HIGHLIGHTS:
GOVERNOR ACTS ON LEGISLATION STUDY
CA PEDESTRIANS AT RISK
LA TRANSIT STRIKE STRANDS POOREST
SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL TAKES OFF

STATE BRIEFS:
Alameda's Transpo Tax at 75%
CA Farmland Loss Accelerating
Placer County Rejects Transit Tax
OC Toll Rd Deadly for Wildlife
SF Giants Lose Playoffs, Win Transit Battle
Quotable

GOVERNOR ACTS ON 1,000+ BILLS, SENDS MIXED MESSAGE ON LIVABLE COMMUNITY LEGISLATION

As the October 1st deadline approached for action on state legislation, Governor Gray Davis signed three bills that will boost pedestrian safety, bicycle funding and smart growth efforts while vetoing two other bills that would have promised more sweeping changes and larger funding increases. Signed into law are the STPP-sponsored AB2522 that will create a new $8M pedestrian safety fund as well as provide additional rights to pedestrians, and SB1772 that will provide a modest boost to the Caltrans-managed Bicycle Transportation Account from $2M to $7M a year. Bicycle advocates and environmentalists were dismayed, however, by the Governor's veto of both the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy- sponsored SB1809 that would have increased transportation enhancements funding by $20M a year and SB1629 sponsored by the California Bicycle Coalition and the California Association of Bicycling Organizations (CABO) requiring bicycle and pedestrian accommodation in all new road construction projects. Davis also signed several other smart growth bills, including the STPP- sponsored AB2140 encouraging regional transportation agencies to consider 'alternative growth scenarios' and better performance indicators in the development of their twenty year transportation plans. For a full recap state legislature's 2000 session visit www.calfutures.org
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NEW STUDY: CALIFORNIA RANKS 50th IN NATION IN PEDESTRIAN SAFETY SPENDING; COLLISIONS COST STATE $4B ANNUALLY

A new STPP pedestrian safety study analyzing California data ranks Sacramento as the most dangerous county in the state for pedestrians and finds that spending to fix the problem was a mere fraction of the total $4 billion cost associated with the 688 deaths and 14,000+ injuries in 1999. "Dangerous by Design: Pedestrian Safety in California 2000" includes data from the state Department of Health Services and the Latino Issues Forum that points to Latinos, African Americans and low income residents being most at risk from pedestrian accidents. "We can't forget that behind all these statistics about pedestrian deaths and injuries are real people," noted Latino Issues Forum Associate Director Luis Arteaga at a press conference held in Sacramento's Meadowview neighborhood.

"People of color and the working poor depend on walking not by choice but by necessity." In the fourth annual ranking of California counties, researchers named Sacramento most dangerous for pedestrians in 1999 due to a sharp increase in deaths and injuries, followed by Contra Costa, Los Angeles, Santa Clara and San Mateo. Report authors blame wide streets and intersections typically found in sprawling subdivisions that encourage speeding and discourage walking, lax enforcement, meager spending to fix the problem along with a tendency to blame the victims for accidents. The study estimates that pedestrian accidents cost the state at least $3.9 billion in lost productivity and medical expenses while government agencies are spending a mere fraction of that on prevention. California ranks 50th nationwide in terms of per capita spending of federal transportation funds on pedestrian safety projects. STPP is recommending that the state and county public works departments suspend their crosswalk removal policies at uncontrolled intersections and develop new modern standards for more visible and effective crossings. The report also calls for increased funding for pedestrian safety measures, better data collection, implementation of traffic calming measures in neighborhoods and the development of a statewide master plan for bicycling and walking. The full report is available in both English and Spanish at http://www.transact.org/ca/. Copies can be purchased for $20 by calling STPP‰s Washington DC office at 202.466.2636.
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LA TRANSIT STRIKE HITS WORKING POOR HARDEST

The month-long transit strike in Los Angeles is another reminder that while Southern California may be known as the land of the automobile, a lot of residents don't drive, and for them public transit is a necessity. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority's bus system is second only to New York City's in size, and carries twice as many passengers as all the commercial airlines in the state combined. Bus lines serving Wilshire Boulevard and Vermont Avenue, the two busiest routes in the nation, each carry 50,000 passengers daily. Public transit now carries 30 percent of all peak-hour trips into downtown LA and 25 percent of all trips to the Eastside.

Even in Mid-city and on the affluent Westside, 15 percent of all trips are by bus. Buses arrive every 90 seconds along the busiest routes, putting service there on par with that of the highly-touted system serving Curitiba, Brazil. Yet unlike the BART rail strike in 1997 that subsequently ground Bay Area highways to a halt, L.A.'s stoppage hasn't clogged freeway traffic largely due to the difference in demographics -- 76 percent of the MTA's riders have no access to a car. MTA riders are far poorer than transit users in other big cities, where many middle-class commuters also use bus and rail lines and help provide political leverage for better funding and service. Two-thirds of L.A.'s transit users make less than $15,000 a year. But if the strike hasn't hurt commuters, it is hurting the transit dependent, many of whom have been forced to hire the gypsy cabs scouring low-income neighborhoods and offering rides at often exorbitant prices, or else to walk long distances to destinations that are often far away. Ana Margarita Lucero-Garcia walked two hours and 15 minutes, even though she was in severe pain and despite temperatures in the 80s, to get to a clinic near downtown Los Angeles where half of all appointments were being cancelled in the wake of the strike. The clinic's security guard was walking 25 blocks to work and another patient walked nine miles from the Westside. "My God I'm mad," Lucero-Garcia told a Los Angeles Times reporter in Spanish. "People need the bus."
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SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL PROGRAMS WIN FUNDING, ATTENTION

Governor Davis announced the first round of statewide Safe Routes to School grants in late September, dedicating $20 million to projects across California that will make it safer for children to walk and bike to school. The program was made possible by the passage of California's 1999 Safe Routes to School bill, landmark legislation that was supported by over 80 organizations statewide. The coalition that supported the bill was recently recognized by a national award from America Walks, a non-profit pedestrian advocacy group. Indeed, California's legislative effort has already generated a similar funding program in Washington state, as well as proposals for identical legislation in Oregon, New Mexico, Texas and Virginia.

Members of Congress under the leadership of Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN) have also picked up on the trend, eyeing a new funding program at the national level and helping to secure one of two national $50,000 Safe Routes to School pilot program grants for Marin County by way of the Marin County Bicycle Coalition. Public support for the issue appears to be growing even stronger statewide, with a record number of California schools, parents and students participating in the International Walk to School day October 4th. A flood of letter and phone calls supporting the Safe Routes to School bill made it the second most popular piece of legislation in 1999 according to Senate President John Burton‰s office. A full list of grants awarded under the first round of the Caltrans Safe Routes to School program can be found at http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/LocalPrograms/. Applications for the second round are due March 1st, 2001.
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Alameda's Transpo Tax at 75%

Alameda County's Measure B, the innovative transportation tax supported by a broad cross section of interest groups including the Bay Area Transportation and Land Use Coalition, is enjoying 75% support among likely voters according to a new poll released by the Contra Costa Times (10/9); if the tax is approved by voters it would be only the third measure in 35 such attempts statewide to win two-thirds support.
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CA Farmland Loss Accelerating

California lost nearly 70,000 acres of open space between 1996- 98, two-thirds of which was formerly some of the nation‰s most productive farmland, according to the latest biennial Farmland Conservation report released 10/11 by the state Department of Conservation; the rate of urbanization was up 25 percent over the previous report, the most acreage was lost in the San Joaquin Valley www.consrv.ca.gov
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Placer County Rejects Transit Tax

Voters in the eastern half of Placer County rejected a sales tax increase proposed for enhanced transit service in the Truckee-North Tahoe region by 41% to 59% in a special election held September 19th.
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OC Toll Rd Deadly for Wildlife

Southern California's native mountain lion population is dwindling due in large part to increasing urbanization and road construction -- traffic accidents are now the leading cause of death for the lions, which need between 80 and 150 square miles of territory to roam; twice as many animals have been killed on Orange County‰s Route 241 tollroad than every other road in the county combined (LA Times 9/3)
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SF Giants Lose Playoffs, Win Transit Battle

Despite their postseason losses, the San Francisco Giants exceeded expectations both on the field and off in their inaugural season at the new downtown Pacific Bell Park š- more than half of all patrons (and 77% of San Francisco residents) used either commuter rail, light rail, bus, ferry, foot or bicycle to reach the stadium, for those that did drive average auto occupancy was 2.8 passengers; the Giants were roundly criticized in preseason media for purposefully limiting available parking around the stadium (SF Chron 9/29).
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QUOTABLE

See those kids running across the street? They're running for their lives.
-- Parking Meter Officer Abel Cervantes, describing hazardous conditions for pedestrians in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. As quoted in the Los Angeles Times, 9/29/2000.

First and foremost, farmers are going to respond to economic signals, and the signals that are being sent are telling us to get out while we can.
-- Central Valley Citrus Farmer Shawn Stevenson, responding to a new report detailing farmland loss throughout the state (see summary below). As quoted by the Associated Press, 10/12/2000.
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