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Campaigns and Action Alerts

No on 98 & Yes on 99 - We won!
Prop 98 lost and Prop 99 passed!

On June 3, Proposition 98 lost with only 39% of the vote, and Proposition 99 passed with 62.5%! Prop 98 posed a grave threat to California's communities and environment. Masquerading as eminent domain reform, Prop 98 would have dismantled our ability to protect open space, create affordable housing — and much more. Prop 99 actually will fix eminent domain without all the hidden agendas.

Thank you to all our supporters, for your phone calls, emails, and donations — you made this victory possible!

Climate Change and Land Use
AB 32 and SB 375

Given the increasing threat of global warming and climate change, the need to implement smart land use policies at the regional and state levels should be a recognized solution in combating negative climate change effects. Regional and state land use planning that focuses growth; creates more tight-knit, walkable communities; and includes development near transit stations and in downtowns leads to fewer car trips, which significantly reduces climate change pollution.

In 2006, the California legislature passed AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act, which requires California to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020. California’s Climate Action Plan cites smart land use and intelligent transportation systems as the second-largest source of potential emissions reductions. SB 375 identifies clear strategies to reduce emissions through housing and transportation planning decisions and funding mechanisms. SB 375 has become a two-year bill that will be revisited in the 2008 legislative session. Greenbelt Alliance supports SB 375 and is also part of a statewide coalition called ClimatePlan, which finds effective land use solutions to climate change. Please visit the ClimatePlan website to find out more.

Creating Great Communities

Today, Bay Area residents have an opportunity to fundamentally shift the way the region grows. We can keep new development off open space and reinvest in existing city centers. We can build great communities with a variety of homes all residents can afford, close to parks, transportation, shopping and other necessities.

Greenbelt Alliance and several other Bay Area nonprofit organizations have together created the Great Communities Collaborative to make this a reality.

The Great Communities Collaborative recently released a report called Transit-Oriented for All: The Case for Mixed-Income Transit-Oriented Communities in the Bay Area. The report assesses the Bay Area’s potential for creating communities around transit stations that include homes for people with a diverse array of incomes, and outlines implementation tools.  Transit-Oriented for All was produced under the auspices of the Great Communities Collaborative, of which Greenbelt Alliance is a member, and was researched and written by Reconnecting America, UC Berkeley’s Center for Community Innovation, and the Nonprofit Housing Association of Northern California.

In the News

4/17/08 Urban Outings: Point Richmond
San Francisco Chronicle

12/18/07 Lawrence Livingston, 'Mr. Open Space,' dies at 89
Marin Independent Journal

12/14/07 Lawrence Livingston Jr., 'Mr. Open Space,' dead at 89
San Francisco Chronicle

11/16/07 "The Country in the City" - interview with Richard Walker
Forum, KQED