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EHC News and Updates 

October 25, 2011

 

A news roundup featuring Environmental Health Coalition Staff, Board and Community Leaders

 

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TAKE ACTION!

 

Say NO to SANDAG's 2050
Regional Transportation Plan

 

This Friday, October 28, the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) will vote to adopt its 2050 Regional Transportation Plan and first-ever Sustainable Communities Strategy.

  

SANDAG's plan is flawed and could worsen health risks in communities that already suffer from disproportionate  levels of pollution.

  • The plan contains no public health analysis of increased pollution in low-income communities of color.
  • The plan prioritizes highway expansions and defers investment in transit projects for 20 years.
  • This strategy promotes urban sprawl, will increases greenhouse gas emissions and worsens traffic congestion.
  •  Under this plan, particulate air pollution - the type of pollution most linked to respiratory ailments - would increase, causing serious health consequences.

TAKE ACTION! Email SANDAG's Board of Directors today!  

Tell them to vote NO on this flawed Regional Transportation Plan and Sustainable Communities Strategy. The deadline for emails is Weds., October 26 at 12 p.m. 

 

Tell SANDAG you support a plan that: 

  • Puts transit first and reduces harmful air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions
  • Creates an environmentally sustainable transportation network
  • Serves environmental justice communities and improves air quality for the entire San Diego region. 

 

SANDAG Board of Director Contacts:

 

Jerome Stocks, SANDAG Chair jstocks@ci.encinitas.ca.us

  

Gary Gallegos, SANDAG Executive Director gga@sandag.org

 

SANDAG Board Clerk twr@sandag.org

 

Please copy EHC Policy Advocate Jessica Parra-Fitch in your emails. 

 

Attend the SANDAG Board of Directors meeting 

 

Friday, October 28 9 a.m.
401 B Street, Suite 800
San Diego, CA

 

 Please arrive by 8:45 if possible to fill out a speaker card.

  

Even if you don't plan to speak, your card will be counted as opposing the Regional Transportation Plan.  

 


TransitTransit First is a Better Plan
  
The following op-ed appeared in the Sunday, October 23 edition of the San Diego Union-Tribune. It was published alongside the paper's own editorial endorsing the SANDAG 2050 Regional Transportation Plan. EHC Executive Director Diane Takvorian is a member of the San Diego Union-Tribune Community Editorial Board.
  

San Diego has some of the worst air pollution in the state and the nation - caused to a great degree by vehicle emissions. Much of this pollution is concentrated in low-income communities of color located next to major transportation corridors and large-scale industrial and commercial activities. This pollution leads to increased asthma rates and other respiratory ailments, creates additional cancer risks and keeps these communities from thriving.

 

The SANDAG 2050 Regional Transportation Plan and attendant Sustainable Communities Strategy is intended to guide transportation and development in San Diego County for the next 40 years. This plan is tasked with targeting critical issues like the reduction of harmful air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions and the need to increase mobility and improve public health. Unfortunately, SANDAG's plan not only fails to alleviate these impacts, it also allows increased air pollution in these overburdened communities.

 

In a letter to SANDAG, California Attorney General Kamala Harris targeted these and the plan's other shortcomings. Harris states that according to the plan, greenhouse gas and particulate emissions actually rise after 2020, and that the plan "sets too low a bar" in reducing pollution and contains "significant legal problems."

 

Under the proposed plan, particulate air pollution - the type of pollution most linked to respiratory ailments - would increase, causing serious health consequences. The plan also defers investment in transit for 20 years and contains no public health analysis of increased pollution in low-income communities of color.

 

Environmental Health Coalition is calling on SANDAG to revise its draft environmental impact report and analyze alternatives that put transit improvements first, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and harmful air pollution.

Advocating for a transit-first approach and the creation of an environmentally sustainable multimodal transportation network will create a truly environmentally superior alternative that serves environmental justice communities and improves air quality for everyone in the San Diego region.

 

Diane Takvorian

Executive Director

Environmental Health Coalition

U-T Community Editorial Board Member