[TLC Member News & Alerts] Say NO to anti-environment MTA budget!
Jeremy Nelson
jeremy at livablecity.org
Wed Jun 1 22:48:39 MDT 2005
Dear advocates for a more livable city-
After a brief hiatus, TLC "News and Alerts" e-mail updates are back.
This e-mail is chock full of World Environment Day events and protests, as
well as an **URGENT ACTION ALERT** on the MTA budget (this Thursday is your
last chance to oppose the Board of Supervisors' anti-poor, anti-environment,
anti-transit rider budget).
Plus, there are several other opportunities for to get involved in our
shared work of creating safer, better-designed streets, more sustainable
transportation choices, and more affordable car-free housing.
Thanks for your continued advocacy and support of TLC -Jeremy
Jeremy Nelson
Policy Director, Transportation for a Livable City
===========================
"[Cities should never] violate the First Law of Civilization, which states
that nothing must ever be done for the convenience of cars- the mark of a
city worth living in is that there are never enough places to park." -Adam
Gopnik (2/14/05 New Yorker)
"...global warming is a multigenerational problem: The choices we make now
set the stage for what our grandchildren will be forced to deal with- a
little warming and sea level rise, or a lot." -Gerald Meehl, National
Center for Atmospheric Research (3/17 National Geographic)
===========================
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1) World Environment Day 2005 Events & Protests
2) URGENT ACTION: Say "NO!" to Board of Supervisors' anti-poor,
anti-environment, anti-transit rider MTA budget
3) Volunteer needed: Help TLC launch a new "Parking Cash Out" campaign
4) Tell MTC not to waste transportation dollars on projects that promote
urban sprawl
5) Cars (continue) to kill Bay Area pedestrians
6) Changing the terms of debate: TLC staff, interns, and supporters in the
news
7) Jobs at TLC partner groups
===========================
1) World Environment Day 2005 Events
As San Francisco hosts World Environment Day events this week, Leah Shahum
SFBC executive director properly asks "Where's the political leadership on
sustainable transportation issues in this City?":
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/05/31/EDGRED01BQ1.DTL.
Below is a schedule of TLC recommended and co-sponsored seminars and forums,
with a sprinkling of protests and pickets. For more info on World
Environment Day, see www.wed2005.org.
* Wednesday, 6/1, noon - 1pm
Cities on the Move - Environmental Urban/Public Transportation Strategies
from Around the Globe
San Francisco Public Library, Koret Auditorium
A broad-ranging discussion of innovative alternatives to the private
automobile being used in cities around the world. From congestion pricing,
transit-first streets, pedestrian zones and bicycle initiatives that are
making a difference. Sponsored by: Earthjustice, San Francisco Bicycle
Coalition, Transportation for a Livable City, and others. Contact: Brian
Smith, Earthjustice, (510) 550-6714 or mailto:bsmith at earthjustice.org
Panelists:
Leah Shahum, Executive Director, San Francisco Bicycle Coalition
Lilia Scott, Research Manager, RIDES Associates: Transportation Solutions &
Services
Tom Radulovich, Executive Director, Transportation for a Livable City
Stuart Cohen, Executive Director, Transportation and Land Use Coalition
(Invited)
Jake McGoldrick, San Francisco Board of Supervisors (Invited)
Moderated by Brian Smith, Earthjustice
* Thursday, 6/2, 9am - 11 (drop by for as long as you can during this time
frame)
WED Opening Ceremonies and Counter Protest
Bill Graham Auditorium, Civic Center Plaza
This is the kick-off event for World Environment Day and the International
Conference of Mayors. This event will be an opportunity for activists to
deliver their own message attendees and sponsors- including Mayor Newsom.
Look for activists representing efforts to shutdown the dirty power plant in
Hunter's Point, preserve Hetch Hetchy, implement public power in San
Francisco, and stop the proposed Muni fare hikes and service cuts.
TLC and the Coalition for Transit Justice will be greeting mayors from
around the world and protesting the irony of Mayor Newsom playing the role
of environmental champion, the very same week that he acquiesced to an
anti-environment and "transit last" MTA budget that will raise Muni fares to
$1.50 and cut service on over 20 routes throughout the city. We'll also
have signs and fliers indicating Mayor Newsom's "D" grade on environmental
issues from the Sierra Club and expressing our outrage over the Mayor's
anti-transit MTA budget (or feel free to make and bring your own sign!).
Please come let the Mayor know what you think of his complete lack of
leadership on sustainable transportation issues over the past 3 years and
your disgust with his exploitation of World Environment Day as one big
photo-op for hyping non-solutions (e.g. hybrid and hydrogen vehicles) in
advance of his next political campaign. Contact: Susan King at 823-5524 for
more info.
* Thursday, 6/2 noon to 1 pm
Protest Hastings' proposed 7-story, 500-space, mega parking garage in the
Tenderloin
Meet at 200 McAllister
The proposal for a UC Hastings garage at the corner of Golden Gate and
Larkin is rearing its ugly head once again, and while it's being sold as a
"kindler, gentler" version of the garage proposal that neighborhood
residents and community groups were successful in killing several years
back, it actually still a 500 space mega-garage, 7-stories tall, all above
ground,
with very little retail, and NO HOUSING!
There is no need for this much parking on a campus where 40% of the
students, faculty and staff commute to campus without a car and there are
2,900 parking spaces within walking distance with an average occupancy of
87%, meaning at least 400 parking spaces are available even during the
highest demand, but unless you get involved now the Hastings Board will
likely vote at the end of the summer on whether to approve this garage.
Join the AIDS Housing Alliance, residents of the Rainbow Flag Apartments
(right next door to the proposed garage site), TLC, and other groups to
protest Hastings' attempts to build a parking garage that will induce more
vehicle trips to the Tenderloin thereby spewing more pollution into this
low-income neighborhood and which will especially impact the many
catastrophically-ill people living at the Rainbow Flag apartments right next
door to the garage. Contact Brian Basinger at 864-2566 or Jeremy at
425-9848 for more info about this protest, or how you can get involved in
the campaign to oppose this project.
* Thursday, 6/2, 11am - 6pm
Sustainable Transportation Expo
UN Plaza and Civic Center Plaza
This is a great chance to find out what San Francisco and other cities are
doing to promote sustainable transportation- and what their not doing but
should be.
* Thursday, 6/2, 5:30pm - 7:30pm
Redesigning Metropolis: Ecology, Community and the Greening of the City,
with Peter Calthorpe
Commonwealth Club, 595 Market Street, 2nd Floor
Peter Calthorpe is a Berkeley-based architect, urban planner, author and
outspoken leader of the New Urbanism movement of urban design, an
international movement which advocates reforming the design of the built
environment in ways that raise the quality of life and standard of living by
creating better places to live. Since launching his practice in 1972, he has
combined his experience in the planning and architecture fields to develop
an environmental approach to community development and urban design.
* Thursday, 6/2, 5pm - 7pm
Model Urban Mechanisms for the American City
Meet at 5pm at 1 Church St., corner of Duboce & Church
Please join us for a leisurely walking tour of the Duboce Triangle
neighborhood. Come see new infill housing, urban greening, and the new
Octavia Boulevard! Sponsored by the SF Housing Action Coalition. Contact:
Kate White (415) 541-9001 or mailto:kate at sfhac.org
* Thursday, 6/2, 5:45pm - 7pm
World Environment Day Bike Ride
Meet at UN Plaza (Market & 7th Sts.)
Wanna have fun and rub spokes with Mayors of the World and we common folk?
Then come on down to Justin Herman Plaza where we will be spinning slowly
around some of the best and safest scenery in SF! We encourage you to bring
your handmade banners, flags, pins, bells and whistles - and creative biker
stickers (AND NIGHT LIGHTS!) to show your unity with WED 2005's
environmental awareness events.
We will begin at UN Plaza located on Market near 7th at 5:45pm and ride a
beautiful (and flat) route around SBC Park, along the new bike lane strip
of China Basin and then on to Dolores Park, and finally to the Castro
Theater where many mayors will be in attendance for the film "Darwin's
Nightmare", which received many international palmares. Or if you don't
have a ticket or time, we will return to the famous bike and biker
indoor/outdoor bar, Zeitgeist, to soak up the biker vibes, sun and suds -
see you there! Sponsored by SF Bicycle Coalition. Contact:
mailto:drew_deep_well at yahoo.com.
* Friday, 6/3, 9am to noon
San Francisco Greenway Network Kickoff Event
Hayes Green, Hayes St. & Octavia Blvd.
Several community organizations including TLC have been making steady
progress on creating a Greenway Network concept for San Francisco. Join
these groups for an unveiling of the concept during this WED breakfast event
celebrating the new Hayes Green. Sponsored by the Hayes Valley Neighborhood
Association and the Hayes Valley Merchants Association. All are welcome,
food and drinks provided by local merchants, music, and a welcome address by
D5 Sup. Ross Mirkarimi. Contact: Tom Radulovich at 344-0489, ext. 1# or
mailto:tom at livablecity.org.
* Friday, 6/3, 9am to noon
Transforming Public Transportation, with Enrique Peñalosa
Metreon, 101 4th St.
Traffic congestion and deteriorating air quality are mounting problems in
major cities throughout the world. Municipal governments are struggling
with these challenges in the face of escalating urbanization and ballooning
vehicle populations. This event will introduce mayors and the public to
innovative solutions—cost-effective public transit and community planning
that together deliver reduced congestion and cleaner air.
Enrique Peñalosa, presidential candidate from Colombia and former mayor of
Bogotá, will give a keynote address on the TransMilenio Bus Rapid Transit
systems, one of the world’s most advanced multi-modal public transportation
systems. Experts from China, Brazil, and the U.S. will describe successful
multi-modal transportation system examples.
* Saturday, 6/4, 11am
Rally for Environmental Justice
City Hall
Environmental Justice grassroots community groups, organizations and
individuals from Bayview Hunters Point to communities around the world
demand environmental justice! Sponsored by over 40 environmental justice
grassroots community groups and organizations, including the Coalition for
Transit Justice of which TLC is a member.
More info:
http://greenaction.org/hunterspoint/documents/CommunitiesDemandEnvironmental
JusticeRally060405.pdf
===========================
2) URGENT ACTION: Say "NO!" to Board of Supervisors' anti-poor,
anti-environment, anti-transit rider MTA budget
WHAT'S AT STAKE: Last week the Board of Supervisors could have taken the
$16 million in newly found MTA revenue and completely eliminated all Muni
fare increases and the worst of the Muni service cuts. Instead the entire
Board (with the exception of Supervisors Ammiano, Daly, and Mirkarimi) voted
to use much of this money to reduce parking meter fees and fines for illegal
(!) parking.
Numerous Supervisors, including Supervisors McGoldrick and Sandoval
explained their vote by saying that increasing parking meter rates by $1 per
hour citywide (still well below market rates) and increasing fines for
violations like parking in a bike lane or in front of a fire hydrant by $15
was "punitive taxation" akin to the Boston Tea Party-like revolt against
"taxation without representation." These Supervisors were joined by
Supervisor Peskin in claiming- without any evidence- that these increases in
parking fines and fees would kill local businesses and turn San Francisco's
neighborhood commercial districts into "ghost towns."
Reams of transportation research that definitively proves that neither of
these claims are true. First, increasing the price of driving isn't a "tax
increase"- it's a "subsidy reduction" in that motorists currently receive
significant public subsidies for driving (for more on San Francisco's
incredibly generous welfare program for motorists, see
http://www.sierraclub.org/sprawl/articles/subsidies.asp or
http://www.sfweekly.com/issues/2005-02-16/news/smith.html).
Secondly, market rates for curb parking doesn't kill neighborhood
businesses, it helps business by increasing turnover of parking spaces,
yielding more total customers and more profit per parking space (this is the
reason why a 2001 Transportation Research Board study found that the 25%
parking tax instituted in 1972 on all off-street parking actually increased
retails sales and the City's sales tax).
These Supervisors' comments in defense of making transit riders pay higher
fares for less service in order to be able to rollback parking meter fines
and fees are baseless, politically-motivated nonsense. The comments do
suggest that some members of the Board of Supervisors are listening more
closely to a handful of uninformed, hidebound merchants rather than the
voices of the thousands of Muni riders and low-income San Franciscans who
signed cards opposing fare hikes and service cuts. DON'T LET THE
SUPERVISORS GET AWAY WITH THIS WITHOUT BEING HELD ACCOUNTABLE: Say "NO!" to
their anti-poor, anti-environment, anti-transit MTA budget.
TAKE ACTION: This is likely your last chance to oppose Muni fare hikes and
service cuts, so please do all you can to stop the Board from balancing this
year's MTA Budget on the backs of transit riders:
1) E-MAIL THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS AND MAYOR. Tell them to restore the
increases in parking fees and fines to the level the MTA Board approved
(meter rates go up by $1 and most fines for illegal parking go up by $15)
and to use that $4.4 million in revenue to eliminate the increase in Muni's
single-ride cash fare from $1.25 to $1.50. Contact info and a sample letter
are at http://www.livablecity.org/campaigns/muni.html.
2) CALL SUPERVISORS ON THE BUDGET AND FINANCE COMMITTEE DIRECTLY. Key
Committee members are Supervisors Jake McGoldrick, Gerardo Sandoval, and
Fiona Ma, all of whom voted last week to rollback parking fines and fees and
increase transit fares. (Supervisors Daly and Ammiano voted are also on the
Budget and Finance Committee and voted against raising transit fares and
increasing subsidies for drivers). Find out who your Supervisor is and get
their contact info at http://tinyurl.com/d3fpx.
3) ATTEND THE HEARING THIS THURSDAY (6/2) AT 1 PM IN CITY HALL LEGISLATIVE
CHAMBERS (ROOM 250). Call Jeremy at 425-9848 if you'd like to attend, and
we'll call you approximately 15 minutes before the items are heard.
===========================
3) Volunteer needed: Help TLC launch a new "Parking Cash Out" campaign
WHAT'S AT STAKE: Several city departments and offices have requested
information on improving the City's enforcement of the state "Parking Cash
Out" law. This law requires employers that provide free parking to provide
an equivalent cash subsidy for all their employees. The law basically
requires employers to provide a equal transportation benefit to all
employees, thereby rewarding employees who are already taking transit,
walking, or biking and encouraging employees who drive to "cash out" their
free parking or pay market rates. Other cities have developed robust
enforcement measures at the local level to make sure that employers are
complying with the state law, but San Francisco does no enforcement at all!
TAKE ACTION: We need a volunteer to develop a fact sheet and a simple
website for a future campaign to improve local enforcement of this existing
state law. TLC staff have expertise and numerous resources on this issue to
get you started and will help you with your work. This project is ideal for
someone who with excellent research and writing skills and already knows
something about parking cash out and/or other Transportation Demand
Management (TDM) incentives. Alternately, this project would be good for
somebody who wants to learn about this innovative policy reform, help move
San Francisco towards more sustainable transportation patterns, and have a
discrete work product (fact sheet and/or website) to add to their resume
portfolio. If either of these descriptions fit you or someone you know,
please contact Jeremy at 425-9848 or mailto:jeremy at livablecity.org ASAP!
More info on Parking Cash-Out at
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-op-parking17apr17,0,576289
9.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions and
www.arb.ca.gov/planning/tsaq/cashout/cashout_0502.pdf
===========================
4) Tell MTC not to waste transportation dollars on projects that promote
urban sprawl
WHAT'S AT STAKE: The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC)- our
regional transportation agency – will spend $8.9 billion in new transit
projects around the Bay Area in the coming years. To make the most of our
limited transit dollars, new projects should increase the number of people
riding transit and should reduce traffic congestion. How do we make sure
people are on transit? We make transit a convenient option by building
homes, jobs and shops around the station so people can easily get to the
stations.
To make sure that happens, MTC is on the verge of passing a Regional Transit
Oriented Development policy that requires cities to plan for a minimum
amount of homes and jobs in the 1/2 mile radius area around new stations.
This policy will ensure riders are on the trains, will help create needed
homes and will help the region accommodate growth within existing towns
rather than sprawling onto open space.
TAKE ACTION: The entire policy could be undermined if cities are required
to plan for too few homes and jobs in station areas. We need your help to
tell MTC that we support this policy and that we need higher minimum
thresholds for housing and jobs in station areas.
1) CONTACT THE MTC: "I support the proposed TOD policy, but we need a
higher housing/jobs threshold to meet the goals of the Smart Growth Vision.
The proposed combined thresholds should be increased by 50% and the housing
unit minimums should make up 70-80% of the thresholds to ensure ridership
and create the homes we need."
A sample letter is at
http://www.transcoalition.org/c/landuse/landuse_jpc_letter.html and contact
info for San Francisco two MTC Commissioners Jon Rubin (Chair, San Francisco
Mayor's Appointee, mailto:jrubin at pencoalition.com) and Tom Ammiano
(Representing City/County of San Francisco and Board of Supervisors,
mailto:tom_ammiano at ci.sf.ca.us) (full contact info at
www.mtc.ca.gov/about_mtc/commtext.htm):
2) GET INVOLVED: For more info on MTC's proposed policy go to TALC's
Transit Village Campaign website at
http://www.transcoalition.org/c/landuse/landuse_home.html, or
contact Kate O’Hara at Greenbelt Alliance (mailto:kohara at greenbelt.org
415-543-6771)
===========================
5) Cars (continue) to kill San Francisco pedestrians
WHAT'S AT STAKE: This past spring was a grim one for pedestrians. At least
3 pedestrians were killed by automobiles in just a few short weeks in
February and March. In addition to these deaths, there were at least 2
pedestrians injured by hit-and-run drivers the same time period:
- DEAD, 2/11: Mission District, Sundee Webster, Age 58.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/g/a/2005/02/11/pedestrian11.DTL
- DEAD, 2/17: Western Addition, Nelly Bagdasarova, Age 68.
http://www.sfexaminer.com/articles/2005/02/21/news/20050221_ne04_hitandrun.t
xt
- DEAD, 3/13: Van Ness Corridor, Anthony Conti, Age 35.
Autos kill another human being: homeless man killed by hit-and-run driver
http://www.sfexaminer.com/articles/2005/03/14/news/20050314_ne08_homeless.tx
t
- INJURED, 3/6: Mission District, Unidentified woman, Age 70
http://www.sfexaminer.com/articles/2005/03/07/news/20050307_ne02_hitandrun.t
xt
- INJURED, 3/15: Sunset, Unidentified woman, in her 50s and 60s
Woman dragged 40 feet- is this how we respect our elders?:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/baycitynews/archive/2005/03/15/d
ragged15.DTL
TAKE ACTION: Streets over designed only for cars encourage unsafe driving
behavior that results in injuries and fatalities of pedestrians and
bicyclists. Yet despite this rash of deaths and injuries, no meaningful
traffic calming projects or initiatives have been introduces since then.
Please honor these tragic deaths by writing to the Mayor
(mailto:Gavin.Newsom at sfgov.org) and the Board of Supervisors
(mailto:board.of.supervisors at sfgov.org) and ask them to commit to
redesigning our streets to convert them from traffic sewers to vibrant
public spaces that are safe for all San Franciscans to travel.
=========================
6) Changing the terms of debate: TLC staff, interns, and supporters in the
news
- TLC Executive Director on congestion pricing:
http://www.sfexaminer.com/articles/2005/03/22/news/20050322_ne03_trans3.txt
- TLC Executive Director on state legislation to allow Tax Increment
Financing for Transit Oriented Development ("TIF for TOD":
http://www.sfexaminer.com/articles/2005/03/22/news/20050322_ne03_trans3.txt
- TLC Policy Director on Parking Benefit Districts:
http://www.sfexaminer.com/articles/2005/04/26//news//20050426_ne08_bernal.tx
t and
http://www.sfexaminer.com/articles/2005/05/18/news/20050518_ne13_parkin.txt
- TLC Policy Director on state legislation to double fines for speeding on
19th Ave/Park Presidio:
http://www.sfexaminer.com/articles/2005/05/27//news//20050527_ne10_drivers.t
xt
- TLC Policy Director on MTA's anti-environment budget:
http://sfexaminer.com/articles/2005/05/31//news//20050531_ne05_muni.txt
- TLC volunteer Policy Associate Jennifer Olsen on Class Pass:
http://xpress.sfsu.edu/archives/news/003191.html
- TLC supporter Fran Taylor on MTA's anti-poor, anti-environment,
anti-transit rider budget:
http://www.sfexaminer.com/articles/2005/05/16/opinion/20050516_op02_letters.
txt
Excerpt: "More than half of the $9.2 million found by Muni last week will be
wasted, thanks to the decision of the Budget and Finance Committee to roll
back proposed parking fines and fees, while agreeing to much less generous
benefits to transit riders. Maybe if the 700,000 daily Muni riders got
their hands on a car and drove alone to work one day, the usual drivers
would stop whining about putting another quarter in a meter and the
supervisors would stop coddling motorists."
- TLC supporters Rich Coffin and Cheryl Brinkman on Fisherman's Wharf:
http://www.sfexaminer.com/articles/2005/05/17/opinion/20050517_op02_letters.
txt and
http://www.sfexaminer.com/articles/2005/05/16/opinion/20050516_op02_letters.
txt.
Excerpt: "It's time the city, DPT, planning and others stop being bullied by
a few misguided restaurant owners who still think in the mid-20th century
mentality that more cars speeding through the wharf somehow equates with
more business."
- TLC supporter Howard Strassner on ill-conceived Coit Tower parking/traffic
management plan:
http://www.sfexaminer.com/articles/2005/05/18//opinion//20050518_op02_le.txt
Excerpt: "The Telegraph Hill Dwellers' proposed solution for the problem of
weekend traffic jams approaching Coit Tower may be worse than the problem.
A better solution would be to implement real-time market-rate parking fees
at the meters on top of the hill."
===========================
7) Jobs at TLC partner groups
- City CarShare, Chief Executive Officer:
http://www.citycarshare.org/about/citycarshare/jobs.shtml
- SF Bicycle Coalition, Community Organizer (part-time):
http://www.sfbike.org/?jobs.
=========================
ABOUT "TLC NEWS & ALERTS". This is a weekly e-newsletter from
Transportation for a Livable City (TLC), a community-based policy and
advocacy organization dedicated to improving San Franciscans' quality of
life by promoting more sustainable and
equitable transportation and land use policies. We work for greater
transportation choices, safer, better-designed streets, reduced traffic
congestion, and the creation of more affordable housing. More info about
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=========================
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