Comment Log Display

*PLEASE SEE ATTACHED LETTER FROM THE MET SACRAMENTO HIGH SCHOOL FOR
SUPPORT OF THE TRANSPORTATION COALITION FOR LIVABLE COMMUNITIES
FUNDING PROPOSAL*

Re: Support for Transportation Coalition Proposal in Cap and Trade
Investment Plan

Over 100 students at the Met Sacramento High School are writing in
support of the proposal submitted by the Transportation Coalition
for Livable Communities to provide funding for the kinds of
sustainable community improvements students need to get from home,
to school, and within our neighborhoods.  

The Met Sacramento High School is a dependent public charter high
school located in downtown Sacramento.  Students participate in
internships throughout the urban core of Sacramento and rely on
public transit, bicycle lanes, and walkable streets.  Many students
take classes at Sac City College and rely on transportation to get
between our high school and college classes. In short, Metsters
travel A LOT.   

Of the nearly 300 students at the Met, 100 bike to school and
related internships in the community – less than a dozen are
licenced drivers. We even created a student-run bicycle collective
in its own room at school made possible in part by a state grant to
make our school LEED and CHIPS certified for energy efficiency –
now students have a place to fix their bikes and help each other.
And our school itself is a more enjoyable and cool place to hang
out.
Our school worked with the City and County of Sacramento in
collaborating on innovative ways to make our school more energy
efficiency -- and a grant program like the one proposed by the
Transportation Coalition for Livable Communities could make our
school safer to walk, bike, and take transit to. 
 
If we want people to live, work and play in existing developed
areas we need to make our infrastructure better around community
schools and the parks and places that students to go.
As students who go to a school in an urban core, we enjoy being
able to walk to parks, bike to coffeehouses, and take transit to
our internships and community service activities – but we would
like to be able to do this safely and enjoy the experience with the
needed infrastructure to make our travels better and to improve
other communities that aren’t as fortunate as we are to have.
  
The Transportation Coalition for Livable Communities has a proposal
that would create local competitive grants under regional
governments to encourage innovative ways of combining all aspects
of a livable community: better bike facilities, smooth roads,
frequent and predictable transit, clean technology infrastructure,
rail improvements, streetscape enhancements, traffic calming,
multi-use paths, underground utilities, and urban greening. 

The Transportation Coalition’s proposed program would encourage
local governments  to work together with other organizations like
schools and parks to be more competitive when applying for grant
money for integrated transportation and land use investments that
meet regional greenhouse gas reduction goals.  

The proposal would also allow local governments to be more
innovative in working with schools in order to make walkable and
bikeable communities a reality – and to better plan for community
schools in community cores where much of California’s future
population is expected to live.

Funding to support safe infrastructure, programs and plans at
schools are far below the demand.   We urge you to include the
proposed program concept from the Transportation Coalition for
Livable Communities.
 

Sincerely,

OVER 100 STUDENTS OF THE MET SACRAMENTO HIGH SCHOOL

Allen Young
Principal