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
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…
Multiple Groups File Opposition to AB 1899 06/27/16 Filed in: High-Speed Rail Today, a group of organizations have united in a letter opposing AB 1889, the attempted grab of Prop. 1A bond funds. They are: TRANSDEF, the Train Riders Association of California, Preserve Our Heritage, Citizens for California High Speed Rail Accountability and the Community Coalition on High-Speed Rail. In an attempt to evade the requirements of Proposition 1A, the HSR Bond Act, Caltrain has sponsored AB 1889. The bill would give CHSRA full discretion to declare that a rail corridor or segment is HSR-ready. This is a big deal for Caltrain, because its electrification project cannot qualify for $700+ million in…
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…
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
CEQA Preemption Appeal Fully Briefed 05/18/16 Filed in: High-Speed Rail The appeal of the CEQA Preemption Order by the federal Surface Transportation Board for California HSR is now fully briefed. Oral argument has not yet been scheduled. The briefs are all posted on the STB page. Tags: CEQA, Preemption, HSR Litigation, STB
Press Coverage of HSR Hearing 02/15/16 Filed in: High-Speed Rail The hearing on the Tos Part II challenge to CHSRA compliance with the requirements of Proposition 1A was held on February 11, 2016. For a listing of the press generated by the hearing, see the bottom of this page. Tags: HSR Litigation
High-Speed Rail Dragged Back to Court 02/06/16 Filed in: High-Speed Rail The California High-Speed Rail Authority, along with the Governor, the State Treasurer, State Controller and others are back in Department 31 of the Sacramento Superior Court on Thursday, February 11 at 9:00 am. They are fighting a motion by the Tos plaintiffs for an injunction that would shut off all funding for the construction of the current HSR project. A full description of the case, along with the briefs, is available here. Tags: HSR Litigation
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…
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…