Communication Received:
11-17-17 CCTA Memo to RTPCs Memo re: Items of Interest (Adoption of Resolution 17-55-G Finding FY 2017-18 Transportation Fund for Clean Air (TFCA) Projects Meet Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) Cost Effectiveness Criteria
News/Articles/Editorials/Etc:
10-13-17 Uber and Lyft Are Cannibalizing Transit in Major American Cities - Streetsblog; new research from UC Davis shows that cities must strengthen transit in response to the growth of ride-hailing services.
10-25-17 Gary Cohn Floats Idea of Gas Tax Hike for Infrastructure - Bloomberg; White House economic adviser met with Problem Solvers Caucus, and fuel tax hasn’t been raised since 1993 because of opposition.
11-06-17 Two Gas Tax Repeal Efforts Compete To Make California's 2018 Ballot - Capital Public Radio; Californians frustrated over the state’s recent gas tax hike could have two options to eliminate it next year.
11-06-17 Drafting A Blueprint - San Francisco Business Times; with support from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), the nine-county Bay Area’s transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency, CASA-The Committee to House the Bay Area- is focused on more reform, more funding, & more policy innovation to truly move the needle on our region’s chronic housing affordability challenges.
11-08-17 Self-Operating Shuttle Bus Crashes After Las Vegas Launch - AP; The human behind the wheel of the truck was at fault, police said. “The shuttle did what it was supposed to do... Had the truck had the same sensing equipment that the shuttle had, the accident would have been avoided.”
11-13-17 It’s the Same Ballot Measure - San Francisco Chronicle; a court will decide whether a ballot measure’s title says it repeals the new gas tax or eliminates revenue for road repairs.
11-15-17 Morning Transportation - Politico; AASHTO Transit Highway Trust Fund.
11-21-17 If Gas Tax is Repealed - KPCC, SoCal; travelers are paying more in state fuel taxes this month as they fill up to hit the road, but voters could be asked next year if they want to scrap the increase.
11-22-17 AASHTO Tax Reform Bills Fail to Address Infrastructure Funding 'Crisis' - Rail News; unless Congress shores up the trust fund before its authorization law expires in 2020, federal highway spending would shrink by 40 percent in 2021, while new HTF mass-transit funding would evaporate completely for three years, AASHTO officials said.
11-27-17 Morning Transportation - Politico; Infrastructure Conflict and Marty Klepper resignation.
11-27-17 Chuck Schumer Opposes Gas Tax Hike - DC Examiner; "The bottom line is that we don't want to raise taxes on working people right now," Schumer said. (Graeme Jennings/Examiner)
11-28-17 Illegal Dumping Costs Millions Annually in Contra Costa County - East County Today; East County residents have been vocal as they say there is an ongoing notable visual blight problem which continues to exist throughout many parts of East Contra Costa County; littering and illegal dumping. And it is a problem that continues to persist.
Miscellaneous:
School Siting and Walkability: Experience and Policy Implications in California (1-1-2017): This paper published in the UC Berkeley California Journal of Politics and Policy references two letters from the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors quoting John Gioia and Federal Glover. The specific passage is below and the complete paper can be found at this link: https://escholarship.org/content/qt5mh127hc/qt5mh127hc.pdf
In California, the relationship between school siting, transportation, and land use is an especially salient issue for state policymakers. The 2003 Davis Administration’s Governor’s Environmental Goals and Policy Report states, “The location of new schools . . . has an important influence on land use, but siting decisions are not always made in cooperation with local land use planning agencies. This is one of the most volatile and troublesome problems in California land use planning” (Governor’s Office of Planning and Research 2003). Further, the Brown Administration’s 2015 draft Governor’s Environmental Goals and Policy Report acknowledges that better school environments promote better academic achievement outcomes, and goes on say that “as the State prioritizes efficient, infill
development, K-12 schools will be integrated into planning”.(https://www.opr.ca.gov/docs/EGPR_Nov_2015.pdf).
However, it is unclear what policy fixes are needed to catalyze integration. A local articulation of the scope of this issue is illustrated by a 2015 letter from the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors to Senators Block and Liu of the Education Subcommittee, which states, “This gap in responsibility and lack of acknowledgement of a problem has resulted in schools being developed that are inconsistent with state and local policies relative to safe routes to school, public health, climate change principles and orderly land development. Careful attention should be paid to ensure that this gap does not ultimately compromise any mechanism that is put in place to address issues with school siting and safety” (Gioia 2015). A 2017 letter from the same county supervisors, this time to Senator O’Donnell of the Assembly Education Committee, states, “Currently, school siting practices are in direct conflict with numerous state policies and goals including safe routes to school, complete streets, Health in All Policies, greenhouse gas reduction efforts, etc. There is no debate on this point” (Glover 2017).
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