Next TALC regional meeting — Nov. 16
Mark your calendar for TALC's final regional meeting of 2005. The main topic will be the Health/Smart Growth Connection: what does transit oriented development have to do with hot-button health issues such as obesity, asthma, and cancer? How can making these connections help you make the best of transit station area planning processes? Get tips from leading health officials. The meeting is open to all. Wednesday, November 16, 5:30-7:30 pm. (Orientation for new attendees from 5:00-5:30.) Sierra Club, 85 2nd Street, San Francisco.

View our calendar of events: www.transcoalition.org/calendar.html

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TravelChoice project takes off
An innovative new program to reduce auto trips is coming soon to the Bay Area, and will be led by TALC. By using personalized marketing the program, dubbed TravelChoice, aims for a 10% reduction in auto trips by increasing transit, biking, and walking. The program is modeled after numerous successful projects in the United States and abroad, and was one of the new initiatives in TALC's 2005-2008 Strategic Plan. Total funding of $300,000 is being provided by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, as well as TALC's partners in the project: the Alameda County Congestion Management Agency, BART, and AC Transit. The pilot project will target 6,000 households in the city of Alameda and the Fruitvale District of Oakland.

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Low-income Contra Costa communities to engage in planning
Very fortunate timing has brought MTC's Community Based Transportation Planning to two of the communities that TALC has been working with: Monument Corridor of Concord and Pittsburg/Bay Point. TALC will provide technical assistance to ensure these low-income communities get effective projects tailored to improve their access.

Learn more: www.transcoalition.org/c/teach/teach_comm_plans.htm

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Volunteers needed for mailing party -- Nov. 9
TALC will be mailing an end-of-year appeal letter, and we need your help. Join staff and volunteers in our downtown Oakland office, and have dinner on us. This is a chance not only for schmoozing, but also to help with a vital fund-raising task so TALC can gear up for important campaigns in 2006. Please RSVP to Seth Schneider, Communications Director, at 510-740-3100 or seth@transcoalition.org. We have a few volunteers signed up already, and your help will be a big boost! Join us on Wednesday, November 9 from 5:30-7:30 PM, or any amount of time within that period.

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TALC welcomes new staff member
Marisol Ramos is TALC's new Operations Director. She has extensive administrative experience in both the public and private sectors, most recently from UCSF. Along with her administrative duties she will coordinate TALC's new Safe Routes to School campaign. Marisol has a BA from UCLA in History/Urban Studies and played a large role in UCLA's implementation of a Bicycle Master Plan.

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Share your vision for the Bay Area rail system
MTC, BART, Caltrain, and the California High-Speed Rail Authority need your help developing a Regional Rail Plan for the Bay Area. The plan will look at improvements and extensions of railroad, rapid transit, and high-speed rail services over the next 5-25 years. There are six community workshops: Oakland, Nov 29; San Jose, Nov 30; San Francisco, Dec 1; Livermore, Dec 5; Modesto, Dec 6; and Suisun City, Dec 8.

TALC is recommending that the plan studies a wider range of alternatives, and is not constrained to partially-funded projects that are years away from construction, especially for the East Bay/South Bay connection.

Learn more: www.bayarearailplan.info

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Workshop on housing/land-use -- Nov. 16
The U.S. EPA Region 9 is holding a free workshop entitled “Socio-Economic Causes and Consequences of Future Environmental Changes Workshop,” on November 16 at 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco from 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Topics covered include: trends in housing, land use, and land cover change; transforming office parks into transit villages; and integrating land use, transportation and air quality modeling.

Learn more: www.scgcorp.com/socioeconcauses/index.asp

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Colloquium on housing in the Bay Area -- Nov. 18
This interactive panel discussion will bring together representatives of several of the groups engaged in addressing how best to provide housing in the Bay Area in a way that meets the many overlapping and often conflicting needs of the region. The "Housing and the Bay" colloquium includes speakers from the Association of Bay Area Governments, Bay Conservation and Development Commission, David Baker + Partners, Signature Properties, and TALC. The event will be held on Friday, November 18, from 2-4 p.m. in 112 Wurster Hall on the UC Berkeley campus and is free and open to the public.