good work john-marc one final comment on the idea of calling for "enforcement of riding bicycles on sidewalks". this would only be ok if we also called for "enforcement of pedestrestrians jaywalking and called for a higher fine". it is very similar. jaywalking pedestrians are a HUGE public health issue (contribute to more than half of ped deaths) and they also slow down muni, and create conjestion which is bad for the environment. however, i understand why including this would distract from the #1 priority: enforcement of cars. there's not enough enforcement to handle cars, bikes, and peds....so stick with cars as the priority and replan the streets so that we can get bikes safely off off the sidewalk and peds dont have to jaywalk. but, with that said, if we are going to call for a crackdown on bicycles on sidewalks we should include a crackdown on peds jaywalking. i will go ahead and draft the language just in case we decide to keep the focus on enforcement against non cars (bikes, peds, mcs,etc) will send the langauage later today. ted --- John-Marc Chandonia <jmc@sfgreens.org> wrote:
Here's the 4th draft. I've changed some of the language for the more controversial points. Can others weigh in on the places where people have concerns? If you don't, I'm assuming you're standing aside... but unless 4 people support something for every person who has a concern, that means the point would get removed. I could also leave the text intact (with concerns stated) when presenting the whole thing to the GM on Wednesday. The best thing to do would be for whoever wrote a point to write new language which addresses the concern, or for the concerned individual to give us proposed language.
Transportation Plank Draft 4, 6/14/04
The San Francisco Green Party believes good transit policy is an essential part of creating a safe, healthy, and attractive city. Public transit should be an efficient, reliable and attractive option for all citizens, not just those who have no other choice. Walking and bicycling should be promoted as healthy and safe options for the able-bodied. Taxi service must be improved, without compromising safety or the drivers' livelihoods. Cars should be accommodated gracefully in planning, but not given priority over other forms of transit. In particular, we advocate that drivers should pay more of the true costs of automobile operation and parking, which are currently subsidized at the expense of other means of transit. The Southeast neighborhoods of our city, which bear a high share of transit costs in the form of air pollution from our freeways, should be compensated by focusing other transit improvements in these neighborhoods.
Several of these proposals would require changes in state law; we ask that our local legislators and representatives attempt to change California law to enable San Francisco to control these aspects of our transit policy.
A. Transit Justice
Many of our current means of funding transit are regressive: working class people pay a much higher share of sales taxes and fixed fees. We advocate moving to more progressive forms of funding. We support efforts to relieve the air pollution in Southeast neighborhoods of the city, which is partly caused by freeways with diesel trucks, and advocate for special attention to be given to improving transit in these neighborhoods.
The San Francisco Green Party advocates:
1. Ensuring that neighborhood residents get a major share of the new jobs created by transit projects which impact those neighborhoods, such as the 3rd St Light Rail.
2. Muni should hire more local people for jobs at all levels, so income from these jobs stays in the City.
3. Muni buses in the Southeast neighborhoods should all be converted to electric or less-polluting technology such as CNG, to mitigate air quality problems caused by the highways and other sources such as power plants.
4. We call for creation of local car registration fee, based on the engine size, weight, fuel efficiency, and value of the car. This fee should be offset by a transportation tax credit to reward drivers of cheaper, less polluting, and more efficient cars.
5. More of the cost of transit should be paid by commuters: in particular, parking spaces used primarily by commuters should be extremely expensive. These costs could be lowered on weekends to encourage people to come to town to patronize local businesses.
6. An increased share of transit costs should be paid by downtown businesses, which benefit tremendously by the ease of accessing downtown on transit.
7. The corporations that profit the most from our current car-oriented culture should be asked to pay more of the costs of other forms of transit.
8. Regional planning is necessary for smart transit development. Planning should take into account the transit impact of commuters as well as residents: areas such as San Francisco, which have a higher daytime population due to commuters, should receive a higher share of representaion and funds.
B. Muni and Regional transit
In order to encourage ridership, public transit needs to be efficient, affordable, and reliable. Muni's performance and reliability should be increased to the point where it's an attractive option for most people going about their daily business, not just commuting to and from work. We should increase funding for Muni and work to shift the operating costs to other sources than the riders: public transit should eventually be free to riders, funded by all citizens just as public parks, public schools, and public libraries are. Increased Muni ridership benefits everybody: businesses get the added benefit of more mobile customers, drivers will benefit from less congestion, and everybody would get better air quality.
The San Francisco Green Party advocates:
1. Creation of a citywide bus rapid transit network to ensure that people can reliably travel between any neighborhoods of the city in under half an hour.
2. Gradually replace bus rapid transit on the heaviest lines (such as along the Geary and Mission corridors with light rail to enable moving more people quickly and decrease boarding times. Build the "G line" by running historic streetcars from Market Street up Church, out to 9th Ave via the N-Judah tracks, to a new branch up 9th Ave into Golden Gate Park.
3. Immediately roll fares back to $1 ($35 Fastpass) and make Muni free to youth, seniors, and the disabled. Continue to roll back fares towards zero as new funding sources become available.
4. Ensure that as long as riders have to pay fares, frequent riders receive a substantial discount for use of the Fastpass, which speeds boarding time and encourages casual ridership.
5. Maintain infrastructure in good repair, so less money is spent on
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