This is a joint publication of the Council of Governments and Office of Legislative and Public Affairs.

For more info regarding Council of Governments activities please contact Duane Baker.

Vision2Read Initiative

Recently, the SANBAG Board of Directors heard a presentation on the Vision2Read initiative. In support of the Countywide Vision and the Regional Goal of supporting every child from cradle to career, the Vision2Read initiative is a year-long effort to raise awareness of the importance of literacy in our communities. Reading at grade level by third grade is one of the most significant predictors of a child's success in school, affecting their likelihood of going to college and their future earning potential.

One of the elements of this initiative is to encourage everyone to "Add-A-Book" when giving gifts to family and friends. Also, to encourage those participating in toy drives like Spark-of-Love to "Add-A-Book" to their donation.

SANBAG is working with the Countywide Vision partners and the County Superintendent of Schools to promote this year-long campaign. For more information on how you can help support literacy in your community, nominate a "Reading Hero", and find literacy resources visit Vision2Read.com.

SANBAG will also be hosting a book drive in support of the Inland Empire Children's Book Project. The Inland Empire Children's Book Project (IECBP) distributes gently-used and some new books to teachers, schools, and organizations that serve children in need. A box will be provided for donations in the SANBAG lobby. To learn more about the IECBP visit their website at IECBP.org.

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SANBAG Seeks Grant Writing Services

The SANBAG Board of Directors will soon be asked to approve a contract with a firm to provide grant identification and writing services for the agency. The selected firm will conduct a needs assessment of SANBAG and help identify potential grant opportunities with a focus on Council of Governments activities. The firm will also assist SANBAG staff in the preparation of grant applications and conducting seminars for city and county staff highlighting new grant opportunities and how to be more successful.

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Affordable Housing and Sustainable
Communities (AHSC) Program Grant

During the first year of the

Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC) Program, the San Bernardino communities did not fare well. In response, SANBAG has been working closely with the County, cities, and affordable housing developers to work with the State to amend their guidelines to recognize the more suburban nature of the majority of our region and not categorize us as an urban region, thereby applying higher urban densities to project applications

Another amendment would be to relax the requirement for 15-minute headways on transit or rail lines to qualify for transit oriented development funds. Even though the Metrolink San Bernardino Line has 30-minute headways during morning and afternoon commute times and carries more passengers than many other transit options that do have 15-minute headways, we receive no credit for this and therefore are unable to successfully compete for funds to support our transit oriented development efforts.

A letter signed by Board President Ryan McEachron and Board of Supervisors Chairman James Ramos has formally been submitted to document our recommendations for changes.

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HERO Program Impact Update

The HERO Program celebrated its second anniversary with SANBAG in October. Since the HERO Program began two years ago, 10,579 projects valued at more than $194 million have been completed. These improvements will help residents save a combined 76.9 million kWh which is a $10.8 million savings on their combined utility bills. These improvements will also save residents 22.7 million gallons of water annually and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 21,089 tons annually.

In addition, the HERO Program has made improvements to its disclosure documents to make terms of the HERO assessment even clearer to property owners. HERO has also launched its Hero Property Advisors unit which works with realtors and lenders to assist them in working with property owners that are selling or refinancing a home with a HERO Assessment.

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Regional Energy Partnership Kicks Off

The San Bernardino Regional Energy Partnership (SBREP) held its kick-off meeting on October 27. SBREP is a partnership between SANBAG, Southern California Edison, and The Gas Company to help cities become more energy efficient.

Participating cities will be eligible for energy rebates for implementing efficiency projects. Additionally, through funding from the utilities, the partnership will be able to fund energy audits and provide information on energy efficiency programs that cities can use for their residents.

As one of its first activities, SBREP is sponsoring five Holiday LED Light Exchanges. The Exchanges will be held as part of community events in Fontana, Montclair, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga, and Rialto.

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2016 Air Quality Management Plan
(AQMP) Update

Dr. Phil Fine from the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) gave an update to the SANBAG Board on the progress of developing the 2016 AQMP. This is the document that shows how the region will meet federal clean air mandates.

SANBAG staff has been very involved in various review committees to provide feedback and input on the white papers that are helping to form the policy basis for the AQMP. The white papers have covered broad policy areas such as: A Business Case for Clean Air Strategies; Goods Movement; Off-Road Equipment; Passenger Transportation; Particulate Matter Controls; and Residential and Commercial Energy.

Next steps will be to develop the necessary control measures that will allow the air basin to achieve the federal clean air standards. One of the key issues that we will be following is how any proposed standard will impact the logistics and goods movement sectors of our local economy. Another issue that will be important is the regulation of mobile sources by state and federal regulators. Mobile sources are key components of pollution and nothing short of a radical transformation of cars and truck to cleaner technologies will allow us to meet the guidelines. However, regulation of mobile sources is largely outside of the jurisdiction of the SCAQMD to regulate.

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Presentation to California Apartment Association Greater Inland Empire Leadership Roundtable

SANBAG Deputy Executive Director, Duane Baker, gave a presentation to this group on SANBAG projects that will impact their industry. This included a brief update on our freeway and interchange projects, a discussion of how to make sustainability programs more attractive for existing multi-family projects, and our efforts to secure changes to the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC) Grant guidelines.

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ARRIVE Corridor Study

An update on the Advanced Regional Rail Integrated Vision - East (ARRIVE) Corridor Study was provided to the SANBAG Board in October. The Study examined the feasibility of transitioning the traditional commuter rail corridor, over time, to a corridor that fully integrates transit oriented development (TOD) and regional rail. The corridor has been very successful as a commuter rail line, with over 12,000 passengers per day on 38 trains.

This project explored how to build on that success by evaluating opportunities for TOD across all of the stations on the San Bernardino Line within the County. The objective is to

lay the groundwork that will eventually lead to an increase in the number of passengers "arriving" via rail in the County to work, shop, recreate, and conduct business. At the same time, the hope is that these station-area nodes can become more significant mixed-use, walkable activity centers, contributing to the livability and economy of the San Bernardino Valley.

Currently, the Metrolink San Bernardino Line is successful at primarily serving commuters to Los Angeles, but has the potential of becoming a more robust regional rail system that connects major nodes of activity to, from, and within San Bernardino County.

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Give BIG San Bernardino

The SANBAG Board recently received information on the Give BIG San Bernardino County campaign taking place during a 24-hour period starting Tuesday, December 1, 2015. This is the second time San Bernardino County has had a campaign.

The goal of Give BIG is to increase the number of individual donors and new donors to nonprofits throughout the County. This will increase the visibility of these nonprofit agencies and help with their long-term sustainability.

Nonprofits provide a wealth of services in each of our communities and per capita giving in San Bernardino County lags behind that in other regions. Healthy nonprofits help improve the quality of life in the region.

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2016 Point-in-Time Homeless Count

The 2016 Point-in-Time Homeless Count will happen on Thursday, January 28, 2016. The count takes place to help identify how many people are homeless in San Bernardino County on a given day. This information is important to help each agency understand the extent of homelessness in their community and to help make sure that we receive federal funds to help us combat homelessness locally.

The Point-in-Time Count is a huge undertaking and requires volunteers from each community. Key persons and volunteers that can help include representatives of local government, social service providers, law enforcement, municipal agencies, educational institutions, faith-based organizations, local businesses, civic groups, neighborhood associations, nonprofit agencies and current and formerly homeless individuals.

To find out more about the Point-in-Time Count, about volunteering, or about why this is so important for our communities please visit the San Bernardino County 2016 Homeless County website.

This effort is being coordinated by the San Bernardino County Homeless Partnership and the Office of Homeless Services.

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