The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) launched what they’re billing a “Bike-Ped Wiki” to help increase the number and quality of public comments for their upcoming Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP). Unlike some of the Wiki efforts we’ve seen in the past such as I Bike U, which has gone to the digital graveyard, and StreetsWiki, which is sort of available here, the “SCAG Wiki” is to help create the bicycle and pedestrian portion of the Plan.
So sadly, unlike the original StreetsWiki and I Bike U, there won’t be an entry for me.
After creating a userid and logging in, users will be able to comment directly on the most recent planning documents and view other people’s comments. This is a step forward in how agencies collect information and feedback from the public. Can you imagine how public comment for the City of Los Angeles Bike Plan would have been improved if you could comment on virtual copies of the maps and the plan itself easily on a website?
SCAG seems pretty excited about this innovation too: Read more…
Last Thursday, the California Air Resource Board (CARB) voted unanimously to adopt ambitious targets for greenhouse gas reductions statewide by 2020 and 2035. Thursday’s vote, hours after the Metro Board of Directors voted to endorse high standards for the Southland, will compel Municipal Planning Organizations (MPO’s) to create development and transportation plans that will encourage Smart Growth and discourage catering to long commutes in single occupancy automobiles.
Under California’s landmark anti-sprawl bill, SB375, the state’s 18 MPOs were required to set emissions reductions targets and Sustainable Communities Strategies (SCS) within regional transportation plans. Los Angeles’ MPO is the Southern California Association of Governments, a body that voted endorsed weaker standards a few weeks ago. That vote, while politically telling, can and was overturned by CARB. To be clear, Southern California’s targets are an eight percent reduction by 2020 and a thirteen percent reduction at 2035 of yearly greenhouse gas emissions from the 2005 emission levels.
In a press release, ARB Board Mary Nichols explains how a state mandate to meet certain development goals can be both a carrot and a stick:
“These targets are ambitious, achievable and very good news for California communities. Improved planning means cleaner air in our cities, less time stuck in your car, and healthier, more sustainable communities,” said ARB Chairman Mary D. Nichols. “Cities that choose to develop Sustainable Communities Plans that meet these targets have an advantage when it comes to attracting the kinds of vibrant, healthy development that people want.” Read more…
Last May, I had the chance to sit down with Michael Woo, the former Los Angeles City Councilman and Mayoral Candidate, urban planner, USC Professor and Climate Change activist. Woo expressed hope that the Southern California Association of Governments would set the bar for other regions when deciding how to follow new state laws by setting high targets for emissions reductions. The reductions are a state requirement after the passage of California’s internationally lauded Smart Growth Law in 2008, SB 375.
Yesterday, SCAG took a pass on history and sided with the sprawl lobby in endorsing reduced targets for the region which includes Los Angeles County as well as the Inland Empire, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernadino Counties. Instead of setting the goal of reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 8% in 2020 and 13% in 2035 as recommended by the state’s Air Resource Board after a lengthy public process, SCAG chose to set goals of 6% reduction in 2020 and 8% in 2035. The 8/13 targets were rejected by a 21 to 29 vote.
Unfortunately, this means that design standards and community plans throughout the region will have less density, encourage fewer transportation options, and create less vibrant communities with less open space over the next twenty five years than they would have if SCAG would have followed the state board’s recommendations.
This rejection marks a victory for the Building Industry Association which lobbied for a 5% reduction target and distributed misinformation far and wide to preserve Southern Californians right to sprawl. The BIA claimed the rejected benchmarks would push gas prices to $9, would cripple the economy, and were completely unrealistic anyway. That independent reviews showed that a plan to meet the 8/13 benchmarks would increase gas costs by two cents a gallon over twenty five years, would save the average working family save $3,600 annually on transportation costs, would create design standards that would encourage growth and calls for lower reductions than the ones passed in the Sacramento and Bay regions somehow didn’t make the B.I.A.’s “hysteria sheet.”
And that the SCAG Board chose to believe these phony statistics, without a methodology showing how they came to be, over the hard work of their own staff tells us a lot about the SCAG Board.
After the vote, the BIA was crowing. Richard Lambros, the executive director of the association told the Associated Press:
They made a decision that is both aggressive and achievable and will make a significant reduction in emissions while still protecting California’s economy.
(The SCAG Joint Policy Committees & Regional Council meets tomorrow, Thursday, Sept. 2 from 11:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. If you want a seat, get there by 10:30 and feel free to bring a lunch. This isn't Metro or City Hall, you can eat in the hearing room The meeting is held at S.C.A.G. headquarters, 818 W. 7th Street, 12th Floor, Board Room, across the street from the Metro 7th Street Station.)
Back in July, Matthew Roth summarized the goals of California's groundbreaking S.B. 375, the first piece of legislation in the country to tie sprawl development to declining air quality and quality of life. Roth, quoting work done by NRDC's Amanda Eaken, noted that there are a lot of great things that S.B. 375 would accomplish if properly enacted by state Metropolitan Planning Organizations (M.P.O's), but that the local politics of the M.P.O. could prevent Californians from seeing the benefits provided by Smart Growth and proper transportation planning.
At a meeting tomorrow in Downtown Los Angeles, Southern California will have its chance to show that it can put the long-term health of the state over provincial politics. The Southern California Association of Governments Joint Policy and Regional Council will consider a proposal from the state's Air Resources Board to set targets for Greenhouse Gas reduction in the region. The ARB wants to see an 8% reduction in the next ten years and a 13% reduction in the next 25.
That's a complicated way of saying that tomorrow, regional leaders will decide whether or not they want to clean the air to meet state law or not. Eaken lays out what's at stake in more simple terms:
Thursday, SCAG has the opportunity to adopt ambitious 13% targets that will deliver significant co-benefits of better transit, improved air quality and public health, and reduce household transportation costs for Southern California residents. Across California, there's a shifting market demand embodied by SB 375 that is already pushing in the direction of more walkable, transit oriented communities-exactly the kind of growth needed to help Southern California achieve emission reduction targets and create sustainable communities.
Source: S.C.A.G.'s Year 2000 Post Census Regional Transportation Survey
In my Tuesday review of Monday's City Council debate on whether or not the city should use it's Measure R Local Return to fund bicycle and pedestrian projects, I mocked a statement by Councilman Greig Smith that because 10% of trips aren't by bike, the City shouldn't fund bicycle projects with 10% of Measure R funds. I argued that because the city doesn't do bike counts, it's not possible to know for sure how many trips are by bike, but since we're talking about bicycling and pedestrian spending together the argument is moot anyways. After all, everyone is a pedestrian.
Turns out there's more data out there than I knew.
In 2000, the Southern California Association of Governments completed a transportation survey to get better data for the Southern California area. As you can see above, it turns out that almost 12% of trips regionally are done by what we call "people powered transportation," but what S.C.A.G. calls 'non-motorized transportation." Unfortunately, this number is a low one when it comes to trying to get a good number for just the city. S.C.A.G. includes less urban counties such as Riverside, Ventura and San Bernadino in with L.A. County so it's safe to assume that the number is higher in the city than in the entire S.C.A.G. region.
Second, the population most likely to use their feet or pedals to get around, immigrant and day-laborer communities are historically under-counted in surveys, especially those conducted by governmental organizations.
And last, this survey was done ten years ago. More people are biking now than they were then.
The good news is, this survey will be updated this year after the census is completed so we'll have better data to work with soon.
So, Councilman Smith, you were right to point out that the 10% number for the "bike-ped. set aside" was pulled out of thin air. The number should have been at least 12%. We look forward to your amendment correcting this mistake when the full Council votes on this matter at next Tuesday's meeting.
Rita Robinson and Tony Jusay's folding bikes testify at a joint meeting of the Planning and Transportation Commissions. Photo: BikePedSCAG/Twitpic
It's not often that we cover news out of the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), but a recent study funded by the City of Los Angeles and SCAG on the "last mile" problem has led to a report sponsored by the city that is all about getting people out of their cars. The report was presented by LADOT Chief Rita Robinson and Planning General Manager Gail Goldberg at a meeting this morning, then again by SCAG to regional stakeholders this afternoon.
While the report is progressive, it's rare to see a report talking about getting people out of their cars with a "City of Los Angeles" crest on it, it's just a report. While Robinson may like many of the ideas in the report, it's still up to advocates and elected officials to get these ideas off the paper and onto the streets.
Just after this morning's presentation ended, Robinson was speaking in front of the Transportation Commission about the massive cuts coming to LADOT. Even for a department that has the goal of moving as much automobile traffic as possible, now seems the perfect time to investigate low cost alternatives to get people out of their cars instead of expensive and time-consuming highway and road expansions.
The study team, led by consultants from Nelson Nygaard, was charged with focusing on the "last mile" problem. For those of you unfamiliar with the "last mile" problem, it is a term created to describe the barrier many car commuters feel to taking transit or other options to single-passenger vehicle commuting. Informally I call it the, "I would take the train but the closest stop is so far away from my house/office."
Broadly, the strategies studied should:
Get people out of their car
Provide incentives to help households avoid needing multiple cars
Help cities meet the standards of SB 375
From there the team came up with thirteen strategies that would help cities, especially Los Angeles, meet those goals. They then narrowed down the list of thirteen to a list of six strategies that aren't already being studied by another organization. The six transportation modes that SCAG, City of L.A. and their consultants want to expand are: casual carpooling, taxi's, car sharing, short-term car rental, bike sharing, folding bikes.
For a full copy of SCAG's presentation, click here. For a synopsis of the six strategies and some editorial commentary, read on after the jump.
Barbara Boxer and John Kerry's Ear Rally Against Greenhouse Gas
Yesterday, Senator Barbara Boxer, Chair of the Committee charged with reauthorizing the federal transportation funding bill, held a hearing at the Metro Board Room to ask local transportation leaders how they would like to see the federal government change the way it funds projects. It's always interesting to see what political leaders say when the activists that lobby them aren't in attendance, although there was a smattering of yellow BRU shirts in the front row, as opposed to what they say when the room is packed with people supporting a certain mode or region.
In short, they say plenty of things about freight movement, federal new starts projects, and transit projects. At no point do they mention bicycles, pedestrians, walking or alternative transportation. Before anyone asks, yes, the federal government does fund bicycle and pedestrian projects.
Of particular note to Angelenos would be the testimony of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, SCAG executive director Hasan Ikhrata, and Metro CEO Roger Snoble.
The City of Los Angeles planning department is partnering with
SCAG's Compass Blueprint to make the Sunset Junction Metro stop more community friendly by increasing bicycle and pedestrian access to the stop. The study will also look at the potential for transit oriented development for the area.
The first community meeting for this project is tonight, so if you have na idea to make Sunset Junction a better place for commuters make sure to stop by the Casa Laguna Community Room at the corner of Sunset and Myra, tonight at 6:30.
The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) is currently in the comment period of the Regional Transportation Plan (RTP). This twenty year plan (up to 2035) will set a long term framework for transportation investments for the six county SCAG- region (comprised of Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura counties).
Latinos are a growing part of this region which will influence mobility patterns. We need to ensure that these needs will be addressed in the next cycle of the RTP.
Please join us for a lively discussion and presentation on the RTP and Latino mobility patterns.
For further information contact: James Rojas, (626) 437-4446
DATE: TONIGHT!
TIME: 7:00 p.m. to 8:15 p.m.
PLACE: Metro Headquaters, Gateway Room, 3rd Floor.
To post events, activities or meetings that promote planning, cultural or dialogue contact James Rojas at 213 892-0918 or email Latinourbanforum@yahoo.com Please submit post in a word document.
On Friday, a commenter to It's Not Getting Safer Out There challenged me to do more research to see how those safety stats look when you compare them to VMT, or population growth. It was difficult to get numbers for all of the years, and get them from the same source, so let me just say this. He's right at least on this much: there is more VMT for biking and driving in LA now than in 2000 and there's more people. Taken in that light, yes. Based on the numbers, each individual person is safer on the road than they are in 2000 in LA.
A quick look at the total transportation related fatalities on our roads/streets/sidewalks/highways for LA County also don't show a clear trend. The yearly breakdown for LA County looks like this:
2000 - 741 total deaths (32.6% of them were bike/ped. deaths) 2001 - 765 total deaths (32.5% of them were bike/ped. deaths) 2002 - 724 total deaths (30.8% of them were bike/ped. deaths) 2003 - 812 total deaths (30.0% of them were bike/ped. deaths) 2004 - 753 total deaths (29.6% of them were bike/ped. deaths) 2005 - 701 total deaths (33.0% of them were bike/ped. deaths) 2006 - 749 total deaths (30.8%of them were bike/ped. deaths)
In short, we can show that the number of deaths per driver or VMT are falling, and that is certainly good news, but we also don't see a falling amount of total deaths which is what the stated goal of transportation agencies are (and should be...).
Hopefully, with new leadership at LADOT and SCAG installed in the last month, we'll see a greater focus on safety and a clear trend of safer roads, highways and sidewalks for everyone.
@CalBike @BicyclingMag I have to wonder about any list of bike friendly cities that includes L.A. and Thousand Oaks and not Santa Monica. in reply to CalBike8 hrs ago
