THIS WEEK MOVE LA FEATURED IN BLOGS AND NEWSPAPERS

Last week was a big one for Move LA: SCAG’s 83-member Regional Council almost unanimously agreed on the “preferred alternative” for the RTP/SCS — which we supported. And the Move-LA-sponsored survey of voters, which showed they overwhelmingly favor investing in transit, bikes and pedestrians (you can read more about it in the previous blog post or see link to the right “Click here to read the Land Use and Transportation Survey Results”), made it onto the LA Times blog, Streetsblog, the KPCC blog, and the NRDC blog. An op-ed authored by Denny Zane and Gloria Ohland, about how the San Gabriel Valley is leading the way on smart growth and transit-oriented development, was printed in the Pasadena Star News, San Gabriel Valley Tribune and the Whittier News. Links are below, including a link to a blog by NRDC’s Amanda Eaken, who wrote about the huge turn-out of advocates for active transportation and public health at the SCAG meeting.

Note: RTP/SCS stands for regional transportation plan and sustainable communities strategy, the 30-year plan that lays out transportation investments and land use strategies. SCAG is the Southern California Association of Governments, the metropolitan planning organization for the six-county region.

Here are links to the LA Times, Streetsblog, KPCC, NRDC, and the Pasadena Star News. Here is a link to Amanda Eaken’s blog on the bike/ped/public health turn-out.

MOVE LA SURVEY SHOWS VOTERS OVERWHELMINGLY SUPPORT INVESTMENTS IN TRANSIT OVER ROADS

The survey, of voters in the six-county Southern California region, shows that four of five voters support investing in transit, and they favor investing in transit over roads by a 2-to-1 margin. Move LA sponsored the poll with the Natural Resources Defense Council and the American Lung Association in advance of a vote at the Southern California Association of Governments on Thursday, November 3. At that time Regional Council members will vote on a “preferred alternative” for the regional transportation plan and sustainable communities strategy, which lays out transportation investments and land use strategies for the next 30 years.

The poll also shows that voters want to shift development into cities with a good mix of jobs and services, and that they believe transit, bike and pedestrian projects and infill mixed-use development is the best way to reduce traffic congestion and commute times — and that these strategies will also save them money, create jobs, and improve the economy, air quality and public health. And voters indicated they would prefer to live in smaller houses on smaller lots with shorter commutes than in bigger houses on bigger lots with longer commutes.

Here is a link to the press release, a summary of key findings and the poll results.

SCAG’S REGIONAL COUNCIL CONSIDERS RTP/SCS “PREFERRED ALTERNATIVE” ON OCTOBER 20

SCAG (the Southern California Association of Governments) will unveil the preferred scenario for the “2012 RTP/SCS” on Thursday, October 20 — a $450 billion plan for population and job growth and transportation projects in the six-county region through 2035. The preferred alternative shows:
• a tripling of funding for bike and pedestrian projects, from $1.8 billion to $6 billion
• a big shift in the housing mix, from a majority of single family homes to a significant majority of multifamily housing units
• a vastly improved jobs-housing balance across the 6 counties
• significantly more transit and more walkable, bikeable neighborhoods near transit
• shifts in growth and density away from outlying areas and into downtowns and around transit stations
• a prioritization of transportation system preservation projects over new projects.

While the plan is good and seemingly signals that a new era is dawning in Southern California — one which could result in more housing and transportation choices for residents — the question is whether SCAG’s Regional Council will endorse it. We urge you to attend and let council members know how important it is that we plan for land use policies and transportation investments that improve public health, reduce the cost of living by reducing housing and transportation costs, make it easier and safer to walk and bike, and create jobs in places that don’t require long commutes.

SCAG, the metropolitan planning organization that governs the six-county Southern California region, develops a regional transportation plan or RTP every four years, but this is the first that also includes a sustainable communities strategy or SCS. The SCS was mandated by SB 375, the state law that requires regions to plan for transportation investments and land use strategies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The GHG reduction targets in Southern California have been set at 8 percent in 2020 and 13 percent in 2035.

SB 375 has given SCAG new authority to promote more focused growth, transit, pedestrian and bicycle projects with the goal of reducing driving, which will reduce GHG emissions. The plan calls for more transit-oriented development in LA County and around all 55 stations on the Metrolink system (which serves LA, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside and Ventura counties) and calls for “transit-ready development” — compact, mixed use — in places that don’t have transit yet.

Normally an agency that has not had much public involvement, SCAG has seen a significant increase in the number of people — including advocates for affordable homes, public health, better air quality, and bike and pedestrian projects, as well as developers and environmentalists — weighing in on this planning process.

SCAG has developed three alternatives besides the preferred alternative. There have been two emerging issues with the RTP. The first is a funding shortfall of $125 to $155 billion due to the economy, the continuing decline in gas tax revenues as cars become more fuel efficient, and decreasing state and federal transportation funding — also because of the economy, California’s recent budget crisis, and the failure of Congress to pass a new federal transportation bill.

The second emerging issue has been concerns about the deteriorating condition of Southern California’s transportation system, and the need to spend more money on repairs. A study was released by the national nonprofit Transportation for America on October 19 that showed that the LA metro region has 91 of the most heavily traveled structurally deficient bridges in the U.S. — and that every second 396 drivers in the region cross over them. The Transportation for America study is available at http://t4america.org/resources/bridges/

AT THE CORNER OF CICLAVIA & OCCUPY LA

Move LA intern Kiran Rishi put the focus on “Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Thousands of Jobs!” when she hung Move LA’s banner at the corner of Ciclavia and Occupy LA last Sunday — that’s 210,000 jobs, to be more specific, as a result of the Measure R-funded construction of 12 new rail lines! The crowd at CicLAvia — LA’s 10-mile-long block party for pedestrians and bicyclists — drew a crowd estimated at more than 130,000. This was LA’s third CicLAvia, modeled after an event held weekly in Bogota, Colombia. The point, say CicLAvia’s organizers, is to promote public health, green transportation, open space, economic development and community building. Meantime, the number of tents at Occupy LA, currently occupying the lawn at City Hall downtown.

30-10 MOVES SEVERAL BIG STEPS CLOSER TO REALITY

House Transportation Infrastructure Committee Chair John Mica (R-FL) has apparently received authorization from Republican leaders to include additional funding in his transportation bill, which had provided about 30 percent less than the Senate version. This suggests that both House and Senate bills will be funded at similar levels and moves the America Fast Forward/30-10 vision — of completing all 12 Measure R funded transit lines within the decade — several big steps closer to reality. Both House and Senate versions of the transportation bill contain provisions for low-interest loans to regions wanting to build out their transit systems.

There are also rumors that there is renewed interest in the QTIB (Qualified Transportation Improvement Bonds) program — another key component of the America Fast Forward/30-10 plan. The QTIBS would provide tax credits to investors who write down interest rates on private loans to transportation agencies.

The Streetsblog story about John Mica is here.

HOW BAD ARE LA COMMUTES?

In the LA Times, Denny Zane tells reporter Ari Bloomekatz that new rail lines and improved public transportation will address congestion problems, but that we also need transit-supportive land use policies and other incentives to get drivers out of their cars. His comments were made in response to a new report that shows, according to the LA Times headline, that “Los Angeles Commutes Aren’t That Bad,” and that many of the cities with the worst congestion are those with robust rail systems.

"You must also have other strategies in place," Zane told the Times, adding that the benefits of public transportation cannot be measured only by commute times. He said transit pays dividends in other areas: Commutes are "more affordable … there's less air pollution, compact development is a more efficient use of land and therefore makes housing more affordable."

The mean commute time in the L.A.-Long Beach-Santa Ana area has stayed relatively flat since 2006, peaking at 28.6 minutes in 2007, according to the American Community Survey.

The story, which was in the Times on Thursday, is here:

Los Angeles Commutes Aren't That Bad

NRDC APPLAUDS MOVE LA, ZANE, FORTE

Morgan Wyenn of NRDC thanks Move LA Executive Director Denny Zane and Diane Forte of Forte Green Strategies for their role in moving forward LA Metro’s new renewable energy policy. She also cites the agency’s new green construction policy. 

LA's Transportation Agency Adopts Another Great Environmental Policy, Implementing Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy