Hi to Santa Barbara Group ExComm People

As in the recent past, the two big transportation issues are:
1) The new Measure D billion dollar county transportation ballot measure for 2008
2) CEC's "Fossil Free by 2033" transportation element

The County (SBCAG) is trying to nail down the details of the 2008 "new Measure D" proposal. On Wednesday November 7 they hope to solidify these details.

They have split the negotiations into separate North and South County plans. They not only allocate funds differently with regard to sustainable transportation. The North County doesn't even want it specified in this way.

Attached are the minutes of the last Coalition for a Fair Measure D strategy meeting that we had before that deadline. It is hard to understand even if you are there, so I don't expect it to make much sense. But there it is if you are interested in the details.

The widening of Highway 101 is a huge chunk of money that is off limits for negotiation by SBCAG. On the sustainable transportation side, commuter rail is very popular in the polls. But it does need a lot of money to happen, or else it won't happen. Having part of that money does nothing.

Commuter rail therefore takes a big chunk of money that otherwise would go to buses, pedestrian and bicycle projects.

Here is an important point that I raised:
Every jurisdiction has a "Transportation Improvement Plan" or TIP which is an official long-range planning document. The idea is for jurisdictions to use their transportation money and/or grants to fill in this plan over time.

My point: Why don't we demand that the sustainable transportation funding cover the cost to complete the bicycle and pedestrian TIPs for the County over the next 20 years? That way we are working from an official, approved plan instead of pulling numbers out of the air.

The answer (from Marc Chytilo of EDC): Those numbers are hard to estimate, even given these general plans.

In the 25 years since I have been here, almost no significant piece of any of these TIPs have been completed with regard to pedestrian or bicycle projects. (The one notable exception is the bikeway at Ortega Hill, built when 101 was widened there.)

As in the past, my impression is that no one wants to face the reality of transportation funding: There never will be enough money for sustainable transportation as long as fuel taxes are an order of magnitude less than the amount needed to pay for actual motor vehicle expenses.

And Measure D will fail because the needs of reality are so far from what is proposed. My editorial comment.

As for the Fossil Free by 2033 transportation document, it is coming together and a draft should be ready in the next couple of months.

One victory at the last meeting: There was no category in their pie chart for "demand reduction". Everything was about energy efficiency and/or different fuels. We won a grudging concession that there will be a "demand reduction" category.

My editorial comment: The world will be more innovative than this "environmental" document is willing to be. Which is good news!

Best wishes,
Robert 