April 2007 - Transpo - list.sfgreens.org

Re: [Transpo] Reminders: Transpo (Tonight 7pm) Sustainability (Tomorro w 7:30pm) SFGP Office
by susan_e_vaughan＠juno.com 01 May '07

01 May '07

Hey Everyone, As Jim Dorenkott has called a Pelosi Watch meeting for tonight, and as I am interviewing Krissy and the Camp Pelosi woman on my show next week, I think I'll have to skip the TWG meeting. Sue -- Eric Brooks <brookse32(a)aim.com> wrote: Details below. Please send a quick reply if you are planning to attend either or both... **Transpo** The new -Transportation- Working Group meeting is next Wed, Apr 25, 7pm at the Green Party office. Likely topics of discussion are Free Muni, Daly and Peskins' new Muni Reform Charter Amendment (see http://www.sfbg.com/printable_entry.php?entry_id=3404 ) and how the Global Climate Crisis gives us a key organizing window to push hard for a massive increase in transit. Be there with bells on, and help change the future of the world! **Sustainability** The -Sustainability- Working Group meeting is next Thursday Apr 26, 7:30pm at the Green Party office. The main agenda item will be to strategise a plan for a Green counter-attack to the concerted promotion of nukes, 'clean coal', biofuels, carbon credit shell games, hybrid vehicles, and PG&E greenwashing media blitz, that are all currently taking the world and San Francisco by storm; dangerously masquerading as solutions to the global climate crisis. (We will also discuss the request from some CC members that we prepare a presentation for the state meeting in May.) There will also be an exciting update on the now imminent Community Choice Energy legislation/project, for a 50% renewable electricity powered San Francisco by 2020. Other topics of discussion will be: 1) The looming Williams natural gas turbine and Transbay Cable installations, both of which would promote a huge increase in cheap fossil fuel availability - and threaten the Southeast side with yet more toxic pollution. 2) A quick update on the happy death of pro-nuke and pro liquid natural gas moves in California. and 3) How the Global Climate Crisis gives us a key organizing window to push hard for a massive increase in transit. _______________________________________________ Transpo mailing list Transpo(a)sfgreens.org https://list.sfgreens.org/mailman/listinfo/transpo

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Fwd: Commercial Biodiesel Station Opens As City Takes Lead in Biodiesel Conversion
by Eric Brooks 25 Apr '07

25 Apr '07

http://www.beyondchron.org/articles/Commercial_Biodiesel_Station_Opens_As_C… Commercial Biodiesel Station Opens As City Takes Lead in Biodiesel Conversion by E. "Doc" Smith, 2007-04-25 At the opening of the City's first fleets-only biodiesel fueling station yesterday, Mayor Gavin Newsom called on “every municipality in the country to do what we have done” as he highlighted the City’s remarkable progress in converting its own fleet of diesel vehicles to a biodiesel fuel blend and in moving toward a Fall launch of the PUC’s program to provide some of that fuel by recycling grease from restaurants. Newsom also announced that all of the recycling trucks that operate in the City are now running on a biodiesel blend. Local fleets are now able to pump B20 grade biodiesel via a card lock system at the Olympian station at 23rd and Third Streets in San Francisco. Although private vehicles are not able to use this station, biodiesel is available locally from the San Francisco BioFuels Cooperative (SFBC), People’s Fuel, and Berkeley's Biofuel Oasis. San Francisco, which has taken a leadership role in implementing local solutions to the problems of global warming and sustainability, is ahead of schedule in converting its diesel vehicles to a biodiesel blend, a goal that Mayor Newsom announced a year ago. Currently 39% of the fleet has been converted to B20 (20% biodiesel, 80% petrodiesel). Even at 20%, biodiesel contributes significantly to reductions in pollution, especially greenhouse gasses. The City plans to convert it's entire fleet by year’s end and to move to higher blends of biodiesel as soon as possible. Mayor Newsom and Ben Jordan of People's Fuel, a worker-owned cooperative Jared Blumenfeld, Director of the San Francisco Department of the Environment, urged fleets and school buses to take advantage of this opportunity to reduce the city's pollution, particularly in the Third Street corridor where 1 in 6 children suffer from asthma caused by diesel pollution. E. "Doc" Smith is a musician and recording engineer who has worked with the likes of Brian Eno, Madonna, Warren Zevon, Mickey Hart and Jimmy Cliff. He is also the inventor of the musical instrument, the Drummstick, a member of the SFBC, and drives a 2002 VW Beetle, which runs exclusively on B99 biodiesel. He can be reached at drummstick(a)earthlink.net.

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Reminders: Transpo (Tonight 7pm) Sustainability (Tomorrow 7:30pm) SFGP Office
by Eric Brooks 25 Apr '07

25 Apr '07

Details below. Please send a quick reply if you are planning to attend either or both... **Transpo** The new -Transportation- Working Group meeting is next Wed, Apr 25, 7pm at the Green Party office. Likely topics of discussion are Free Muni, Daly and Peskins' new Muni Reform Charter Amendment (see http://www.sfbg.com/printable_entry.php?entry_id=3404 ) and how the Global Climate Crisis gives us a key organizing window to push hard for a massive increase in transit. Be there with bells on, and help change the future of the world! **Sustainability** The -Sustainability- Working Group meeting is next Thursday Apr 26, 7:30pm at the Green Party office. The main agenda item will be to strategise a plan for a Green counter-attack to the concerted promotion of nukes, 'clean coal', biofuels, carbon credit shell games, hybrid vehicles, and PG&E greenwashing media blitz, that are all currently taking the world and San Francisco by storm; dangerously masquerading as solutions to the global climate crisis. (We will also discuss the request from some CC members that we prepare a presentation for the state meeting in May.) There will also be an exciting update on the now imminent Community Choice Energy legislation/project, for a 50% renewable electricity powered San Francisco by 2020. Other topics of discussion will be: 1) The looming Williams natural gas turbine and Transbay Cable installations, both of which would promote a huge increase in cheap fossil fuel availability - and threaten the Southeast side with yet more toxic pollution. 2) A quick update on the happy death of pro-nuke and pro liquid natural gas moves in California. and 3) How the Global Climate Crisis gives us a key organizing window to push hard for a massive increase in transit.

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Re: [Transpo] [SFGP Volunteers] Beach Impeach Flashmob Project Part II
by susan_e_vaughan＠juno.com 24 Apr '07

24 Apr '07

And Liam!!! Liam was also tabling. Who else did I forget? Sue -- "susan_e_vaughan(a)juno.com" <susan_e_vaughan(a)juno.com> wrote: Hello Fellow Greens and Green Supporters: We had a wonderful day at the Green Apple Music and Arts Festival in Golden Gate Park. We registered lots of new voters and raised more than enough money to cover our tabling fees. Thanks to Chin, Micheas, John-Marc, Mark Barnes, Nancy Lewis, Pat Villano, and Dave Peterson. Paul Platt and Bruce Wolfe also stopped by. Hope to see you Saturday at the second Beach Impeach event. In order to sign up, copy and paste the URL below into your browser and you know what to do and so on ... When: Saturday, April 28 What Time: 10:30 a.m. Where: Ocean Beach at Fulton in San Francisco What: Seeking 2,000 people to help spell out "Impeach Now!" SIGNUP: Register at http://volunteerforchange.org/e/987?refcode=o547 Sue _______________________________________________ Volunteers mailing list Volunteers(a)sfgreens.org https://list.sfgreens.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/volunteers

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Beach Impeach Flashmob Project Part II
by susan_e_vaughan＠juno.com 24 Apr '07

24 Apr '07

Hello Fellow Greens and Green Supporters: We had a wonderful day at the Green Apple Music and Arts Festival in Golden Gate Park. We registered lots of new voters and raised more than enough money to cover our tabling fees. Thanks to Chin, Micheas, John-Marc, Mark Barnes, Nancy Lewis, Pat Villano, and Dave Peterson. Paul Platt and Bruce Wolfe also stopped by. Hope to see you Saturday at the second Beach Impeach event. In order to sign up, copy and paste the URL below into your browser and you know what to do and so on ... When: Saturday, April 28 What Time: 10:30 a.m. Where: Ocean Beach at Fulton in San Francisco What: Seeking 2,000 people to help spell out "Impeach Now!" SIGNUP: Register at http://volunteerforchange.org/e/987?refcode=o547 Sue

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(fwd) The Helios Talks: 5:30 pm Monday, April 23, Berkeley Repertory Theatre
by John-Marc Chandonia 22 Apr '07

22 Apr '07

Hi, I've added the Transpo and Sustainability meetings this week to our website. There are some interesting talks on biofuels coming up in Berkeley (near the BART, so pretty easy to get to). Steve Chu's talk is tomorrow--he's the head of Berkeley National Lab, where I work, and he's a big supporter of biofuels research (although not necessarily of the current production methods). Whether you're skeptical of these technologies or not, I think you'll find his talk interesting. I've attached a poster for the series of talks. JMC -- John-Marc Chandonia (jmc(a)sfgreens.org) http://sfgreens.org/

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2 Transpo Letters in Today's _Examiner_
by Jym Dyer 22 Apr '07

22 Apr '07

=v= One Green, one Democrat. <_Jym_> http://www.examiner.com/a-682753~Letters__April_19__2007.html Letters: April 19, 2007 San Francisco Examiner | 19-Apr-2007 City should enforce sidewalk parking It is more than a little disingenuous for Department of Parking and Traffic spokeswoman Maggie Lynch to pretend she doesn't know San Francisco has a problem with cars illegally parked on the sidewalk ("DPT lax in enforcing sidewalk laws," April 13). You quote Lynch as saying, "If there's a problem on your street, draw our attention to it." For the last 15 years or so, I've been trying to do just that. I put DPT's number on speed dial, and I even got a cell phone so I can call in violations while I'm out walking. Despite these efforts, I've seen no appreciable difference in the number of cars on the sidewalk -- in fact, the situation seems to have gotten worse. I have, however, been the recipient of death threats and become known throughout my neighborhood as the "neighborhood snitch." The DPT's current system of relying on complaints before taking action is not only grossly inefficient, it puts ordinary citizens like me at risk. It is high time for DPT officials to move this problem further up on their list of priorities, and stop systematically ignoring the sections of the California Vehicle Code that make parking on the sidewalk a crime. Katherine Roberts San Francisco [Deletia] Arnold's green credentials It's good that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has a big mouth. He's talking out of both sides. First he says Democrats ought to talk about global warming, not the war in Iraq. Then he wants the state to halt work on electric-powered High-Speed Rail -- even though it's a sure way, on a per-passenger basis, to reduce air pollution and fight global warming. Next he glories in his photo ops as he spends billions of public money to reduce freeway congestion. But he says High-Speed Rail should be privately financed even though giving the people a chance to travel by rail is also a sure way to reduce freeway congestion. At least he's pleasing the automobile, gasoline and airline industries. Jane Morrison San Francisco [Deletia]

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Tabling in the Rain (not the name of a song ...), there and back ...
by susan_e_vaughan＠juno.com 22 Apr '07

22 Apr '07

Ok Everyone, The rain seems to have let off, FOR NOW. We don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. Our ride out ot the event (JMC) has not gotten back to me re. what time he wants to be out in the Speedway Meadown Slop, but Pat Villano has offered to transport us back to the SFGP office. Thanks Pat. Talk to you soon, JMC. See the rest of you whenever you get out there during the day. Sue

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Re: [Transpo] Ok, Now, What Time...?
by susan_e_vaughan＠juno.com 20 Apr '07

20 Apr '07

The earlier the better for me. Sue -- Eric Brooks <brookse32(a)aim.com> wrote: Hey again all, Ok, we have 4th Wednesday, now we need a meeting time. I know some of you want to start early, but to be honest, most of the groups that are trying to start even as early as 7pm are not managing it very well. 7:30 seems to work better for people to get off work, get some down time, and then get to a meeting. I personally am willing to compromise and go for 7pm, but I don't think we should go earlier than that. Thoughts? Eric B pjrry(a)igc.org wrote: > good for me - jerry path > > > >> [Original Message] >> From: susan_e_vaughan(a)juno.com <susan_e_vaughan(a)juno.com> >> To: <brookse32(a)aim.com> >> Cc: <transpo(a)sfgreens.org> >> Date: 4/11/2007 9:55:17 PM >> Subject: Re: [Transpo] ALL: New Meeting Day/Time - Every 4th Wednesday? >> >> fine sue >> >> -- Eric Brooks <brookse32(a)aim.com> wrote: >> Ok, is there anyone who has a conflict with the fourth Wednesday of each >> month for Transpo meetings? >> >> srira(a)comcast.net wrote: >> >>> ... >>> Okay, I am fine with the fourth Wednesday >>> >>> Pi >>> >>> >>> -------------- Original message -------------- >>> From: Eric Brooks <brookse32(a)aim.com> >>> >>> > Ok. From all of your responses, it is clear that neither >>> Tuesdays nor >>> > Thursdays will work. >>> > >>> > How about the fourth Wednesday? >>> > >>> > Other suggestions? >>> > >>> > Eric B >>> > >>> > jmc(a)sfgreens.org wrote: >>> > > On Sat, Apr 07, 2007 at 09:10:46PM -0700, Pi Ra wrote: >>> > > >>> > >> And 7:00 pm is too late. >>> > >> Reasonable time is 6:00 pm >>> > >> >>> > > >>> > > I usually work until 6, so 7 is the earliest I can make it (we >>> used >>> > > to meet at 7:30). On the other hand, we can probably get out >>> of there >>> > > in 60-90 minutes most nights if everybody's on time. >>> > > >>> > > JMC >>> > > >>> > _______________________________________________ >>> > ; Transpo mailing list >>> > Transpo(a)sfgreens.org >>> > https://list.sfgreens.org/mailman/listinfo/transpo >>> >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> Transpo mailing list >> Transpo(a)sfgreens.org >> https://list.sfgreens.org/mailman/listinfo/transpo >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Transpo mailing list >> Transpo(a)sfgreens.org >> https://list.sfgreens.org/mailman/listinfo/transpo >> > > > _______________________________________________ Transpo mailing list Transpo(a)sfgreens.org https://list.sfgreens.org/mailman/listinfo/transpo

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R\Tropical Forest Felled for Biofuels, Ecologists Say
by Jym Dyer 19 Apr '07

19 Apr '07

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/41465/story.htm Tropical Forest Felled for Biofuels, Ecologists Say Story by Julia Hayley Reuters | 19-Apr-2007 MADRID -- Tropical rain forest is being cut down and burned to make way for soy and palm plantations destined to provide plant-based diesel for Europe's fuel tanks, environmentalists said on Wednesday. They cited cases of deforestation in Brazil, Indonesia and Malaysia to make way for energy crops, and urged governments there to act. "In Brazil ... one of the most affected areas is the state of Mato Grosso, where vast areas have disappeared to make room for soy crops destined for export," Ecologists in Action said in a report distributed at a summit on biofuels in Madrid. Environmental organisations urged the European Union not to impose mandatory blending of biofuels in transport fuels, as part of its efforts to curb EU carbon dioxide emissions. "Biofuels made from unsustainably sourced palm oil are not green," Michelle Desilets, director of the UK-based Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation told the conference. "Clearing forests for production of palm oil often involves burning," she said. Carbon dioxide emissions from forest fires in Indonesia could easily outweigh the emissions European drivers would produce by using fossil fuels instead of biofuel in the first place, she added. Plant-based biofuels are hailed as part of the fight against global warming. They can replace fossil fuels in transport and the plants they are made from absorb carbon dioxide as they grow. Although the EU has surplus grain, which could be used to make ethanol to blend with gasoline, it does not grow enough oilseed to supply the biodiesel it would need for diesel powered vehicles, which are the majority in the region. Rapidly sprouting biodiesel plants will need to import thousands of tonnes of Brazilian soy beans and Indonesian and Malaysian palm oil if they are to meet the European Commission's target of 5.75 percent biofuel use in transport by 2010. The ecologists urged the EU not to impose these targets. "They will foster crops that have a negative impact in greenhouse gas emissions, provoke deforestation and destroy biodiversity," they said in an open letter to conference participants. The Commission is aware of these issues and is working on an incentive-based scheme to promote sustainably produced biofuels, said Signe Ratso, a director of the Commission's transport directorate. "The scheme should be in place by 2010," she said.

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