What’s the solution to the transportation mess?

TRANSDEF, the creator of this site, put forward a potential solution in 2004 that demonstrated promising results. When MTC evaluated the environmental impacts of the plan we posed, MTC determined that it had lower overall impacts than the plan it adopted. The TRANSDEF Smart Growth plan offered more benefits.  When supporters of Regional Measure 3 claim that “We have to move forward with these strategies–they are the only thing that works” you now know they are wrong.

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The Kickoff Speech

TRANSDEF’s President, David Schonbrunn, spoke on January 24th to the Bay Area Toll Authority, the name that MTC goes by for its bridge business. Here’s what he said: TRANSDEF will be campaigning against this measure, once you vote to put it on the ballot. Having watched MTC commit decades of policy mistakes, I can say for certain this is not an agency the public should give more money and power.   MTC is an entirely unaccountable agency. None of its Commissioners ever suffers consequences for their votes here. We will turn RM3 into a referendum on the job MTC has…

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Plan Bay Area Analyzed In Depth

Plan Bay Area Analyzed In Depth 06/01/17 Filed in: Transportation Planning TRANSDEF submitted extensive comments today on Plan Bay Area, the regional transportation plan for the Bay Area. A condensed version for policymakers was submitted earlier. Here’s a summary of the top points about what’s wrong with the Draft EIR: Improper assessment of GHG impacts o SB 375 calls for reducing regional emissions from cars and light trucks. Without State emission reduction measures, regional emissions increase 10%. o RTP will impede the state’s achievement of GHG emissions reductions targets set by SB 32. o Climate Initiatives from the 2013 RTP have not been funded. Why…

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Tos II Case Progresses

Tos II Case Progresses 05/25/17 Filed in: High-Speed Rail A hearing was held on April 26 on CHSRA’s Demurrer. The Court’s tentative ruling denied the motion for preliminary injunction and sustained the demurrer. At the hearing, the Court adopted the ruling on the motion for preliminary injunction, and took the demurrer under submission. The final ruling adopted the tentative ruling sustaining the demurrer, effectively knocking the case out of court, but granted leave to amend the Petition. Plaintiffs filed a Second Amended Petition on May 25, in response. After the announcement of the Federal Transit Administration grant to Caltrain for its Electrification Project in May, 2017, the Director of the Department of Finance issued a…

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Disappointment in ARB Case

Disappointment in ARB Case 05/15/17 Filed in: High-Speed Rail | Climate Change After three years of hard work, TRANSDEF’s challenge to the California Air Resources Board’s adoption of its 2014 Scoping Plan was rejected today by the Court. Disappointingly, the decision was based purely on the technical, procedural objections brought by ARB. ARB never defended its decision to include a GHG-increasing measure in a plan intended to reduce GHGs. In oral argument, TRANSDEF’s attorney, Stuart Flashman, proposed a new way to look at CEQA GHG impacts–one that we have not heard being used before: Because of the global climate change…

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Change in Plans: Big Fireworks in Court April 18 & 19

Change in Plans: Big Fireworks in Court April 18 & 19 04/17/17 Filed in: High-Speed Rail All the briefs have now been filed in Tos II, a legal challenge to the constitutionality of AB 1889, the 2016 law that the High-Speed Rail Authority is relying on to claim eligibility for Proposition 1A bond funds for construction of its Central Valley segment. The hearing scheduled for Tuesday, April 18, at 9:00 in Department 54 in Sacramento Superior Court (in the Hall of Justice on 6th St., which is separate from the court complex), and the hearing scheduled for April 19 at 11:00…

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