June 9, 2011
MTC Planning Committee
ABAG Administrative Committee
101 Eighth Street
Oakland, California 94607
Re: Alternative Scenarios for Plan Bay Area
Dear MTC Commissioners and ABAG Administrative Committee members,
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on alternative scenario definitions for Plan Bay Area, the region’s Sustainable Communities Strategy and Regional Transportation Plan. As you consider alternative land-use patterns for Plan Bay Area, Greenbelt Alliance has several suggestions:
Maximize housing production to ensure a strong regional economy
One big question on everyone’s mind is how the next generation of growth will impact the region’s ability to create and sustain good jobs. CEOs of Bay Area companies identified “High housing costs for employees” as the number one business challenge every year for the past seven years.1 Increasing the supply of homes we can all afford will help the Bay Area retain its regional competitive edge for attracting and retaining job-producing businesses.
Every Plan Bay Area scenario should strive to maximize our ability to produce the homes we need to ensure a strong economy.
Use all the policy tools in the toolbox to achieve our housing goals
Clearly there are challenges to meeting our region’s full housing need:
Keep reading comment letter (PDF).
