All posts from the month of October 2009
Bay Area business leaders push the Senate for clean transportation
October 22, 2009By Stephen Lee Davis
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| Carl Guardino 1 Originally uploaded by Transportation for America |
| Carl Guardino, president and CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, a T4 America partner, addresses a gathering at a recent reception hosted by T4 America that brought together administration officials and supporters. |
An organization representing more than 300 elite Silicon Valley businesses from Apple to Yahoo! sent a letter last week to Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, urging her to make sure the Senate climate bill adequately invests in clean transportation alternatives to reduce emissions in their region while keeping it mobile and competitive.
The Silicon Valley Leadership Group, made up of mostly tech-focused organizations in Silicon Valley, works to enhance economic competitiveness and maintain a high quality of life for the region. SVLG members employ more than 250,000 people in the Valley and generate more than $1 trillion worth of business each year. (SVLG is a partner of Transportation for America.)
Started in the 1970′s by the founder of Hewlett Packard, they recognize that investments in transit and safe, accessible, walkable neighborhoods are keys to their continued economic success and ability to lure smart and talented workers to the region.
In the letter, president Carl Guardino thanked Chairman Boxer for her leadership on the issue of climate change, and pointed out that California will need to make a large investment in cleaner transportation options if they are going to have any chance of meeting the ambitious reductions proposed in the climate bill:
Transportation represents the fastest growing source of national greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), and the largest single source in California, accounting for 40% of emissions. In Silicon Valley and the Bay Area, that number is higher still – 51% of GHG’s.
House bill, H.R. 2454 (Waxman/Markey), recognizes the importance of reducing transportation emissions by requiring states and metropolitan areas adopt new planning requirements and GHG reduction goals. However, the bill provides virtually no allowances for this purpose. Without adequate funding to address transportation’s increasing contribution to climate change, we will not be able to rise and meet this challenge.
The debate over the Senate’s climate bill is expected to heat up in the next few days as Chairman Boxer’s Senate committee releases the numbers showing where the allocations from the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act will be directed.
Transportation for America, our 28,000 supporters and 350+ partners like SVLG have been calling on the Senate to direct 10 percent of the funding to clean transportation alternatives.
The Senate bill will require states and cities to reduce emissions from transportation. Giving them 5-10% of the revenues will give them the tools they need to make investments in clean transportation alternatives, like public transportation and passenger rail, affordable neighborhoods around transit stops and neighborhood projects that increase safety for cyclists and pedestrians.
Click the jump to read through the entire letter from the SVLG.
(Continue Reading)
Today’s Headlines – 10/22/09
October 22, 2009By Transportation for America
Is happiness still that new car smell? The economic downturn and growing environmental consciousness are causing people to change their habits, embracing transit, walking and biking. (NYT)
Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pushing a new spending package that includes infrastructure projects, but does not consider the proposal “stimulus.” (Roll Call)
A bipartisan trifecta of Southern California representatives opine that federal transit funding needs to get back on track. (LA Times)
But the LA Times editorial board takes the area Congressional delegation to task, accusing members of putting parochialism over practicality. (LA Times)
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce hit the airwaves on behalf of Virginia Republican Bob McDonnell, asking voters to tell Democrat Creigh Deeds “we need a real transportation plan now.” (WP)
And, the Austin Chronicle stresses that transportation solutions must accommodate the “transit-dependent.” (Chronicle)
Today’s Headlines – 10/21/09
October 21, 2009By Transportation for America
Syracuse, New York could soon be home to America’s first assembly plant for electric cars. (NYT)
With a new Brookings report confirming that high-speed rail could help mitigate airport congestion, it is all the more critical to get the details right. (TNR)
A Westside Los Angeles light-rail project championed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa may not be the best candidate for federal funding, several Southern California members of Congress warned. (LA Times)
In their final debate prior to the November election, Virginia gubernatorial candidates Creigh Deeds and Bob McDonnell again reared heads over transportation. (Politico)
And, hybrid-electric buses are on the rise worldwide, from Taipei to Ann Arbor to Ames, Iowa. (NYT)
Washington lawmakers receive your message on high-speed rail
October 20, 2009By Stephen Lee Davis
Four billion or about one billion for high-speed rail.
That’s the question that a group of representatives in the House and Senate will soon have to answer as they try to reconcile differences in the two chambers’ versions of the yearly transportation appropriations bill. A few weeks ago, the House passed a transportation budget with $4 billion for high-speed rail. Shortly afterward, the Senate passed their version of the yearly spending bill with only $1.2 billion for high-speed rail.
So a group of organizations, including Transportation for America, started rallying support for more funding for high-speed rail. Did you or your organization sign the petition at FourBillion.com urging Congress to keep the $4 billion in the bill?
A few members of the FourBillion.com campaign took that petition with more than 100 organizations and thousands of names to a few Congressional offices last week and hand-delivered the message that now is the time to make a historic investment in rail and kickstart a national investment in fast, clean rail travel that can connect our metro areas.
John Krieger from US PIRG and Danny Plaugher, executive director of Virginians for High Speed Rail visited with Rep. Tom Perriello (VA), Rep. John Olver (MA), Rep. Eric Cantor (VA), and Rep. Debbie Halvorson (IL) to deliver the signatures. The full set of photos are here on our Flickr stream.
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| FourBillion.com 6 Originally uploaded by Transportation for America |
| House Minority Whip Rep. Eric Cantor (VA), right, meets with John Krieger, left, and Danny Plaugher of Virginians for High Speed Rail as they deliver petition signatures from FourBillion.com to Rep. Cantor supporting the $4 billion for high-speed rail in the House DOT appropriations bill. Photos courtesy of FourBillion.com and US PIRG. |
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| FourBillion.com 2 Originally uploaded by Transportation for America |
| Rep. John Olver (MA), right, with John Krieger of US PIRG, left, and Danny Plaugher of Virginians for High Speed Rail as they deliver petition signatures to Rep. Olver from FourBillion.com supporting the $4 billion for high-speed rail in the House DOT appropriations bill. Photos courtesy of FourBillion.com and US PIRG. |
Today’s Headlines – 10/20/09
October 20, 2009By Transportation for America
The free ride on roads must end, writes the president-elect of the American Council of Engineering Companies of Pennsylvania in an op-ed. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Florida’s two U.S. Senators – one Democrat and one Republican – are excited about bringing high-speed rail to their state. (Tampa Bay Newspapers)
The Washington Post endorsement of Virginia Democratic candidate Creigh Deeds on Sunday praised his “transportation realism” and honesty about the need for new revenue. (WP)
The Virginia gubernatorial campaign can actually teach us a few lessons about about transportation policy, including how to sell it. (Streetsblog)
Tax policies should not favor parking over public transit, the Hartford Courant editorializes today. (Courant)
And, supporters of a property tax increase for transit in Kalamazoo, Michigan are cautiously optimistic about their chances in November. (Michigan Live)
Health advocates blanket Congress with health & transportation message
October 19, 2009By Sean Barry
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| 139 Originally uploaded by Transportation for America |
| Dr. Richard Jackson speaks at the podium, flanked by Dr. Georges Benjamin, left, Shireen Malekafzali, Dr. Joe Thompson, James Corless, and Julia Lopez. More info about the speakers can be found in our press release. |
Our transportation investments and the built environment — what we build and where — have an enormous impact on our health and the cost of our health care.
With the debate over health care reform dominating the news daily, Transportation for America and coalition members from across the country took that powerful — yet often ignored or neglected — message to Capitol Hill leaders.
T4 America’s “health fly-in” last Friday connected health professionals and advocates from across the country with their Congressional representatives to highlight the impact that transportation has on our health and wellness.
T4 America kicked off the day with a briefing from campaign director James Corless and four other nationally recognized experts on health and transportation. Then, participants from across the country, from the Pacific Northwest to New England, split up and took the message to their representatives, visiting a total of 37 Congressional offices.
Among the 25 participants in the fly-in, six hailed from national groups and 19 from state and local organizations. Several, including fourteen-year-old childhood wellness advocate Julia Lopez and UCLA professor Dr. Richard Jackson, traveled all the way from California. (Look for a full list of organizations at the bottom of the post)
During the meetings, advocates discussed how the built environment — where we live, work and play — has a profound impact on obesity rates, diabetes, asthma and other quality of life measures. And they discussed policy prescriptions that can increase walkability, grow transit ridership and make physical activity a normal part of our daily routine.
“As a pediatrician and child advocate, my job is to do what I can to make sure as many kids as possible live healthy lives, and the biggest threats to them at this time are injuries — both violent and unintentional — and obesity,” said Dr. Katherine Kaufer Christoffel, a medical and research director at Northwestern University.
“This active transportation stuff really gets at all of those things.”
Dr. Joe Thompson, Director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity, participated as a briefing panelist but did not attend Congressional meetings. Thompson serves as the Surgeon General of the State of Arkansas, where an alarming 22 percent of children are obese and 40 percent are overweight. Thompson said the built environment is a critical component of America’s livelihood.
“If we don’t solve the upstream causes of health problems, we won’t be able to hold health care reform together,” he said.
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| 207 Originally uploaded by Transportation for America |
| 14 year-old health advocate Julia Lopez chats with attendees of the health fly-in after making a few remarks. |
Noelle Dobson, Director of the Healthy Eating Active Living initiative at Portland’s Community Health Partnership, has been stressing the link between health and transportation through her work preparing health impact assessments for new development projects.
“This is all public health has ever been about for me,” she said.
T4 America and participating advocates were promoting three important pieces of legislation that address the health and transportation connection.
One is CLEAN-TEA, a Senate bill that would allocate ten percent of revenue from climate legislation toward clean transportation, walking and biking, and other modes that can help reduce emissions. The second is the National Transportation Objectives Act, which would create explicit, specific targets and benchmarks for the transportation bill, including goals like reducing CO2 from transportation by 40%, eliminating at-risk exposure to pollution, and tripling the amount of walking and biking we do. Lastly is Complete Streets legislation to make our streets safe and accommodating for all users and people — bus riders, bicyclists and pedestrians.
Most fly-in participants met with their representatives’ transportation staffers, but a few were able to meet face-to-face with the representatives themselves. Heidi Klein, a board member for the Vermont Public Health Association, got a few words in with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, and two fly-in participants from Montana had the chance to meet their junior Senator, Democrat Jon Tester.
Other office visits included Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Sen. Max Baucus of Montana.
Our thanks to the many advocates and supporters who worked very hard to take this crucial message to Capitol Hill.
Participating organizations:
- National Recreation and Park Association
- National Coalition for Promoting Physical Activity
- Campaign to End Obesity
- American Public Health Association
- American Lung Association
- PolicyLink
- National Complete Streets Coalition
- Trust for America’s Health
- America Bikes
- Safe Routes to School
- State and Territorial Injury Prevention Directors Association (STIPDA)
Today’s Headlines – 10/19/09
October 19, 2009By Transportation for America
New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority could face another $113 million in cuts under a proposal from Governor David Paterson. (NYT)
Congress and the U.S. Department of Energy disagree over whether earmarks are undermining the Obama administration’s clean-energy agenda. (WSJ)
Bicycling, bow-tie wearing supporter of transportation reform Earl Blumenauer, a Democratic Congressman from Portland, is profiled in the New York Times. (NYT)
Sarah Palin says “yes we can” to opponents of the “drill, baby, drill” approach to energy. (Nat’l Review)
Mass transit is shaping up to be a pivotal issue in elections for the Boise City Council, with some candidates’ embracing buses and rail and others expressing hostility. (Idaho Statesman)
And, a conservative county supervisor in rural Northern California decries the state’s transit fund raid. (Roseville Press-Tribune)
Local regions serve as laboratories for transportation reform
October 16, 2009By Sean Barry
A “comprehensive, but bottom-up approach to transportation” may sound like an oxymoron, but to a panel of regional planning experts on the frontlines of reform, it sounds a lot like common sense.
Tuesday’s briefing, titled “Planning for a Better Future: Lessons from the States on Regional Sustainability Planning” featured experts from three regional laboratories on transportation reform – Sacramento, CA; Salt Lake City, UT (right); and Minneapolis, MN.
The American Planning Association and LOCUS, an association of pro-reform real estate developers, co-hosted the event at the Capitol Visitors Center on Tuesday afternoon.
Regional blueprints, or plans, outline a long-term transportation vision for a region. Metropolitan Planning Organization, or MPOs, typically have jurisdiction over this process, alongside partners at the county and municipal level. One objective of these plans is to lower greenhouse gas emissions through measures like increased transit use and building new homes near jobs.
“Comprehensive, but bottom-up” is how LOCUS President Christopher Leinberger, the event’s moderator, describes a potential direction for federal policy. In essence, the federal government would provide the funding and set the benchmarks, while regional planning authorities make allocations and are expected to achieve significant reductions in emissions.
Panelists stressed that their primary focus is on increasing choices – in transportation and housing – for all Americans. The recent economic recession was fueled in part by an over-supply of single-family homes on large lots. And while ample demand exists for mixed-use development on smaller lots, a combination of lagging infrastructure and policy restrictions have prevented the private sector from moving to meet that demand.
That is why the engagement and support of the business community is so critical.
Natalie Gochnour is the Chief Operating Officer for the Salt Lake City Chamber of Commerce. Her group’s seat at the table and engagement with a strategic and sustainable vision for the Salt Lake City area led to championing a sales tax increase to pay for 70 miles of light-rail for seven years.
“My message is this: don’t underestimate business community support for new ways of seeing and new ways of doing,” Gochnour said.
Michael McKeever, Executive Director of the Sacramento Area Council of Governments, cited a similar dynamic in his area, where the Sacramento Area Chamber of Commerce helped push the blueprint concept in its early stages and has hailed the region’s long-range plan as a signature accomplishment.
Both Sacramento and Salt Lake City have seen substantial increases in transit usage and decreases in vehicle miles traveled (VMT) since beginning to implement their blueprints.
Commissioner Peter McLaughlin of Hennepin County in Minnesota addressed successes in his region as well.
T4 America Director James Corless emphasized that there was no “silver bullet” in regional sustainability planning, but that providing benchmarks and the required funding would result in substantial leaps.
Communities should be asking, “what do we want to look like in 25 years?” Corless said. “That’s the fundamental question.”
Today’s Headlines – 10/16/09
October 16, 2009By Transportation for America
The economic stimulus package created or saved about 30,000 jobs, according to a government report. (WP)
Commuters crossing the Bay Bridge into San Francisco could face a new $5 regular toll and $1 rush-hour surcharge. (Chronicle)
Phoenix, not a hub of progressivism or mass transit, has seen success in its relatively new light-rail system. (TNR)
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina says his constituents’ concerns about energy security swayed him to play a constructive role in the climate change bill. (TNR)
In Utah, banks remain a roadblock to transit-oriented development because of a bias toward parking-oriented projects. (Salt Lake City Tribune)
And, nine out of the top ten vehicles in the Environmental Protection Agenda’s ranking on fuel economy for this model year are hybrids. (LA Times)
Transportation for America joins the American Public Health Association, PolicyLink & other advocates to highlight health and transportation connection
October 15, 2009By Transportation for America
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Dozens of doctors and health professionals from around the country flooded the capital this week to educate Congress about the link between transportation policy and health. Co-hosted by the American Public Health Association, PolicyLink and others, the Transportation for America Health Summit incorporated both a policy briefing and individual meetings with lawmakers to highlight the connection between health and transportation.
The briefing, titled “Get Moving! Mobilizing for a Healthier Transportation System” showcased four high level experts on health and transportation including a youth wellness advocate and Transportation for America Director James Corless.
“America’s transportation system affects our health in profound ways, and we have a unique opportunity to forge a new direction that makes us healthier and saves us money over the long term,” Corless said.
Joining Corless as panelists were Dr. Georges Benjamin, Executive Director of the American Public Health Association; Dr. Richard Jackson, Chair and Professor of Environmental Health and Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles; Dr. Joe Thompson, Director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity; Shireen Malekafzali, Senior Associate at PolicyLink and editor of “The Transportation Prescription;” and 14-year-old Julia Lopez, a youth wellness advocate.
“We are fortunate to have these innovators and forward-thinkers with us as we push for transportation policies that fit the needs of 21st Century America,” Corless added.
Briefing topics included the relationship between vehicle-generated pollution and respiratory complications; access to health care services, groceries and other essential destinations; active living and obesity prevention; the safety implications of our transportation policies; the health effects of greenhouse gas emissions; and overarching equity concerns among low-income and minority populations.
“We really are at a transportation crossroads,” said Dr. Benjamin. “Without transformational change in our priorities, we will perpetuate a transportation status quo that puts our health at risk, exacerbates health inequities and clouds our future. I am excited to be a part of this discussion and look forward to our continued participation in Transportation for America’s diverse coalition.”
A few key facts about the relationship between transportation policy and health:
- In the United States traffic fatalities kill just over 40,000 per year, costing the nation $230.6 billion, or 2.3 percent of the gross domestic product, since 2000.
- People in more compact metropolitan areas suffer from significantly fewer chronic medical conditions than their counterparts in more sprawling regions. For example people who live in neighborhoods with a mix of shops and businesses within easy walking distance have a 35 percent lower risk of obesity.
- Each year air pollution triggers over a million asthma attacks, more than 47,000 cases of chronic bronchitis in adults and 540,000 cases of acute bronchitis in children and kills 70,000 people.
- Vulnerable populations, such as seniors and minorities, who cannot or choose not to drive have a higher risk of being killed as a pedestrian. African-Americans make up approximately 12 percent of that population, but they account for 20 percent of pedestrian deaths. Native Americans are 1.5 times more likely to die from traffic crashes than anyone else.
“It is critical that our nation’s policies promote healthy living,” said 14-year-old youth wellness advocate, Julia Lopez. “Improving the access people have to goods and services will help many people maintain an active lifestyle and prevent obesity.”
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- Oppose House bill that slashes public transit funding, falls short on repair and axes bike & pedestrian safety
February 7, 2012 - T4 coalition announces opposition to House energy and transportation bill
February 6, 2012 - House committee ignores broad opposition, decimates transit funding anyway
February 3, 2012 - Massive letter opposing House leadership attack on transit sent to Capitol Hill
February 3, 2012 - House leadership making unprecedented assault on public transit
February 2, 2012
- Oppose House bill that slashes public transit funding, falls short on repair and axes bike & pedestrian safety
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