Your input wanted: Coordinated Transportation Planning Outreach

May 20, 2019

The Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) recognizes an increasing need to plan for and address the mobility needs of the growing regional population. While there is currently a range of transportation services available to people with lower incomes, seniors and persons with disabilities in the Region, gaps in service remain due to geography, limitations in fixed-route and demand-responsive services, program/funding constraints, eligibility limitations, knowledge and training. The SACOG Public Transit and Human Services Transportation Coordinated Plan is intended to show how human service agencies work together with transportation providers to address the transportation needs of people with disabilities, seniors, and people with limited incomes. The SACOG Coordinated Plan is meant to broaden the dialogue and support further collaboration between human service agencies and transportation providers to link people with the transportation services that they need.

The SACOG Coordinated Plan Update – February 16, 2017 is required under Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) of December 2015. The SACOG Public Transit and Human Services Transportation Coordinated Plan is available here or can be requested by calling 916-321-9000.

Resolution Approving SACOG Coordinated Plan

SACOG is currently conducting outreach to obtain input on the coordination of public transit and human service transportation service and identify any needs gaps and potential solutions in the six county region. This input will be used to inform the upcoming update to the current SACOG Public Transit and Human Services Transportation Coordinated Plan – see link above.

To provide input please attend one of the following outreach meetings:

June 3, 2019: Yolo County Transportation District – Citizens Advisory Committee, 6 PM @ 350 Industrial Way, Woodland, CA

June 6, 2019: Sacramento Regional Transit District – Mobility Advisory Council, 2:30 PM @ 1400 29th Street, Sacramento, CA

June 10, 2019: Yuba County Government Center, Marysville Room, 2 PM @ 915 8th Street, Marysville, CA

June 11, 2019: City of Roseville Civic Center, 1:30 PM @ 311 Vernon Street, Roseville, CA

June 12, 2019: Placerville Library, Meeting Room, 2 PM @ 345 Fair Lane, Placerville, CA

If you are unable to attend one of the meetings and would like to provide your input please contact:

Barbara VaughanBechtold at bvaughanbechtold [at] sacog [dot] org or 916-340-6226.

Source:
https://www.sacog.org/post/sacog-public-transit-and-human-services-transportation-coordinated-plan

Climate change consensus

A new poll shows Sacramento area residents agree that global warming is real

By Howard Hardee
May 16, 2019
Sacramento News and Review

Even with the suffocating smoke from last season’s deadly wildfires fresh in everyone’s minds, perhaps it’s still surprising just how strongly residents of the Sacramento region believe in protecting the environment. Overwhelmingly, they view nature as vital to the health, happiness and livelihoods of all people in Northern California.

The narrative often fed to the public about climate change—that it’s a divisive issue pitting the environment against the economy—does not appear to have taken hold among most residents, as 66 percent believe efforts to mitigate climate change will either have no effect on jobs, or will create more jobs.
Alexandra Regan, director of operations for the Environmental Council of Sacramento, did not comment directly on the report, but told SN&R that the premise of clean energy killing jobs is false.
“Environmentalists are often portrayed as being anti-growth, but most of us, except for a few extremists, are perfectly aware that the population is growing and that building is going to happen, so it’s just about how we do it,” she said. “I think the environmental waves of the last 150 years have left behind social justice, and we’re trying not to do that this time. We want fair jobs and living wages for everybody. …We can address the environmental crisis and economic issues by creating green jobs.”

Click here to read the full article.

Public Opinion Poll: Regional Attitudes Toward Our Environment

Valley Vision is excited to announce the results of a new scientific public opinion survey about environmental and climate priorities in the Sacramento region.

Conducted in partnership with the Institute of Social Research, Valley Vision’s fourth poll uncovers opinions about air quality, open space, attitudes about climate change and much more to help our leaders make informed decisions.

Click here to view this message from Valley Vision in your browser.

Wildfires, climate change making it harder to breathe in Sacramento, report says

By Mila Jasper
April 24, 2019
The Sacramento Bee

The air is terrible in Sacramento, and climate change is baking the problem in, according to a report released Wednesday by the American Lung Association.
For the second year in a row, Sacramento was named fifth in a list of worst major U.S. cities for ozone pollution in the Lung Association’s annual State of the Air report. Sacramento also moved up from 19th to 15th in the nation for particle pollution days, scoring an F for both categories.

Click here to read the full article.

Judge rejects San Diego County’s climate action plan

By Richard Allyn, Reporter

Posted: Dec 28, 2018 9:40 PM PST
Updated: Dec 28, 2018 10:53 PM PST

CBS 8 San Diego

SAN DIEGO (NEWS 8) – Environmental activists are calling on San Diego County leaders to adopt a new climate action plan.
For the third time, a judge Friday rejected San Diego County’s plan, saying it doesn’t comply with goals for reduced emissions. It was a ruling that environmental leaders praised and they used the moment to urge the County Board of Supervisors to create a comprehensive climate action plan.
The new court ruling found that San Diego County’s climate action plan fails to comply with its own and the state’s goals of cutting back on carbon emissions. The judge rejected the county’s proposal to use carbon credits from out of the county or out of the country, saying that offsetting greenhouse gas emissions in other parts of the world does nothing to help us here at home.

Click here for the full story.

Sacramento Region Highway CapCity Projects

On October 3, 2018, the Environmental Council of Sacramento (ECOS) sent the following letter to the California Department of Transportation regarding the Sacramento Region Highway CapCity Projects.

Dear Director Benipal:
The Environmental Council of Sacramento (ECOS) is concerned that planned freeway expansions in the Sacramento region will induce major increases in vehicle volumes, contravening the spirit and intent of state legislation such as SB 375. We are most concerned about the CapCity (SR 51) expansion (including possible widening of the American River bridge), and also concerned about the planned I-5 HOV lanes between Sacramento and Elk Grove, and the proposed widening of I-80 between Sacramento and Davis.
We appreciate the CapCity project team’s continued engagement with ECOS and its willingness to discuss the project’s progression. However, ECOS would like to expand this conversation into a broader discussion about regional transportation challenges and priorities. We are willing to work with Caltrans staff to coordinate discussions with other regional agencies and stakeholders with the aim of considering potential alternatives to address these challenges.
Following are some reasons why this conversation is timely: CARB’s greenhouse gas scoping plan shows that we must reduce VMT by 15% to meet 2050 goals for GHG emissions. Guidelines for SB 743 specify that the principal criterion in evaluating transportation projects is now VMT reduction, as opposed to congestion relief. Based on these Guidelines, Caltrans will need to consider induced travel demand from future expansion projects, such as caused by land use impacts. The Sacramento Transportation Authority is planning a tax measure for the 2020 ballot. SACOG is developing its draft preferred scenario the 2020 MTP/SCS. Finally, the fate of SB 1 hinges on the outcome of Proposition 6 in November.
The proposed CapCity expansion is emblematic of multiple other prospective projects in the region, and raises questions about historic approaches to longstanding problems as well as approaches to future challenges the region faces. We acknowledge that the challenges involved are significant, and that a rethinking of potential solutions also has great hurdles. We believe that the convergence of challenges and opportunities we face warrants an exploration of additional tools to increase travel-mode options, support infill housing and economic needs, and reduce VMT with increased transit operations and emerging strategies such as congestion pricing and shared mobility.
We would all benefit from a broadly based conversation regarding alternative solutions for regional mobility before major public funds are committed to significant increases in highway capacity. We hope that you will consider cooperating in such a discussion with ECOS, and we are sharing this letter with other organizations and government bodies that we hope to include in this conversation as well. We look forward to discussing possible meeting times and locations.
Sincerely,
Ralph Propper
ECOS President

Click here to read the full letter in PDF.