In the Media
Media Coverage of Urban Habitat Programs and Allies
Urban Habitat works in coalition with Bay Area and national organizations on environmental and social justice campaigns. Here's a selection of recent media releases and press coverage featuring UH and our allies.
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Court of Appeals reinstates affordable housing lawsuit against city of Pleasanton
Dateline:
06/23/2008The California Court of Appeal has reinstated a 2006 lawsuit claiming the city of Pleasanton has failed to meet its affordable housing obligations due to exclusionary policies and practices.
The ruling allows the group Urban Habitat and Pleasanton resident Sandra De Gregorio to pursue their challenge to the city's voter-approved housing cap and growth management program, as well as ask the court to require the city to rezone land for affordable housing.
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AC Transit to pitch $48 property tax
Dateline:
06/10/2008AC Transit's board of directors had been scheduled to consider a fare increase, including raising base fares from $1.75 to $2 and a highly controversial youth pass boost from $15 to $28 a month.
A recent poll commissioned by AC Transit showed that the required two-thirds majority of residents of the district it serves, in western Alameda and Contra Costa counties from Richmond to Fremont, would support a parcel tax increase of $4 a month. Agency officials estimate the tax would raise an estimated $14 million a year.
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Transit crunch may spark new vision
Dateline:
06/06/2008
OAKLAND, Calif. — Just when soaring gas prices, clogged highways and deepening worries about global warming are leading Americans to abandon their cars for public transit, a budget squeeze is wrapping itself like a boa constrictor around the nation’s public transit systems.
But those very factors could inspire a new national vision of transit’s vital role.
The New York Times recently reported that transit ridership has grown by at least 5 percent this year in New York and Boston, while other metropolitan areas in the South and West have seen ridership soar by as much as 10-15 percent.
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KPFA reports on AC Transit Rally
Dateline:
05/21/2008Listen to Wendell Harper's report on KPFA by clicking here.
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Bus rates spark rally
Dateline:
05/21/2008OAKLAND — AC Transit riders protested outside City Hall and packed the Oakland City Council chamber Wednesday to oppose a package of bus fare increases, focusing their primary energy against a plan to nearly double the cost of monthly youth passes.
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Fuel costs prompt talk of AC Transit fare hike
Dateline:
05/21/2008Skyrocketing fuel costs in the last six months alone have added $5.85 million to AC Transit's annual operating costs, prompting agency administrators to seek a fare increase to help balance the budget.
The AC Transit governing board will hold a public hearing this afternoon on the proposal to increase fares, although no vote is expected.
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Youth bus fare increase idea raises alarm
Dateline:
05/19/2008A proposal by financially-strapped AC Transit to raise youth bus passes from $15 to $28 has teenage bus riders and advocates for inner-city youth in an uproar, warning that the increase would cut off young riders from school and activities that help keep them out of trouble.
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AC Transit to get an earful on fare hike ideas
Dateline:
05/19/2008
AC Transit directors are set to hear a piece of the bus-riding public's mind about a proposal to raise bus fares by 25 cents per ride.
On Wednesday at 4 p.m., and probably several hours into the evening, the agency's board of directors will hear testimony at Oakland City Hall on a set of four fare-increase proposals that, when first proposed in March, were meant to fill a budget gap of $6 million to $9 million.
The proposals would all hike single adult fares from the current $1.75 to $2, but the most significant would also increase youth passes prices by 87 percent, putting them close to what they were before they were deeply discounted seven years ago. In that proposal, senior passes prices would go up 40 percent.
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OAKLAND: AC TRANSIT WILL HOLD HEARING ON PROPOSED FARE HIKE
Dateline:
05/21/2008The meeting is expected to be contentious, as a group called the Transportation Justice Working Group will hold a rally beforehand to protest the proposed fare hike, which would be the first since September of 2005.
The group says speakers scheduled to attend include Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia, Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson, Oakland City Councilwoman Jean Quan and Richmond City Councilman Tony Thurmond.
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