Transportation, News
A Huge Victory for Youth, Education, and San Francisco
For the first time in its history, San Francisco youth will be able to travel to and from school, work, after-school programs and other activities throughout the city for free.
A vote by the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency board (SFMTA) on Wednesday to approve the Free Muni for Low-Income Youth means that the cost of public transit no longer will be a barrier to opportunity for young people in San Francisco.
For the past two years, youth and transit advocates tirelessly fought to transform the free Muni program from an idea into a reality.
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Yes on V-V Letter to the Editor
Yes on VV
MAYBE YOU'VE HEARD the expression "Half the battle is showing up." We all know it's true, especially for school success, and public transportation plays a key role in San Leandro students' academic achievement.
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A Small Yet Important Victory in San Leandro
Urban Habitat and its allies had a small yet important victory in the San Leandro Station Area Plan.
Members of Labor, Congregations Organizing for Renewal, other residents, Urban Habitat and representatives from many of our allies, including EBASE, TALC, EBHO, and UC-Berkeley's Center for Community Innovation packed San Leandro City Council chambers so full that there was standing room only by the time the meeting began.
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Transportation Justice Working Group swarms Regional Summit
The Transportation Justice Working Group (TJWG) has been fighting for a shift in our region’s transportation strategies: away from widening highways and costly, inefficient rail projects that divert scarce resources from more cost-efficient bus service. We are also promoting community health over diesel-powered freight movement. We are asking for an equitable transportation system that provides all communities with reliable, affordable transportation choices and clean air and safe streets.
In order to have a region-wide impact, the TJWG is working to convince the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) to prioritize the transportation needs of low-income communities and communities of color, those least served and most burdened by our current transportation system. The MTC is the regional governmental body which coordinates transportation planning and funding for the entire 9-county Bay Area.
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Governor's $1.1 Billion in Proposed Transit Cuts Contradict State Goals to Improve Transit Infrastructure
Hearing on Public Transit Budget to Highlight Need for Full State Funding
Governor’s $1.1 Billion in Proposed Transit Cuts Contradict State Goals to Improve Transit Infrastructure, Cut Global Warming Pollution
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Pleasanton Officials Face Lawsuit for Violating Affordable Housing Laws
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.
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Community Based Transportation: What's the Plan?
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.
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EJ Principles: Two passed, two more to go!
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.
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.
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Ditching Dirty Diesel Collaborative releases groundbreaking report
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. Related stories:
Transportation Justice
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.
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