Transportation

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission is sponsoring 28 Community Based Transportation Plans (CBTPs) to identify the transit and mobility barriers facing low-income neighborhoods.  Currently, the TJWG is involved in two CBTP processes: one in South/West Berkeley, and another in East Oakland.  Berkeley-based planning firm Design, Community & Environment has been selected as the lead consultant for both the planning studies.  Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS), a TJWG member, is involved in the outreach process for the SW Berkeley CBTP, and is currently working together with West Berkeley Neighborhood Development Corporation to ensure a robust outreach process.  

October 2006

Public Advocates Inc. filed a suit against the City of Pleasanton on October 17, 2006 on behalf of Urban Habitat and Sandra De Gregorio, a low-income Latina mother and Pleasanton resident.  Pleasanton is an affluent regional job center that has imposed rigid growth control policies that block residential development, particularly the development of affordable family housing.  The suit challenges the City’s policies and practices that exclude housing for low-income families, focusing in particular on (a) the City’s failure to implement a program in its Housing Element that committed the City to rezone 30-40 acres of commercial land for high-density affordable housing, and (b) the City’s Housing Cap, which sets a ceiling on growth within its urban boundary at 29,000 units.  In June 2006, Public Advocates and Urban Habitat served a 14-page demand letter on the City and, in August, met with City officials, inviting the City to propose a concrete and meaningful proposal for addressing the issues raised in the letter.   The City did not respond to this invitation and the plaintiffs moved ahead with the suit, filing a petition for a writ of mandate and a complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief in Alameda Superior Court on October 17th. On November 6, the plaintiffs filed a motion for a writ of mandate, asking the court, on the basis of the undisputed evidence of the City’s failure to implement several key housing element programs, including the rezoning program, to direct the City to implement those programs and to comply with the Housing Element and Least Cost Zoning Law, and to issue an interim order restricting the City’s authority to approve commercial development.  This motion is set for hearing on December 1. For more information, email Richard Marcantonio, Managing Attorney at Public Advocates, Rmarcantonio@publicadvocates.org, or Lila Hussain, lila@urbanhabitat.org.

For the past two years, the TJWG along with members of the Minority Citizens Advisory Committee (MCAC) have been working on passing four Environmental Justice Principles at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), the regional transportation agency. These principles would set forth a regional protocol for identifying and mitigating inequities in regional transportation funding.  Amid much debate, two of the principles passed earlier this year. 

Prior to the adoption of the remaining two principles, the MTC had directed staff to perform an equity analysis.  The TJWG has been actively involved and engaged in this analysis process, recommending alternative methodologies essential to viewing equity from multiple perspectives.  The latter two principles are scheduled for a discussion and potentially a vote at the next Legislation Commission meeting scheduled for January 12th, 2007. We encourage organizations/individuals to write letters of support for the remaining two EJ principles ahead of this meeting, and will provide talking points for interested parties. 

Members of the Bay Area Ditching Dirty Diesel Collaborative gathered at Port View Park in West Oakland on November 14, to release a groundbreaking report titled “Paying with Our Health: The Real Costs of Freight Transport in California.” The report highlights community and worker health and environmental costs of freight transportation in California. With cranes unloading containers from a massive ship and trucks roaring by in the background, members of the collaborative donned dust masks and spoke out about the impacts of deadly diesel exhaust on the lives of community residents.

TransitWorks! wins victory for Bay Area Transit
On June 30, the 2007 budget that includes a transportation package was signed into law by the Governor. This package brings an additional $137 million in funding for Bay Area transit and paratransit operators! Thanks to the many activists from around the region who made phone calls to the Governor and the efforts of the 26 TransitWorks! members from Urban Habitat and TALC, who went to Sacramento, and who were among the first to alert dozens of legislators about the spillover issue. The budget reverses six years of funding grabs from public transit and establishes a precedent for so-called "spillover" funds to be rightfully used for public transit. A 1971 law states that when revenues from the gas tax rise more rapidly than other taxed items the additional spillover revenue must go exclusively to mass transit. Next year, TALC will work with legislators to permanently protect the spillover.

Urban Habitat Program in Oakland, the Labor/Community Strategy Center and Bus Riders Union in Los Angeles, Environmental Health Coalition in San Diego and the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties announced their opposition to the Transportation bond, Proposition 1B. While each group opposes the bond for different reasons, these diverse groups from across California have come together to voice opposition to Proposition 1B.

Five Good to Reasons to Oppose Proposition 1B:

Urban Habitat Opposes Proposition 1B and Supports Prop 1C

Summary

Urban Habitat’s analysis finds that Proposition 1B (transportation) will put California on a path to more sprawl, increased pollution, and less opportunities for our state’s low-income communities of color while Proposition 1C (housing) provides our state with smart opportunities for economic prosperity and growth, promotes better communities and strengthens equity for all citizens.  View Full Report (PDF, 137k)

Urge the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to Demand Equitable Funding for AC Transit Bus Riders!

Next TUESDAY May 23, 2006, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors will vote on a Resolution calling on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) to provide equitable funding for AC Transit bus riders.  We need a strong turn out from theAlameda community to demand improved & affordable bus service! (see attachment for resolution language)

WHAT:
Turn Out & Urge the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to Pass the Resolution!
Urge your representative to stand up for AC Transit bus riders!

WHEN:

There are two important developments up in Sacramento that will drastically impact the amount of operating money available to our local transit operators in the years to come.  It’s critical in the next few weeks to contact your legislators, in addition to those mentioned below, and let them know in no uncertain terms that the State must commit to provide the promised Spillover dollars, and (through AB 343), prevent raids on these transit dollars in the future.
 
See below for:
1-Action Items­what you can do to help