Coalition Victory Leads to $35 Million More In Transit Funding

Davis Signs Safe Routes to School Bill

Governor Davis responded to an overwhelming grassroots campaign in support of AB1475, the Safe Routes to School Bill, by signing it into law in early October despite reports that his administration had initially recommended a veto. The bill, sponsored by the Surface Transportation Policy Project and the California Bicycle Coalition, was a high priority for members of the Bay Area Transportation and Land Use Coalition.

The legislation was given a boost by hundreds of phone calls and letters generated by Coalition members, as well as the release of STPP's new pedestrian safety report, Caught in the Crosswalk, which shows that sprawling, lower-density communities in California are the most hazardous places to walk. Santa Clara, San Mateo, Contra Costa, and Alameda counties are ranked as some of the most dangerous in the state. The report also found that being hit by a car while walking is the second leading cause of death for California children between the ages of five and twelve, and that Latino and African-American children are most at risk.

"The grassroots support for this bill has been tremendous," noted STPP's James Corless. "This should really serve as a wake up call to traditional transportation bureaucrats that times are changing -- pedestrian safety, neighborhood vitality and traffic calming are issues people really care about." Caltrans will begin administering the new Safe Routes to School program sometime in 2000. An estimated $17-20 million will be available statewide for bicycle paths and lanes, sidewalks, crosswalks, and traffic calming projects that will make it safer for kids to walk and bike to school.

More information can be found at www.baypeds.org. STPP's Caught in the Crosswalk is available at www.transact.org.

Regional Smart Growth Effort Closer to Being Realized

Members of the Coalition have long recognized the need to link transportation planning and local land use decisions. In other regions, efforts to conduct "smart growth" planning by modeling and visualizing a better future have helped citizens and policy makers connect land use decisions to their impact on transportation, open space, and other quality-of-life indicators.

In 1998, the Coalition successfully convinced MTC to partner with the Association of Bay Area Governments and the Air District to draft a proposal for the Partnership for Smart Growth proposal. The process would also involve local elected officials, community groups, and business leaders to build consensus around incentives and funding strategies to catalyze Smart Growth activities in the Bay Area.

Unfortunately the proposal was not selected for federal funding. The Coalition is once again stepping up efforts to initiate this partnership. In September, a letter from the Coalition requested that these agencies initiate the Partnership with their own planning funds.

On October 8, the executive officers of MTC, ABAG, and the Air District jointly responded to the Coalition letter stating, "...we are still committed to finding solutions to the region's growth challenges. Toward that end, locally-elected officials for each of our boards will be meeting soon to review local Smart Growth activities and to begin to chart a course for our agencies' activities in this realm."

To show broad support for the Partnership, the Coalition is getting groups to sign a statement of support. To sign on, see our web page or call Stuart Cohen at (510) 740-3100.

Workshops for Walkable, Bikeable Communities

Join Patrick Siegman of the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition and James Corless of the Surface Transportation Policy Project, for a look at the best uses (and misuses) of a wide variety of new street design and traffic-calming tools. Patrick and James -- who are both Coalition leaders -- will present regional and national examples showing how communities can create streets that comfortably move both vehicles and people. Using local streets and intersections as hands-on teaching examples, participants will learn to diagnose safety problems and apply new tools to create safe, friendly, and beautiful streets. Participants will also learn about funding sources, and how to become more involved in local transportation decision-making. This workshop series is open to all on a first-to-register basis.

GILROY
November 10, 1999 5:30-8:30 PM
Contact Housing & Community Development at (408) 846-0290

MORGAN HILL
November 11, 1999 6:30-9:00 PM
Contact Julie Spier at (408) 779-7271

SAN JOSE
November 13, 1999 10 AM- 4 PM
Contact Stephen Ferro at (408) 370-0413

MILPITAS
November 15, 1999 10 AM- 4 PM
Contact Arlene DeLeon at (408) 586-3335

Coalition Members Receive MTC Award

Two of the leading Coalition groups, Transportation Choices Forum and Building Opportunities for Self Sufficiency, recently received MTC's Award of Merit for their success in involving low-income communities in county and regional transportation issues. (l-r) Dawn Phillips, of BOSS, and Stuart Cohen, of TCF, accepted the award presented by MTC Commissioner Ralph Appezzato and the Chairman of MTC, Jim Beall.

Coalition Takes Officials to the Skies to View Sprawl's Impacts

The nooks, crannies, tentacles, arms and extensions of sprawl are most easily seen from above. Subdivisions stretch across the land like off colored stitches in a wool sweater. Luxury homes meander up hillsides. Cul-de-sacs and feeder streets make a board-game-like canvas. Hilltops are decapitated to make development platforms.

These views--seen from a small six-seater airplane--are what the Coalition hopes will turn up the heat for regional Smart Growth efforts. This Coalition effort is made possible by teaming up with Lighthawk, an association of volunteer pilots that take decision-makers and the media up to the skies to witness transportation and development issues from 1000 feet up.

With a bird's-eye view, the flight experience sums up what is choking the Bay Area: tract development, strip malls, and office parks that are oriented towards highways and arterials, instead of a traditional style that places these activities in a central downtown. This development creates snarled freeways and smog, and destroys vast amounts of open space.

The opening quote above is from an article by Fairfield journalist Mark Simborg who accompanied the Coalition, and MTC Commissioner Dorene Giacopini, on a flight on October 27. The Fairfield tour highlighted the beautiful valleys and vibrant agricultural areas that would be opened to sprawl development if Measure I passes in Fairfield this November.

"The flights are not just to complain about sprawl," said Jeff Hobson, a Coalition leader and flight guide. "We also point out examples of good, livable, transit-friendly communities and the potential for more sprawl-busting infill. We are contrasting the sprawl with a very positive vision for what the Bay Area could be."

Media coverage of the flights is already helping publicize the impacts of sprawl and the Coalition's proposals to turn the tide. The San Francisco Chronicle published a feature story and four photos from the inaugural flight on August 17. A film crew covered the next flight in which the Coalition's Stuart Cohen guided MTC Chair Jim Beall over growth hotspots in Contra Costa County. "The flight made it clear that Contra Costa is making the same mistakes we in the South Bay made twenty years ago," said Beall. That flight was covered by a Public Television film crew and a segment will air nationally this spring, with KQED-TV carrying it locally.

MTC Chairman Jim Beall surveys Contra Costa's sprawling Dougherty Valley on a recent Coalition/Lighthawk flight. Dougherty's 11,000 planned units will add 100,000 daily auto trips to the region's already-congested roads. What appears to be an airport runway is actually a new arterial, soon to be clogged with this new traffic.

Coalition to Open San Jose Office

The Transportation and Land Use Coalition has received a grant from the Surdna Foundation of New York. The grant will help the Coalition hire a South Bay Coalition Coordinator, who will work out of a new San Jose office and staff the Peninsula and South Bay Coalition Chapters (see job description at right). It will also pay for the Coalition's newsletter and reports, and a greater level of staff dedication from members of the Coalition Steering Committee.

Beginning in January 1999, Coalition steering committee members dedicated significant time to Coalition development and fundraising. The grant from Surdna is the first support received for this joint effort. Further funding will be dedicated to hiring a Coordinator for East and North Bay activities, and significantly increasing the Coalition's regional presence.

Reform Efforts Continue for Alameda County's Measure B

The Coalition's Alameda County Chapter continues to lead an effort to improve the spending plan for the county's transportation sales tax ("Measure B"). Coalition members made gains when the Expenditure Plan Steering Committee adopted a draft plan "in concept" at their July meeting. Compared to the 1998 plan that failed at the ballot box, the Committee's draft included some of the Coalition's recommendations, including new express bus and transit-oriented development programs, and increased funding for paratransit, pedestrian, and bicycle facilities.

"In July we hand-delivered 1,400 letters to the Steering Committee supporting the Coalition's Transportation Alternatives Plan," said Dawn Phillips of Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency, "and hundreds of supporters at public meetings have clearly demonstrated strong grassroots support for our proposals."

Despite these improvements, certain key changes are needed to develop a plan that Coalition members and the voters will support. "With hour-long waits and buses that stop at 7:00 p.m. or don't run on weekends, Hayward and the rest of central county have grossly inadequate bus service," says Jeff Hobson, Alameda Chapter coordinator. "We still need to see the Steering Committee solve the problem by funding AC Transit's Comprehensive Service Plan."

Other major outstanding issues include language defining the allowable uses of funds for BART, or other rail connections to Silicon Valley, an express lane on the Sunol Grade (I-680), and language defining the use of funds for the Oakland airport connector. On the controversial BART proposal, the draft plan now includes a limitation that no sales tax funds be used for any construction until BART receives full funding to connect to Santa Clara County.

"It remains to be seen whether Alameda County will work cooperatively with Santa Clara County to provide a convenient transit connection to Silicon Valley in the near future -- something that is very doable with existing commuter rail," said Mike Daley of the Sierra Club Bay Chapter.

The Steering Committee will meet in December to resolve outstanding issues, hear polling results, and decide on one of three options for proceeding. The first option is to put the measure on the ballot as a special tax, requiring a two-thirds vote. The second is as a general tax and advisory measure, each measure requiring 50%. Finally, the committee may decide to wait for state legislation to change voting requirements.

What You Can Do:

1. Next Expenditure Plan Steering Committee meeting: Monday, December 13, time and location TBA (most likely evening in Dublin). Call ACTA at (510) 893-3347 for meeting details.
2. Next Alameda Chapter meeting: Tuesday, December 7, 6-8 p.m., location TBA.
3. Write a letter to the Steering Committee. Call Jeff Hobson at (510) 540-7280 for details.

Attend MTC's Blueprint Workshops!

For more information go to www.mtc.ca.gov or call (510) 464-7700.

Upcoming Meetings

Saturday, January 29
10:00 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
See the announcement.

Bay Area Transportation and Land Use Coalition
Phone: (510) 740-3150
Fax: (510) 740-3131
414 13th St., 5th floor
Oakland, CA 94612
E-mail: info@transcoalition.org

Last updated: 5/26/00