Campaign Connection
Tell Us What’s Happening in Your Region!   Campaign Connection is a look at transportation and land use reform around the country.  To share news developments happening in your region, contact STPP!  

Members of the Metropolitan Atlanta Transportation Equity Coalition (MATEC) held a press briefing on 12/6—during the Urban Land Institute’s Partners for Smart Growth Conference—to announce the filing of an administrative complaint with the United States Department of Transportation.  The two-year old coalition filed the discrimination complaint under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act.  The coalition charged the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA)  with disparate treatment in its delivery of services to its minority and disabled riders. 

The complaints included some well-known civil rights organizations including the NAACP and Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, neighborhood organizations, a disabled rights group, an environmental organization, a youth group, and the labor union that represents MARTA drivers.  The coalition’s point was to clear service disparities between minority and white areas in the location of bus shelters, overcrowded bus lines, placement of newer compressed natural gas (CNG) buses, inadequate security at rail stations, lack of Spanish language translation services at public meetings, and failure to adhere to ADA requirements. The MATEC members also claim that the recent MARTA fare increase will disproportionately and adversely impact the poor, transit-dependent, and minority riders—who make up more than 78 percent of the MARTA riders.  

For more details, contact Sherrill Marcus, MATEC Project Coordinator, at 404.755.2294 or Angel Torres at Environmental Justice Resource Center at 404.880.8363 or see http://www.ejrc.cau.edu.

The Boise region is continuing to tackle tough growth and transportation issues. In addition to identifying areas suitable for future transit stations along a proposed commuter rail corridor, the Treasure Valley Partnership’s consortium of elected officials are also finding immediate ways for introducing transportation alternatives.  This November, the Boise area’s new regional public transportation authority, Valley InterAgency Transportation or VIA-Trans, began operating the bus system for the City of Boise as a first step to becoming a fully-coordinated, multi-modal public transportation system for the area. The new transit system was approved by 70 percent of voters in the two-county region in 1998 but lacked funding until last month when the Boise City Council approved a two year commitment to fund the new VIA Trans at the request of the Mayor. Local elected officials are working to have legislation passed in the state legislature to provide a permanent funding mechanism for VIA Trans—a difficult task in Idaho which gives no local option power except in resort areas.

Other transit services that will likely be incorporated into VIA-Trans include a successful shuttle bus service being offered to Nampa, Meridian, and Boise commuters, an express bus service between Ada and Canyon County, and vanpools in Boise. The shuttle bus service, provided by the Idaho Transportation Department through CMAQ funds in its first year due to a four-year reconstruction project in the area, is now being funded by the three cities receiving service.  Demand for transportation services is increasing in this fast-growing region, which has seen Meridian grow from 8,000 residents in 1990 to 40,000 today.

In other state news, Idaho Smart Growth, the statewide advocacy group, began holding regional smart growth conferences this October.  Issues addressed in these meetings range from protecting an aquifer from rural sprawl development in Coeur de Lane to promoting walkable development in the eastern and south central parts of the state which are sprawling but not necessarily growing.  The meetings will culminate in a statewide conference on smart growth this April.

For more information, contact Elaine Clegg at Idaho Smart Growth at 208.333.8066 or smartgro@micron.net

This June, the New Jersey legislature enacted what many transportation advocates consider to be model funding legislation.  The legislature approved the Transportation Trust Fund renewal bill that seeks to dedicate more existing sales and gas taxes to road and bridge repair and transit over the next five years.  The legislation also requires NJ DOT to submit a spending plan that dedicates funds to fixing half of the state’s structurally deficient bridges and pavement over the next five years. The plan must also include construction of 1,000 lane miles of bicycle paths.  The transportation spending bill also requires that new highway construction be approved by a joint resolution of the legislature.

During the November election, New Jersey voters were asked to approve additional revenues needed for the Transportation Trust Fund bill, and they did so by a two-thirds margin.  Local advocacy groups such as the Tri-State Transportation Campaign see the voter approval as a clear sign that New Jerseyans do not view new or wider highways as the solution to traffic congestion and road maintenance. 

TheTrust Fund Act included several model provisions thanks to the work of a coalition of transportation reformers, environmentalists, municipalities, mass transit unions and bicyclists. Six daily newspapers throughout the region endorsed the fix-it-first approach, and an enlightened construction lobby did not fight the changes, choosing instead to go along with expanded overall transportation spending rather than digging in to specifically defend highway expansion. The Tri-State Transportation Campaign laid the groundwork for the effort, issuing annual reports since 1996 on the high proportion of road capacity projects in NJDOT’s program.

For more information, contact the Tri-State Transportation Campaign at 212.268.7474 or visit http://www.tstc.org.

Texas Citizen Fund kicked off the new millennium by starting Just Transportation Alliances (JTA).  JTA is a three-year effort to bring together a powerful confluence of potential partners who each have a vested interest in seeing the quantity, quality, and access to transportation alternatives increase.  Targeted partners include the state’s disabled, low-income, and elderly residents as well as those actively engaged in environmental and community initiatives.  In addition to creating a statewide network that currently involves more than 15 partners, JTA is working with individuals and organizations in Fort Worth, San Antonio, Houston, Laredo, San Angelo, El Paso, Lufkin, and Tyler to form local alliances.  These alliances will identify key issues on which to focus their activities such as improving transit service, increasing transit with innovative funding, or coupling economic development, welfare-to-work, and transportation planning to revitalize neighborhoods.

In Fort Worth and San Antonio, the two metropolitan areas in the JTA’s first round of local advocacy alliances will decide on their focus areas this February.  The 19 organizational partners in the Fort Worth alliance are likely to campaign for the innovative funding to increase transit service throughout the county.  The 29 organizational partners in the San Antonio alliance are also considering innovative strategies, including working with the Neighborhood Transformation program on the West Side of San Antonio or achieving more affective service by encouraging the VIA transit agency to integrate its transit network with other community-based transit providers. In July, JTA will begin identifying alliance partners in Laredo, Houston, and San Angelo. 

The statewide alliance works from a three-year legislative agenda while building a support network to facilitate information sharing, provide extensive training, and undertake projects like the 2001 statewide decision-maker/advocate round table.

For more information, contact Glenn Gadbois at Texas Citizen Fund/Just Transportation Alliances at 512.294.7446 or gadbois@mindspring.com.

Bicyclists and pedestrians recently gained a new ally in the National Capital Region when the Mayor Anthony Williams of the District of Columbia pledged his commitment to making the District a more bicycle-friendly city in November.  At the annual meeting of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA), the Mayor vowed to improve bicycling conditions in Washington, DC by expanding the local bicycle network, resurfacing 200 miles of potholed streets, and marking 10 miles of bike routes each year over the next 5 years. 

The city and its partners, including the Coalition for the Metropolitan Branch Trail and the Bikes Belong Coalition, plan an expansion of the region’s 120 miles of bike trails.  New trails scheduled for completion next year include the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail, a trail between the National Mall and Maryland on both sides of the Anacostia River, and the Metropolitan Branch Trail, a transit-oriented trail that connects Northeast Washington, the National Mall, Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties. 

The city also launched “Project Bicycle Parking” this Fall with the installation of new bicycle parking racks at all D.C. Libraries and other District Government buildings.  The city plans to install 100 new bicycle parking racks per year for the next 5 years at these facilities and in commercial areas.  Mayor Williams is also encouraging the National Park Service to study closing portions of the city’s Rock Creek Park during non-rush hours to provide better bike access in the District.  

The Mayor’s attention to cycling issues is likely a result of his interest in cycling and in response to a recent WABA report, “Bicycling in Washington, DC: A Call to Action.”