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Your Five Minute News Flash
Greenbelt Alliance * Volume 3, Issue 10:
October 2004
Photo of the Month
 In
this edition
Feature: Tuesday November 2nd—VOTE!
Feature: Urban Outings: San Rafael
Gets Moving—Up Next, Vallejo
Action Alert: Help Create
Homes for Working People in Sonoma County
Save the Date: Greenbelt Alliance Open House,
Dec. 8
In the News: Check out "Green Manhattan"
Upcoming Outings & Events
Tuesday
November 2nd—VOTE!
The election next Tuesday will decide how the Bay Area deals with transportation,
housing, and land use for decades to come. Here are Greenbelt Alliance's
endorsements of this fall's Bay Area ballot measures.
__________________________________________________________
San Francisco Measure A—Affordable Housing Bond—YES
Marin County Measure A—Transportation Sales Tax—YES
San Mateo County Measure A—Transportation Sales Tax—YES
Solano County Measure A—Transportation Sales Tax—NO
Sonoma County Measure M—Transportation Sales Tax—NO
Contra Costa County Measure J—Transportation Sales Tax—Neutral
Hercules Measure M—Franklin Canyon General Plan Amendment—YES
East Bay Measure BB—Alameda-Contra Costa Transit Parcel Tax—YES
East Bay Measure CC—East Bay Parks Parcel Tax—YES
__________________________________________________________
San Francisco Measure A—Affordable Housing Bond—YES
This $200 million bond measure provides funding for much-needed affordable
housing for people who make less than San Francisco's median income.
Marin County Measure A—Transportation Sales Tax—YES
This measure funds local transportation, with significant funding for
transit, planning for cyclists and pedestrians, and safe routes to schools.
San Mateo County Measure A—Transportation Sales Tax—YES
This measure also provides significant funding for transit, including
buses and CalTrain, and for cyclists and pedestrians.
Solano County Measure A—Transportation Sales Tax—NO
This highway-heavy measure does not fund transit or safety and focuses
on widening highways without controlling growth-worsening, not improving,
Solano's traffic.
Sonoma County Measure M—Transportation Sales Tax—NO
This measure also funds highways and roads without controlling growth
or funding alternatives to driving. As in Solano, expanding highways without
controlling growth will result in more traffic, not less.
Contra Costa County Measure J—Transportation Sales Tax—Neutral
This measure does include funding for transit and some growth management;
however, its growth management provisions depend on the county urban limit
line. Since the line could still move, the currently protected land outside
the line is at risk.
Hercules Measure M—Franklin Canyon General Plan Amendment—YES
This measure will protect 450 acres of canyonlands around Hercules, which
have frequently been threatened by development.
East Bay Measure BB—Alameda-Contra Costa Transit Parcel Tax—YES
This $2/year measure will help offset lost funds from the state, and allow
AC Transit to maintain needed bus service without raising fares.
East Bay Measure CC—East Bay Parks Parcel Tax—YES
This $12/year measure will raise much-needed funds for parks in the western
half of the East Bay Regional Park District, to help maintain the parks
and protect wildlife habitat.
Urban Outings:
San Rafael Gets Moving—Up Next, Vallejo
Last Saturday, a steady drizzle didn't stop us from learning how San Rafael
is "Moving in the Right Direction," on Greenbelt Alliance's
most recent Urban Outing. Twenty people came to find out about San Rafael's
efforts to revitalize its downtown, about why Marin voters should support
Measure A, and about connections between transit, housing, and the environment.
The engaging speakers who addressed these topics included:
- Steve Kinsey, President of the Marin Board of Supervisors and Chair
of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission
- Stuart Cohen, Executive Director of the Transportation and Land Use
Coalition
- Bob Brown, San Rafael's Redevelopment Director
After hearing from speakers, we braved the rain to see examples of good
development near transit, including:
- Centertown, an all-affordable rental housing development.
- Lone Palm Court, mixed-income housing whose parking is hidden from
the street.
- Boyd Court, an earlier (1993) infill development of for-sale condominiums.
- Rafael Town Center, sometimes called the downtown's "crowning
jewel": a high-density mixed-use development with ground-floor
retail, featuring a lovely plaza enjoyed by residents, shoppers, and
office workers on lunch breaks.
Did you miss the San Rafael Urban Outing? Join our Urban Outing in Vallejo,
"What's Shaping Up Downtown," on Saturday, November 13, from
10 am to 12:30 pm. For more information, go to Greenbelt Alliance's calendar.
Help Create
Homes for Working People in Sonoma County
The County of Sonoma is currently considering the adoption of both an
inclusionary housing policy and a jobs-housing fee. We expect the Board
of Supervisors to begin public hearings on these policies in December.
Now is the time for concerned citizens to voice our support and ensure
these important policies are adopted.
Both policies are effective ways to increase the amount of affordable
housing for teachers, firefighters and office workers in the county. Jobs-housing
linkage fees are fees on new commercial development that go toward building
affordable homes. These fees help ensure that the number of homes in a
community will keep up with the number of jobs. Inclusionary policies
require new residential developments to include a percentage of homes
that are affordable to people making less than the median income.
Both of these policies encourage building homes within our existing cities
instead of out on the greenbelt. They also help ensure that people don't
have to move to the region's outskirts to find a home they can afford.
Please take a moment to urge your Supervisor to adopt these policies!
Sonoma County Board of Supervisors
Phone (707)-565-2241
Fax (707)-565-3778
Supervisors' Email Addresses:
First District: Valerie Brown—vbrown@sonoma-county.org
Second District: Mike Kerns—mkerns@sonoma-county.org
Third District: Tim Smith—tsmith@sonoma-county.org
Fourth District: Paul L. Kelley—pkelley@sonoma-county.org
Fifth District: Mike Reilly—mreilly@sonoma-county.org
To get involved, contact Kelly Brown, Sonoma-Marin Field representative
at (707) 575-3661 or kbrown@greenbelt.org.
Greenbelt
Alliance Open House, Dec. 8
Greenbelt Alliance will have an open house on December 8th from 4:30-6:30
in our downtown San Francisco office at 631 Howard St., Suite 510 (at
New Montgomery, near the Montgomery BART). It'll be an opportunity to
meet staff and other members and volunteers, and chat with people who
share your concern for the Bay Area's cities and greenbelt. We hope you
can join us!
Please RSVP if you'll be attending, at info@greenbelt.org
or 415-543-6771.
Check
out "Green Manhattan"
Check out "Green Manhattan," in the October 18th issue of The
New Yorker. In this terrific article, David Owen explains how cities are
actually good for the environment. Unfortunately, the article is not available
online, but there's always your local library.
Upcoming
Outings & Events
October 30: New Trail in Marin!
November 6: Magnificent Maguire Peaks
November 7: Bike SF’s Historic Shoreline
November 21: Diablo Double
December 4: Bald Mountain Loop
Become
a Member or Renew Your Membership
Support our work to protect the Bay Area's open space and make our cities
better places to live. Click
here to join or renew, or click
here to join our Greenbelt Guardian monthly donor club. Questions?
Contact Melissa Wright at 415-543-6771 or mwright@greenbelt.org.
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