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THANK you to everyone who called or emailed SANDAG this week! I heard comments from several members of the board that they heard from their local constituents, and they were definitely paying attention today.
The SANDAG meeting went fairly well today – thanks to Jim, Hans, Nicole, Nick(?), plus support from Move San Diego, Walk San Diego, Sustainable San Diego, and others. Thank you all for being there! It was terrific that all the people who stood up to speak today supported dramatically increasing the amount of money spent on bicycling and walking.
The good news is that staff claims they will be ‘fully funding’ the bicycle and pedestrian program. The bad news is that they carefully did not establish what ‘fully funded’ means. It could mean that they are fully funding the regional bike plan. That would be nice, but that’s only $430 million. We just don’t know yet. It’s almost certainly not 3%, though, so we’ve got more work to do.
The other good news is that many of the board members spoke up questioning staff about the bicycle and pedestrian program. We definitely got their attention, and they want to do the right thing. I’m hopeful that if staff gives them the option to spend significantly on bicycle and pedestrian programs, they will vote to do so. We’ll be working on getting a meeting with staff to clarify what ‘fully funded’ means next week, and we’ll be counting on you all to make some noise leading up to the November 12th Transportation Committee meeting, where they will be deciding on their ‘preferred alternative’. We need the preferred alternative to include significant money for bicycling and walking, and we’ll be trying our best to make that happen in the next three weeks.
For right now, we’ll be holding off on asking you to call or email your representatives again until we find out more about the staff recommendation. Thank you for reaching out! It made a difference. One board member actually said to me ‘ok, I get it! They can stop calling me now!’ So rest your dialing and typing fingers, but be ready for another big push in the next couple of weeks.
Kathy
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Kathy Keehan
Executive Director
San Diego County Bicycle Coalition
740 13th St, Suite 502
San Diego, CA 92101
858.487.6063
Tell your local representatives that more of the same freeways-first, active-transportation-last prioritizing will NOT cut it! The following message is from the Bike Coalition and Walk San Diego:
We need your help this week!
One of the things we try to do at the Bicycle Coalition is have input on the Regional Transportation Plan, the document that guides how all the transportation money in the San Diego region will be spent over the next 40 years. It’s updated every four years or so, and it’s time again for the discussion about how those funds will be spent.
SANDAG staff has released the ‘revenue constrained’ plan. This is the plan that actually gets down to the nitty gritty of allocating the amount of money we can reasonably expect to see in the region over the next 40 years. They have determined that $100 to $110 BILLION will be available over those 40 years, and have settled on how to spend all but about $3 to $3.5 billion of that money. Now they’re trying to figure out how to spend that last 3%.
There’s a staff report that outlines four scenarios for spending that 3% - a ‘Transit Emphasis Scenario’, a ‘Rail/Freight Emphasis Scenario’, a ‘Highway Emphasis Scenario’ and a ‘Fusion Scenario’. If you are interested in finding out what is in each scenario, http://www.sandag.org/uploads/
We need an ‘Active Transportation/Transportation Demand Management Emphasis Scenario’. 3% of the total transportation budget is not an unreasonable amount to spend on bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, programs, and improvements.
But SANDAG won’t even analyze this scenario unless we make some noise. So I’m asking you to make some calls. PLEASE call or email your SANDAG Board representative and ask them to tell SANDAG to include an Active Transportation Emphasis Scenario. Tell them you want SANDAG to spend at least 3% of the transportation dollars on bicyclists and pedestrians.
Here’s who you should call if you live, work, or play in each of the following cities. The first name on the list is the SANDAG Board representative from that city, and the ones with (A) beside them are alternates. Leave a message for one or for all if you can -
City of Carlsbad - 760-434-2820
Hon. Matt Hall, Councilmember
(A) Hon. Bud Lewis, Mayor
(A) Hon. Ann Kulchin, Mayor Pro Tem
City of Chula Vista - 619-691-5044
Hon. Cheryl Cox, Mayor
(A) Hon. Rudy Ramirez, Deputy Mayor
(A) Hon. Steve Castaneda, Councilmember
City of Coronado - 619-522-7320
Hon. Carrie Downey, Councilmember
(A) Hon. Al Ovrom, Mayor Pro Tem
(A) Hon. Michael Woiwode, Councilmember
City of Del Mar - (858) 755-9313
Hon. Crystal Crawford, Councilmember
(A) Hon. Carl Hilliard, Councilmember
(A) Hon. Mark Filanc, Councilmember
City of El Cajon - (619) 441-1788
Hon. Mark Lewis, Mayor
(A) Hon. Jillian Hanson-Cox, Councilmember
City of Encinitas – 760.633.2600
Hon. Jerome Stocks, Councilmember
(A) Hon. Teresa Barth, Councilmember
(A) Hon. Dan Dalager, Mayor
City of Escondido -
Hon. Lori Holt Pfeiler, Mayor
(A) Hon. Sam Abed, Councilmember
City of Imperial Beach – 423- 8300
Hon. Jim Janney, Mayor
(A) Hon. Patricia McCoy, Mayor Pro Tem
(A) Hon. Jim King, Councilmember
City of La Mesa – 619.463.6611
Hon. Art Madrid, Mayor
(A) Hon. Mark Arapostathis, Councilmember
(A) Hon. David Allan, Vice Mayor
City of Lemon Grove – 619.825.3800
Hon. Mary Teresa Sessom, Mayor
(A) Hon. Jerry Jones, Mayor Pro Tem
(A) Hon. Jerry Selby, Councilmember
City of National City – 619.336.4241
Hon. Ron Morrison, Mayor
(A) Vacant
(A) Hon. Rosalie Zarate, Councilmember
City of Oceanside – 760.435.3065
Hon. Jim Wood, Mayor
(A) Hon. Esther Sanchez, Councilmember
(A) Hon. Charles "Chuck" Lowery, Councilmember
City of Poway - (858) 668-4530
Hon. Don Higginson, Mayor
(A) Hon. Jim Cunningham, Councilmember
(A) Hon. Carl Kruse, Deputy Mayor
City of San Diego - (619) 236-6330
Hon. Jerry Sanders, Mayor
(A) Hon. Anthony Young, Councilmember
(A) Hon. Sherri Lightner, Councilmember
Hon. Ben Hueso, Council President 619.236.6688
(A) Hon. Marti Emerald, Councilmember
(A) Hon. Todd Gloria, Councilmember
City of San Marcos - (760) 744-1050
Hon. Jim Desmond, Mayor
(A) Hon. Hal Martin, Vice Mayor
(A) Hon. Rebecca Jones, Councilmember
City of Santee - (619) 258-4100 x114
Hon. Jack Dale, Councilmember
(A) Hon. Hal Ryan, Councilmember
(A) Hon. John Minto, Councilmember
City of Solana Beach - (858) 720-2490
Hon. Lesa Heebner, Deputy Mayor
(A) Hon. Dave Roberts, Councilmember
(A) Hon. Mike Nichols, Councilmember
City of Vista - (760) 639-6130
Hon. Judy Ritter, Mayor Pro Tem
(A) Hon. Bob Campbell, Councilmember
(A) Hon. Steve Gronke, Councilmember
County of San Diego – 619.531.5533
Hon. Pam Slater-Price, Chairwoman
(A) Hon. Greg Cox, Supervisor
(A) Hon. Ron Roberts, Chair Pro Tem
Hon. Bill Horn, Vice Chairman 619.531.5555
(A) Hon. Dianne Jacob, Supervisor
Kathy
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Kathy Keehan
Executive Director
San Diego County Bicycle Coalition
740 13th St, Suite 502
San Diego, CA 92101
858.487.6063
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Selling cars to young adults under 30 is proving to be a real challenge for automakers. Unlike their elders, Generation Yers own fewer cars and don’t drive much. They’re likely to see autos as a source of pollution, not as a sex or status symbol.
Motorists aged 21 to 30 now account for 14% of miles driven, down from 21% in 1995...“It’s a matter of mind-set far more than affordability,” says William Draves, president of Learning Resources Network, an association that studies consumer trends and provides education and training services...
Moreover, in survey after survey, Gen Yers say that they believe cars are damaging to the environment. Even hybrid electric vehicles don’t seem to be changing young consumers’ attitudes much.
Bold emphasis added. The complete version of the article can be found here.