Urge the SANDAG Board to Not Appeal the 2050 Regional Transportation Plan Court Decision
Please sign our letter asking the SANDAG Board to not appeal the SANDAG Regional Transportation Plan ruling.
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Late last month a California appeals court rejected SANDAG's 2050 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) for failing to meet our state's commitment to lower greenhouse gas emissions, or as KPBS' Alison St. John puts it, the commitment to "taking approximately 15 million cars off the nation's roads".
This marks the second time our judicial system has indicated that SANDAG, our regional planning agency, ought to come up with a better plan than the one they seem intent to push through.
The SANDAG 2050 Regional Transportation Plan is a $200 billion dollar plan that covers all transportation projects scheduled to get implemented on the ground between now and the year 2050. Of that $200 billion, $2.5 billion has been set aside for bikes. Sounds great. But that $2.5 billion is 1% of total funds that will be spent. Furthermore, SANDAG themselves clearly don't consider bicycling to be an actual mode of transportation despite all their handwaving on how much they support bicycling given their own projected growth of bicycling as shown below:
In short, SANDAG is spending $2.5 billion dollars on improving the bikeability in San Diego County but don't anticipate the percentage of people riding a bicycle to change in any way. While our advocacy supports the creation of world-class bike infrastructure, that advocacy goes hand in hand with relying on data that more people on bikes results in less people driving on the roads and a healthier and more improved quality of life for all.
State law and community support calls for reducing the number of vehicles on the roads, not maintaining the status quo - which is what SANDAG's plans actually intend to do. Thus, the existing proposed 2050 RTP is nothing short of a big waste of money - our money.
We have been asking, along with many other community based groups and advocacy organizations, for SANDAG to create a new scenario - in their update to the 2050 RTP. To date the SANDAG board has ignored their own community and constituents. Now, the courts have rejected SANDAG's RTP and we are urging the SANDAG Board of Directors that will be meeting tomorrow in a closed session to not appeal the most recent court decision. Please join us and sign this letter that will be automatically emailed to the SANDAG Board of Directors.
What questions should the Uptown community leaders be asking?
The Early Action Bike Projects, of which both the Uptown Bike Corridor and the Mid-City Bike Corridor are a part of, are funded by the half-cent sales tax measure, Transnet, that is managed by our regional planning agency, SANDAG. Transnet dollars represent one of the largest pools of funds in the county, and is not unlike other half-cent sales tax measures that have been passed around the state largely to fund transportation projects. The extension for Transnet barely passed voter approval in the 2004 elections.
Transnet, to most of us in the transportation advocacy world, represents a net good because it are seen as a dedicated funding stream that will make San Diego more walkable, bikeable, and thus livable.
However in 2004, despite a fairly diverse coalition supporting the extension of Transnet - it barely passed voter approval at 67% (1% point more than was needed for support as this was a tax increase). The language of the extension touted solutions for traffic congestion, and yet the Environmental Health Coalition and Sierra Club registered their opposition to the ordinance. The EHC detailed their opposition stating (among other things):
Transnet Cheats Urban Neighborhoods!
"Almost 85% of all transit infrastructure funded by Transnet will serve suburban neighborhoods."
So when reviewing how voters around the city voted on Transnet's extension, it is hard to gauge what they wanted - did they vote "Yes" because they wanted "traffic congestion" eased? If so, did they want wider roads, more freeways and a more car-dependent society? Or did they vote "Yes" because they wanted more transportation options like safer bike infrastructure, wide sidewalks and a robust and well connected transit network? Did they vote "No" because they didn't want funds from the urban neighborhoods to fund suburban (and the more car-dependent) neighborhoods in the region? Or did they vote "No" because they are opposed to tax increases?
It's hard to say.
The Early Action Bike Projects are part of SANDAG's 2050 Regional Transportation Plan(RTP), which after approval by the SANDAG board in October 2011 (despite healthy opposition to the plan) was subsequently the subject of a lawsuit. As written here previously, the RTP was eventually "found to be illegal by the San Diego County Superior Court. The court found that the plan did not comply with California clean air laws. Whether the plan will need to be totally redone remains to be seen." That decision is now being appealed by SANDAG instead of simply re-doing their RTP and incorporating the suggestions they've captured in their most recent RTP Update process. BikeSD is on the record with the SANDAG Transportation Committee asking for the agency to not appeal.
Of the $200 billion, SANDAG has set aside $2.5 billion for bicycle and pedestrian projects (not as impressive when you think about the fact that it is 1.25% of the total funds). Of that $2.5 billion, $200 million was approved last fall by the SANDAG board to implement the RTP's early action bike projects.
The Uptown Bike Corridor is scheduled to receive an investment of $43.4 million of those Transnet funds where the east/west corridor of University Avenue is the subject of much contention as it may (again, may) affect the removal of 91 parking meters (10% of total parking spots available in Uptown within a block of University Avenue). These parking meters currently bring in about $40,000 to Uptown annually according to San Diego's Uptown Community Parking District's Chief Operating Officer, Elizabeth Hannon.
Just so you didn't miss those numbers: the numbers we're talking about is the current revenue brought in of approximately $40,000 versus an investment of $43.4 million into Uptown to expand the number of transportation choices of Uptown's residents and visitors.
Meanwhile, while some Uptown community leaders bicker over whether it is worthwhile to accept a $43.4 million investment over the remote possibility that they may lose $40,000, SANDAG bureaucrats continue to take tax money collected from the urban neighborhoods in San Diego; allocating it on projects in suburban, car-dependent neighborhoods where parking is plentiful and driving is not as stressful. In other words, an urban community fighting over providing vehicle parking is nothing short of a race to the bottom and a race they are destined to lose. The suburban communities will always win the parking issue with their free and plentiful parking.
What should the Uptown community leaders instead be asking? They should be asking for an accounting of total Transnet revenue collected in Uptown and exactly how much of those dollars are being re-invested in Uptown. In Fiscal Year 2012, the city of San Diego generated over $26 million in Transnet funds. How much of that $26 million was generated in Uptown and how much was reinvested back in Uptown? That is the question that needs answers.
The importance of being an engaged, active and vocal citizen
When the Occupy Wall Street movement began last year, mainstream media reports on it varied from utter confusion to mockery. But it sparked something and pretty soon Occupiers around the country began Occupying a spot in their jurisdiction to bring attention to a variety of complaints and grievances. We have our own Occupy San Diego along with a bicycle cavalry arm - the Occupy Riders who spread their message by bicycle. I will write about our Occupy Riders in a future post.
Many media outlets have attempted to understand the rationale behind the Occupy movement with varying degrees of success. And like Critical Mass, responses to the movement vary all across the spectrum.
Here in San Diego, bicyclists have been promised a bike path along I-15. The promise was originally made in 1993 – almost two decades ago. However, what were the circumstances leading up to the 1993 Memorandum of Understanding? What was taking so long? In an attempt to understand the history, I contacted Caltrans’ Public Information Office to get access to what they call a "Final Environmental/Section 4(f) Statement". This is the document that details everything from the rationale to construct the I-15 through the Mid-City region, the alternative routes considered, the environmental effects resulting from the construction of this freeway, the public comments that were received and the decision leading up to building the I-15 through the mid-city region. The contents of this 1971 document is detailed below.
The intention of the project was to convert 2.2 miles of an urban four lane highway into a freeway. Part of those 2.2 miles included seven blocks of what used to be 40th Street. 40th Street back then was a residential street. The Environmental Statement that I reviewed described this street as follows, "abutting residents enter the main stream of traffic directly from their driveways and return the same way. Homes face directly onto the traffic only twenty five feet away." The rationale given, in order convert this section into a freeway, was safety. The accident rate was "8.73 accidents per million vehicle miles" along this stretch of the road. The state average in 1970 was 6.47 for a similar type road and 1.43 for urban freeways.
Considering the time period, public outreach was done through mail and at least one in-person public meeting. 16 organizations responded by mail. 43 organizations did not respond at all. Only 5 out of the 16 organizations opposed the project. 650 apartment units (home to 2,000 residents) and 63 commercial units were listed to be displaced if the project was implemented. At a public hearing, 8 residents offered comment. Only 2 were in favor of this project. This included public comments from two individuals who may have been married (perhaps unhappily), Harold Blum was against the project and Minnie Blum was in favor of it. Out of all the individuals and organizations only a single individual - a resident named Sandra Dupont specifically asked for accommodations for bicyclists.
As we now all now know, the I-15 project was constructed. And non-motorized users lost one valuable connection into Mission Valley.
Last October at the SANDAG Board meeting where the 2050 Regional Transportation Plan was to be voted upon, 87 comments were offered prior to the Board vote. Out of these comments 56 (64% of the comments) organizations and/or individuals expressed opposition to the 2050 RTP. This included:
Molly Foster, member of the public
Stuart Cohen, TransForm
Georgette Gomez, Environmental Health Coalition,
Jessica Parra-Fitch, Policy Advocate at Environmental Health Coalition,
Congressman Bob Filner (51st District)
Keith Pezzoli, The Global Action Research Center
Masada Disenhouse, San Diego 350
Mike Bullock, a member of the public
Valentine Macedo, Laborers Local 89
Margarita Holguin, Chula Vista Community Collaborative
Hugh Moore, San Diego Green Party
Walter Carlin, member of the public
Anne Tolch, member of the public
Marisa Mangan, member of the public
Steve Padilla, Sustainable San Diego
Simon Mayeski, member of the public
Norma Noriega, Environmental Health Coalition
Pamela Epstein, Sierra Club San Diego
Janina Moretti, member of the public
Diane Nygaard, Preserve Calavera
Deborah Knight, Executive Director, Friends of Rose Canyon
Ryan Doyle, Sierra Club San Diego
Bob Silvern, a member of the public
Corinne Wilson, Center on Policy Initiatives
Andrew Bailey, member of the public
Michelle Manian, member of the public
Paul Nevins, North County Bicycle Club
Ernest Verano, a member of the public
Jack Shu, Cleveland National Forest Foundation
Andrea Monk, Sierra Club
Saynab Dahir, Environmental Health Coalition (EHC)
Norma Chavez-Peterson Justice Overcoming Boundaries
Kasey Zapatka
Patrick Murphy
Francisca Jimenez, EHC
Monserrat Hernandez, EHC
Esperanza Cortes, EHC
Martha Cortes, EHC
Evan May
Luz Palomino
Kayla Race, EHC
Silvia Leon, EHC
Jason Baker, EHC
Susan Weaver
Sarah Fuhrmann
Jose Franco Garcia, EHC
Pete Hasapopoulos
Luiza Savchuk
Leticia Ayala
Nicole Capretz, EHC
Joni K Craig, Occupy San Diego
Miguel Basillas
Melissa Berens
Joshua Garman, Occupy San Diego
John Kenney, Occupy San Diego
Last Monday the California State Attorney General joined in the lawsuit filed by the Cleveland National Forest Foundation and the Center for Biological Diversity last November. I've briefly touched on the SANDAG 2050 Regional Transportation Plan and how it falls short of state goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve our air quality. The message to learn from this is that it is only by being an engaged citizen and an active and vocal part of the decision process can we effect change in our environment. The State Attorney General has now the ability to correct the SANDAG 2050 RTP. When the case is settled and the transportation dollars are allocated in an equitable manner to ensure increasing transportation options - we will owe all gratitude to the 56 individuals who cared enough to show up on October 21, 2011 and speak up and voice opposition against a transportation plan that would only exacerbate the problems we all as a society have grown to dislike. At this point in time, we cannot afford to lose more valuable land to the automobile. We need more options and we need to become more engaged citizens.
Local Advocates voice their concerns on SANDAG's 2050 Regional Transportation Plan
Last Monday, local advocates and activists in San Diego held a press conference rejecting SANDAG's 2050 Regional Transportation Plan. The press conference was held at the El Cajon Transit Plaza that was built over I-15. This is the transit plaza that sits mostly empty on most days. It was built as part of an (now nearly twenty year old) agreement with City Heights residents as a mitigation measure to the increasing levels of air pollution that would come about with the creation of I-15.Part of this agreement also included a Memorandum of Understanding with residents promising to create a Class I bike path connecting the Mid-City Mesa to Mission Valley.
Nearly two decades after that initial agreement with Caltrans, the bike path spanning about 2 miles has just completed its design phase after spending most of its life sitting on a shelf. The high speed transit bus service that was expected to serve communities split by the I-15 is still no where in the horizon.
Last Monday, a coalition of environmental advocacy groups came together to express their disappointment with SANDAG's 2050 RTP. In choosing the El Cajon Transit Plaza as a venue, with the corresponding din emitted by automobile traffic roaring by, the group couldn't have picked a more perfect venue to highlight the 2050 RTP's deficiencies. I videotaped everyone's speeches and have posted them below:
Steve Padilla of Sustainable San Diego
Susan Tinsky of the San Diego Housing Federation
Georgette Gomez of the Environmental Health Coalition
Maria Cortez, resident in City Heights.
Voice of San Diego's Adrian Florido did a good writeup of the press conference and highlighted one transit user, Maria Cortez, to depict public's disappointment with transit services in the region.
Robert Hawkins, Transportation reporter with the San Diego Union-Tribune, also covered the event.
Although it is too late in the process to influence the 2050 RTP, all of the groups that convened last Monday expect to play an active role in the update process as the RTP gets updated every four years.
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SANDAG continued to be in the hot seat today when KPBS' Maureen Cavanaugh interviewed SANDAG Board Chair, Jerome Stocks and Elyse Lowe of Move San Diego earlier today. Although Stocks stated that half of the transportation dollars would be spent on transit, Lowe was quick to point out how much of that investment would be made during the last two decades of the RTP.
Stocks' justification to create "a couple of freeway miles" was corrected by Lowe that over 900 new freeway miles would be added as part of the RTP, thus enabling SANDAG to continue adhering to the auto-centric planning paradigm that has resulted in over 98% of the region's residents choosing the car over transit or bike. When specifically questioned about the I-5 expansion slated to begin soon (that will result in removal of bike access from the freeway shoulder in exchange for a new Class 1 bike path paralleling the I-5), Stocks refused to answer the question and instead answered a question that was not posed about a hypothetical plumber being unable to tele-commute. Despite this, the interview is well worth a listen.
Residents, activists to hold press conference rejecting SANDAG transportation plan
Sustainable San Diego Press Conference to Reject SANDAG Transportation Plan
When: Monday Oct 17, 2011
Time: 9:00AM
Where: Boulevard Transit Plaza,
I-15 and El Cajon Boulevard, City Heights
This coming Monday, October 17, Representatives from Sustainable San Diego and residents from San Diego's many communities will voice their concerns and speak out against the flaws and oversights in SANDAG’s Regional Transportation Plan and Sustainable Communities Strategy. On September 21, California Attorney General Kamala Harris issued strong criticism of the San Diego region's draft transportation plan. SANDAG has failed to adequately address impacts to public health and communities already burdened with pollution.
On October 28, 2011 the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDGAG) is slated to adopt the Regional Transportation Plan and Sustainable Communities Strategy for the period 2012 to 2050. The transportation plan spells out how the region’s transportation networks and systems will be planned and implemented during that time, based upon assumptions about population growth and land use patterns in local jurisdictions.
SANDAG has been required under state law (SB 375) to include a Sustainable Communities Strategy as part of the transportation plan which illustrates how specific required reductions in greenhouse gas emissions will be achieved through the year 2035 based upon better linkages between land use and transportation planning.
The San Diego region is forecast to gain at least another 1.38 million in population between 2011 and 2050. Today, nearly one-third of San Diego County households do not earn enough to live self-sufficiently; children’s asthma rates in our predominantly poor and minority communities can be more than three times the county average; average highway miles driven per day in our region are higher than San Francisco, Orange and even components of Los Angeles counties.
According to the Draft Regional Transportation Plan slated for adoption, the required reductions in Greenhouse gas emissions will barely be achieved, and the bulk of transit investments are put off years and decades, while road capacity and improvements remain the primary focus of the plan. Also according to the plan, overall transit ridership in the San Diego region will remain fairly constant over the full life of the plan, with improvements only seen during peak traffic hours, and the amount of vehicle miles traveled per capita actually increase.
SANDAG received nearly 4,000 public comments on the draft plan many calling on the agency to re-evaluate transit priorities and create a more transit and active transportation oriented plan.
Sustainable San Diego is a collaboration of numerous organizations dedicated to the support of policies and practices which enhance regional sustainability. SSD believes regional sustainability is achieved when our region’s human activities are carried out in a way which can permanently endure, sustain a healthy environment, and maintain the presence of opportunity, justice and equity.
Sustainable San Diego is a collaboration of the following organizations:
Andy Hamilton, SD County Air Pollution Control District
Barry Schultz Esq., Stutz Artiano Shinoff and Holtz and Former Planning Commission Chair Betsy Morris, EM Advisors, Retired CEO, San Diego Housing Commission
Cheryl Moder, San Diego County Childhood Obesity Initiative
Corrine Wilson, Center on Policy Initiatives
Dave Gatzke, Community HousingWorks
Doris Payne-Camp, San Diego Housing Federation
Carleen Stoskopf, San Diego State University School of Public Health
Elyse Lowe, MOVE San Diego
Erin Steva, CALPIRG
Frank X. Riley, Regional Director HUD
Greg Konar, Konar Design
Georgette Gomez, Environmental Health Coalition
Hannah Cohen, Project Manager
Harry Watkins, Pt. Loma Nazarene University
Jennifer Vanica, Jacobs Family Foundation
John Nash, San Diego Housing Commission
Kathleen Ferrier, Health Equity by Design
Kathy Keenan, San Diego Bicycle Coalition
Kerry Sheldon, Local Initiatives Support Corporation
Ken Grimes, WALK San Diego
Lindsey Lupo, Point Loma Nazarene University
Mariano Diaz, LISC
Mary Lydon, Executive Director, Urban Land Institute San Diego
Michael Nagy, San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce
Mike Stepner, New School of Architecture
Mirle Bussell, UCSD Urban Studies
Myles Pomeroy retired City of San Diego planner
Nancy Lytle, SEDC
Nico Calavita, Professor Emeritus, San Diego State University, Urban Planning
Nina Smart, Jacobs Family Foundation
Norma Chavez-Peterson, Justice Overcoming Boundaries
Ryan Wiggins, Transportation for America
Sara Steinhoffer, Hospital Association of San Diego and Imperial Counties
Susan Riggs Tinsky, Citizens Coordinate Century lll
Tom Scott, San Diego Housing Federation
Tracy Delaney, County of San Diego Public Health