Comment Log Display

WalkSanDiego is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to
providing a safe, inviting, and convenient pedestrian environment
throughout the San Diego region.  For the last 10 years, we have
worked with the San Diego Association of Governments, local
cities, developers, schools, neighborhoods, merchants, and
individual residents to identify and fund improvements for walking
safety, security, and enjoyment.  WalkSanDiego has reviewed the
Scoping Plan and is pleased to submit the following comments.

Your staff and board are to be congratulated for making
appropriate progress on the difficult tasks of examining the
myriad available approaches to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG),
operating under an urgent time schedule, while simultaneously
providing to the public regular updates and opportunities for
meaningful input.  

WalkSanDiego is deeply concerned that the Plan gives little weight
to alternative transportation modes, and reforming the continual
march of land development into undeveloped areas in a low-density
pattern.  In our view, and that of most people with whom we work,
the time for subsidizing and mandating sprawl must end, and the
sooner the better.  At the very least, sprawl and walkable
communities should be presented as options on a level playing
field.  Working with many types of residents, from wealthy
suburbanites to lower income Hispanic residents, we find that a
majority of residents would welcome communities in which walking
and bicycling are real choices.  This is no doubt true across the
state, especially as gasoline prices skyrocket.

Children especially need to have other travel options, for their
own cognitive development, as well as their health.  The epidemic
of obesity is not, as some argue, about the consumption of fast
food and junk food; rather, it is about a precipitous drop-off in
physical activity, primarily due to environmental constraints. 
This needs to change for many reasons, not the least of which is
that sprawl threatens to undermine any real progress on reducing
GHG emissions.

We have been following with great interest the evolution of the
San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District’s
Indirect Source Rule.  This regulation rewards compact development
offering multiple travel modes, and imposes fees on sprawl on a per
housing unit basis.  This provides a funding mechanism for transit
services, something the state has struggled to do for many years. 
(In fact, recent state cuts to transit have been an extreme
short-term fiscal measure, in the wrong direction for GHG
reduction.)  The San Joaquin Valley’s Indirect Source Rule is the
sort of regulatory program that every region of the state should
have, and we urge ARB to add it to the mix of Scoping Plan
measures.

Further, the state needs to establish a state planning mandate
modeled after the most successful programs of other states.  These
include Wisconsin, Oregon, Maryland, Vermont, and Florida.  The
program should require California’s laws and local land use
regulations to favor low-carbon development and transportation
infrastructure.  Every city should be mandated to adopt a climate
plan that includes reductions in vehicle miles travelled.

Finally, the Scoping Plan should emphasize the use of
transportation dollars for non-motorized travel and transit
services, and reduce its commitment to continuous freeway
expansion in a failed bid to reduce congestion.  Caltrans should
be mandated to weigh greenhouse gasses in every transportation
decision, and consider every low-carbon alternative to further
freeway building.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment.  I can be reached at
kgrimes@walksandiego.org, 619-544-WALK(9255).