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News clippings related to transit, mobility and quality of life
MoveNews #99 for the week of May 2, 2010
Regional
Comments Sought at Mid-Coast Corridor Transit Project Scoping Meetings
SANDAG wants to hear from you The Scoping period for the project begins on May 3 and runs through June 1, 2010. During this time, public input on the project is being sought on alternatives, the project purpose and need, and issues to be studied in the environmental document. Five open house Scoping meetings in locations throughout the Mid-Coast Corridor have been scheduled for members of the public to learn more about the project and offer comments.
May 11, 2010 - 3 to 6 p.m.
UCSD, Price Center East Ballroom
May 12, 2010 - 4 to 7 p.m.
Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, Garfield Theater
May 20, 2010 - 4 to 7 p.m.
Clairemont High School, Cafeteria
May 25, 2010 - 4 to 7 p.m.
Caltrans District 11, Gallegos Conference Room
Comments can be submitted in person at Scoping meetings, by U.S. Mail to Mid-Coast Comments, SANDAG, 401 B Street, Suite 800, San Diego, CA 92101, via e-mail to midcoast@sandag.org, or by fax to (619) 699-1950 on or before June 1, 2010.
Mayor Sanders Unveils "Green" Building Program for Downtown San Diego
Called "Centre City Green," the program is under development by the Centre City Development Corporation (CCDC), working on behalf of the Redevelopment Agency for the City of San Diego. Centre City Green includes new, incentive-based, "green" building measures that will help new and existing buildings to use less water and less energy, reduce automobile demand, and provide healthy indoor and outdoor spaces for people. Potential incentives include increased building density, faster permitting, development code variances, support of "green team" specialists, and public recognition.
CCDC will soon launch a pilot "Green Streets" program to create healthier outdoor spaces that are more pedestrian and bike friendly, add more greenery, support transit, use less energy and water, improve air quality and reduce storm water pollution in the San Diego Bay.
CCDC hopes to recognize and promote those buildings that excel as models of "green" development by issuing a local a Centre City Green plaque or "seal of approval" to raise awareness in the public, said CCDC chairman Fred Maas. "Most important," Maas added, "these programs will have specific performance measures so we can quantify our success in meeting or exceeding State goals for improving air and water quality, reducing our water and energy consumption, and lowering greenhouse gas emissions."
California
SLO County supervisors approve flex-time, telecommuting policies
SLO Tribune, April 20, 2010
An enthusiastic Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved flex-time and telecommuting policies that will diminish the time county employees spend on the road and commuting to work.
The policies call for:
- Allowing some employees under some circumstances - to be determined by department heads - to work from home by telecommuting.
- Creating alternate work schedules, such as working 80 hours over nine days instead of 10, or having a work week with four days of 10 hours each rather than five days of eight hours each.
Telecommuters also must be available by phone or computer, to guard against people taking advantage of the system. ... Two-thirds of the county government's greenhouse gas emissions are caused by employees commuting to and from work. ...
The alternate work schedule and telecommute policies are designed to help the county comply with the state Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, known to government officials as AB 32, the number of the bill. AB 32 requires the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels - a 25 percent drop - by 2020, and to 80 percent of 1990 levels by 2050.
National
UC Berkeley has just released the first study on how much greenhouse pollution is produced by passenger transportation in the U.S. It is the most comprehensive study of its kind and has yielded some surprising results. ... Chester found that for cars, when adding in the lifecycle components, the pollutants produced by that one vehicle, increased by 50 percent. For trains it is worse. "It's almost a doubling. So, the electricity that's required for a train system to operate, if you double that electricity and the associated carbon dioxide emissions, there's the total lifecycle effect," Chester explained.
"The most important and probably the most exciting implications of this will not be just to tell the individual passenger what steps to take, but also influence societal scale planning," he said.
A Complete Rethink of the Car
Metropolis Magazine, March 17, 2010
When you think about it, the cars we drive today havent fundamentally progressed since the days of the Model T. Theyre fine for moving multiple passengers over long distances at high speeds, but they dont work as effectively in cities. Moreover, why do most of the cars on the market today look the same? In their new book, Reinventing the Automobile: Personal Urban Mobility for the 21st Century (MIT Press), William J. Mitchell, who directs the Smart Cities research group at MITs Media Lab, and two industry experts, General Motors Christopher E. Borroni-Bird and Lawrence D. Burns (formerly of GM), reimagined the car. Metropoliss editorial director, Paul Makovsky, spoke with Mitchell about how to make urban mobility more sustainable, why the car is a networked device, and why designers need to start thinking more holistically.
Fast Facts
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) may reduce regional transportation emissions by improving overall traffic flow and reducing conflicts between BRT vehicles and other traffic. Preliminary studies of the CO2 reductions from Mexico City's BRT system found that as much as 46 percent of the reductions are the result of improved operating conditions for other vehicles.
Source: Instituto Nacional de Ecologia and Center for Urban Transportation Research
MoveNews #99 was edited by Carolyn Chase and published by Move San Diego, Inc. as a service to our members. You may subscribe, unsubscribe, or send article suggestions by sending an email request to: info@movesandiego.org
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