvin Dawid proposed this agenda item, but time did not permit discussion.

 

________________

 

3)    Regional Smart Growth Process:  Will it implode?

 

At the meeting held earlier in the day at MTC, the Regional Smart Growth vision was passed, not the preferred alternative.  While it is good that they didn’t throw out the results entirely, it is worrying that they are sending the numbers back to the cities over the next few months for revision.  The regional vision could get diluted

 

It was noted that TALC should review the report and recommendations of the Urban Land Institute, who presented at today’s MTC meeting.

 

A question was raised as to whether or not TALC should produce a catchy smart growth report, perhaps something along the lines of “Best and Worst of Bay Area Developments” (with a public request for recent project nominations).  Some thought it would be a waste of time since the outreach couldn’t be extensive, but others thought it would be a good idea if the projects were used as a stepping stone to a more detailed explanation of what makes smart growth developments good or bad.  A final decision as to pursue such a report will made after staff availability is considered.

________________

 

4)    State Legislation!

 

·         Tom Jones, the Executive Director of the California Futures Network, spoke about a new piece of legislation “a sneak attack by the good guys” coming out of a conference committee AB 857/SB 741.  He handed out a report that was just released on 8/20/02 that described the bill. Given the short notice no position was taken but Stuart agreed to send more info out to member groups to have them actively support it.

·         Torlakson’s Smart Growth Bill (SB 1243) died because of opposition from ABAG and the cities.

·         The infill bill (SB 1636), which relieves LOS standards to make it easier to build TOD has been passed to the Governor’s desk (yea!)

·         Dutra’s AB 1937, which facilitates TOD by allowing transit agencies to more easily partner with private developers for such projects, is also on the Governor’s desk.

________________

 

5)    Freezing Highway Spending:  Lawsuits against MTC

 

David Schonbrunn, of TRANSDEF brought us up to speed on the litigation his organization has brought against MTC.  More information can be found at www.MTCwatch.com

________________

 

6)    Full Speed Ahead: Presentation/Discussion of Upcoming Regional Rapid Bus Report

 

Seth Schneider, project manager of Project Express, presented components of the soon-to-be-released report recommending Bus Rapid Transit and express bus systems for the Bay Area.  The report will focus on the enormous potential to implement BRT, especially in San Francisco.  The report will be released at a press conference in San Francisco in early September.

________________

 

7)    Adjourn/ Special San Francisco Meeting

A special meeting focusing on the San Francisco recommendations of the BRT report was held.

 

Next Meeting Wed. September 18, 5:30 p.m., Sierra Club, San Francisco.