MoveNews #110 for the week of July 18, 2010

Regional

Happy Hour with Move San Diego and Friends!

Everyone is working way too hard!

Regional Transportation Planning, Transit Oriented Development, CARB GhG targets, High Speed Rail, Downtown Shuttles and more! Let's converge for Happy Hour and relax over a cocktail and talk about sustainable transportation planning (OR NOT!!!)

Please join Move San Diego members, volunteers and friends for a no-host Happy Hour at Solare Ristorante this Friday beginning at 4:00pm. This is a great opportunity to meet friends, network, and enjoy happy hour drink specials and delicious appetizers with a great group of people working to further the sustainability of development and transportation in our region.

We are pleased to extend the invitation to the 7/23 ULI High Speed Rail Panel Participants, as well as to members of the regional SB 375 collaborative, Sustainable San Diego. This will be a fun crowd!

What:		Move San Diego (and friends) No-Host Happy Hour
When:		Friday, July 23rd from 4:00-6:00pm
Where:		Solare Ristorante - outside patio
		2820 Roosevelt Road
		Liberty Station, Point Loma
		San Diego, CA 92106

Any questions? Call us over at Move San Diego! 619-702-4266.

IMPORTANT! Support Transit at CARB Workshop in San Diego!

Do you hate always having to drive?
Do you wish you had more transportation options other than driving?
Do you prefer taking a casual walk to the grocery store instead of hassling over parking?

Now is the time to get San Diego MOVING and let State officials know you want convenient, effective and smart transportation choices in San Diego!

Come express your support for walkable and transit-friendly communities on Wednesday, July 21st at the California Air Resources Board (CARB) Greenhouse Gas Target-setting Workshop. This is your chance to voice your strong support for a "City of Villages" lifestyle where walking, biking and transit are part of our routine and everyday lives.

CARB will be listening to important public testimony on greenhouse gas reduction strategies and targets set forth by Senate Bill 375. This is the perfect opportunity to let our leaders know we want aggressive, yet achievable reduction targets so we can create healthy and sustainable communities with effective transportation options!

Date:		Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Time:		9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Location:		San Diego County Administration Building
		Third floor Board Chambers
		1600 Pacific Highway
		San Diego, CA 92101

Be sure to attend this important workshop and tell our officials that transportation matters. This is a critical moment in ensuring our region's leaders take the necessary steps to provide the reliable and efficient transportation choices that San Diego deserves!

Please contact Move San Diego if you have any questions or need assistance with talking points: 619-702-4266.

Impact statement on I-5 expansion released
San Diego Union Tribune, July 8, 2010

The state has scheduled five public meetings on the just-released draft environmental impact statement for the $3.3 billion to $4.5 billion next phase of lane widening along the I-5 corridor in San Diego County. ...

The public will have five opportunities to ask questions and express its concerns and interests:
July 27 - Encinitas - Encinitas Community & Senior Center, Room 142
Aug. 3 - San Diego - Westfield UTC Shopping Mall (Above Wells Fargo)
Aug. 18 - Carlsbad - Faraday Center Room 173A-173B
Aug. 24 - Solana Beach - Skyline Elementary School Activity Room
Sept. 9 - Oceanside - Oceanside High School Multipurpose Room

Each meeting runs 5 pm - 8 pm.

Power grid needs upgrades as transportation future looms
North County Times, June 13, 2010

The gleaming, squeaky-clean future promised by electric cars comes with a burden: The region's electricity infrastructure will have to be ready to charge all those big, thirsty batteries.

The first thousand-vehicle fleet of Nissan Leafs is scheduled to flutter into San Diego County beginning in December, followed in short order by plug-in hybrids like the Chevy Volt. Though the number of plug-in cars will be small to start, each all-electric car such as the Leaf is equivalent to adding a new house to the grid, said Joel Pointon, electric transportation manager at San Diego Gas & Electric Co. ... SDG&E and Edison will put electric vehicle customers on time-of-use plans that reduce prices at night, and the utilities plan to take advantage of the computerized smart meters they've been rolling out since mid-2009.

San Diego utility charges ahead with electric-car plan
Grist, June 25, 2010

With the first mass-market electric cars set to hit California roads later this year, the state's utilities have been working to ensure that early adopters ... don't overload neighborhood transformers and trigger local blackouts. One way to do that is to encourage drivers not to plug in all at the same time - say, when they arrive home from work and also crank up the air conditioning - by setting variable electricity rates that reward those who postpone charging until demand falls late at night or in the wee hours of the morning.

What is unknown is whether such rates will actually change anyone's behavior. We're about to find out. On Thursday, the California Public Utilities Commission approved a pilot project proposed by San Diego Gas & Electric to set variable rates for electric car charging.

Boston Endorses Parking Reform as Key Green Policy
Streetsblog, April 23, 2010

"Folks, you ain't seen nothing yet," Mayor Bloomberg told an Earth Day crowd. "The best and greenest days are yet to come." The PlaNYC update coming in 2011, he implied, would have a slew of new initiatives to make our city more sustainable, and he's taking suggestions. He could get some good ones from Boston Mayor Thomas Menino.

Released on Earth Day, "Sparking Boston's Climate Revolution", is that city's answer to the greenhouse gas reduction targets. Many of the ideas - green buildings, new bike infrastructure - will look familiar to New Yorkers. But on one crucial green measure, Boston could be poised to leap ahead of New York: using parking policy to reduce driving.

Boston's plan calls for charging more for on-street parking...higher meter rates and permit fees would not just disincentivize driving, but also raise revenue that Boston intends to use to fund pedestrian and bike improvements.

Sparking Boston's Climate Revolution (24-page .pdf):
http://www.cityofboston.gov/Images_Documents/Sparking%20Bostons
%20Climate%20Revolution%20Summary%20Report.pdf

U.S. Parking Policies: An Overview of Management Strategies
Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, 23 February 2010

In the last 5 to 10 years, U.S. transportation planners have become much more aware of the impact of parking on congestion, air quality, economic development and the pedestrian environment.

There is a growing realization that the dysfunction caused by poorly conceived parking policies is a major impediment to creating an effective and balanced urban transportation system, it is also a significant cause of traffic and air pollution.

Urban Lands Institute analysis of SB 375

Fundamentally, SB 375 is intended to guide more sustainable land use and development decisions through coordination at the state, regional, and local levels.This report summarizes the findings from a ULI panel that was formed to assess the economic implications of the California Senate Bill 375 (SB 375), and associated implementation recommendations.

Latest Electric Car Will Be a BMW, From the Battery Up
New York Times, July 2, 2010

BMW lifted the veil on its planned battery-powered car, in an indication that it is serious about building a new class of vehicle and delivering substantial numbers to showrooms by 2013.

Fast Facts

More fuel efficient gasoline vehicles could reduce per-vehicle emissions by 8 to 30 percent, hybrid vehicles 26-54 percent, and plug-in hybrids 46-75 percent.
      Source: U.S. Department of Transportation