One Win, One Loss

One Win, One Loss 11/10/16 Filed in: Transportation Planning The sales tax measure for Santa Clara County passed, while the one for Contra Costa County failed. TRANSDEF’s ballot arguments were printed in the Contra Costa Voters’ Guide, so we helped defeat an ill-conceived measure. Tags: VTA, Contra Costa, Tax

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TRANSDEF Opposes CCTA Sales Tax Measure X

TRANSDEF Opposes CCTA Sales Tax Measure X 09/04/16 Filed in: Transportation Planning | Climate Change The TRANSDEF Board has voted to formally oppose Contra Costa Transportation Authority’s (CCTA’s) transportation sales tax measure. Our ballot arguments were selected to be the Oppose position in the Voter Guide. Our campaign website  was posted today. Tags: Contra Costa, Highway Widening, Tax, Congestion

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TRANSDEF Opposes VTA Sales Tax Measure B

TRANSDEF Opposes VTA Sales Tax Measure B 09/04/16 Filed in: Climate Change | Transportation Planning The TRANSDEF Board has voted to formally oppose the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s (VTA’s) transportation sales tax Measure. We have No Confidence in VTA. Check out the websites of our allies Sierra Club and BayRail Alliance! Measure B would double VTA’s sales tax. This is intolerable, when the Measure fails in three distinct policy areas: BART to San Jose and Santa Clara is a horribly wasteful and ineffective response to the commuting challenges of Santa Clara County residents. The continued funding of highways is ultimately futile, as congestion will merely continue to get worse. See this study…

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TRANSDEF Seeks RTP Alternatives

TRANSDEF Seeks RTP Alternatives 06/15/16 Filed in: Transportation Planning | Climate Change TRANSDEF today filed its scoping comments for the 2017 Regional Transportation Plan. The letter asks MTC to study a regional plan alternative in which there is no money for highway widenings or BART extensions. Instead, available funding would be spent on cost-effective transit projects and service. The intent is to maximize the reduction of GHGs by shifting travel away from solo driving. The alternative proposes a test of the long-running MTC assertion that “transportation investments don’t move the needle” by which they mean that the investments don’t make a difference with GHG emissions or Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT). TRANSDEF has always agreed that MTC’s…

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Caltrain Electrification Suit Fully Briefed

Caltrain Electrification Suit Fully Briefed 05/23/16 Filed in: High-Speed Rail | Transportation Planning The challenge to Caltrain’s Electrification EIR is now fully briefed. (See bottom of page.) Petitioners assert that the electrification project is really the first phase of the HSR Blended System on the Peninsula, making the EIR an impermissibly chopped study of the project’s overall impacts. A hearing has been scheduled for 9 AM, September 2, 2016 in Contra Costa Superior Court. Tags: HSR Litigation, CEQA, Caltrain

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Big Flurry of End-of-Year Postings

Big Flurry of End-of-Year Postings 12/09/15 The combination of intense litigation activity and two personal losses resulted in the TRANSDEF website falling seriously behind in 2015. Taking advantage of a quiet spell after the filing of the STB Opening Brief, the site has been reorganized and updated with large amounts of new information. An entirely new Government Dysfunction section was created. It now contains a page on the proposed MTC-ABAG merger  and a page on agency failures to communicate with the public. We call it the Wall of Shame. Many of the previous navigation tabs have been consolidated into new Regional Planning and County-Level Planning sections. New pages have been added covering TRANSDEF’s Caltrain Electrification EIR Challenge and its involvement…

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ARB Not In Touch With Transportation

ARB Not In Touch With Transporation 12/09/15 Filed in: Climate Change | Transportation Planning A collection of TRANSDEF’s comments to the Air Resources Board (ARB) was recently posted: Testimony to ARB on Regional GHG Emissions Reduction Targets: “These targets will result in increased emissions in this sector, due to population growth. This is going in the wrong direction, and would send the wrong signal to the rest of the world about ARB’s view of the need for urgent reductions in GHG emissions.” ARB’s 2013 Scoping Plan Update: “Staff recognizes the need for “Fundamental transformation of transportation system needed to meet…

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Capitol Corridor Roseville Extension–A Waste of Money?

Capitol Corridor Roseville Extension–A Waste of Money? 11/08/15 Filed in: Transportation Planning TRANSDEF, the Train Riders Association of California and the California Rail Foundation filed a comment letter on the DEIR for the Capitol Corridor’s proposed extension to Roseville. We found the DEIR provided no justification for spending $250 million dollars to build a third track to Roseville. “We find it striking that the beneficial impacts in terms of VMT reduction and GHG emissions reductions of the $226 million Build Alternative are so small as to be unnoticeable at the regional scale.” The project would not accomplish the objectives identified…

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No One Wants To Invest in CA HSR!

No One Wants To Invest in CA HSR! 10/16/15 Filed in: High-Speed Rail The California High-Speed Rail Authority put out a Request for Expressions of Interest in building, operating and financing the HSR project. The FAQ provides cost estimates and assumes Cap and Trade revenues of $500 million per year through 2050. CHSRA’s list of responders. The 36 replies that came back said, in effect, “No thank you. We will need a guarantee of revenue before we will be willing to do that.” See the Los Angeles Times coverage. Because an operating subsidy is prohibited by Proposition 1A, that means that the proposed HSR system cannot be built. It also means the project should not be in construction…

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Marin Clings to Status Quo

Marin Clings to Status Quo 10/12/15 Filed in: Transportation Planning | Climate Change As the Transportation Authority of Marin was determining what projects to submit to the 2017 Regional Transportation Plan, TRANSDEF’s President testified, “Highway performance is at near-crisis levels. Mobility is severely impaired. Yet you are being offered more of the same.” See that testimony and the rest of the Marin page. TAM didn’t discuss whether there was a problem, and adopted staff’s status quo proposal. Tags: RTP, Marin, Congestion

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