Local Agenda 21-Santa Cruz: Transportation (Excerpts)

SUMMARY: Unedited excerpts from "An Agenda 21 Report for Santa Cruz County Local Agenda 21-Santa Cruz: Transportation". The headlines are editorial comments, includes: Your car, enemy of the people; Desired state: rebuild your neighborhood sans car; Plans for taxing your car, somebody has to pay for the unused government transportation system; A metropolitan transportation vision for rural Santa Cruz County.

FULL TEXT:

Your car: enemy of the people

• Cars are not a sustainable mode of transportation in SCC
• Gradually eliminate all personal car use in downtown Santa Cruz and other cities, to be completed by the year 2010

 "Desired state": rebuild your neighborhood sans car

• Public subsidies are shifted from funding highway construction, road maintenance, policing traffic, and publicly funded parking to developing and promoting transportation alternatives.
• Certain roadways are dedicated to ultralight vehicles,and there is general promotion of electric, natural gas, and human-powered vehicles.
• In the immediate future, innovative clean fuel and retrofitting technologies are supported and promoted for the upgrade of existing automobiles, to aid in the transition period. Eventually, existing neighborhoods could be rebuilt or modified to enhance the use of non-polluting transportation.

 Plans for taxing your car; somebody has to pay for the unused government transportation systems

• Enact legislation requiring car drivers to pay a higher percentage of the costs of driving, thus lowering general taxes and fees among the community at large.
• Pass legislation to strongly encourage voluntary trip reduction, perhaps including incentives.
• Local representatives to state and federal governments could request more significant gasoline taxes at the state and federal level, to be used for the costs of the personal automobile infrastructure.
• Pass an ordinance or county measure through an open process lead by the Energy Commission/SCCRTC for county and city governments to increase gas taxes.
• County and city governments could eliminate or reduce... car parking.
• County and city governments could discontinue the use of public funds to provide car parking and promote Transportation Demand Management such as carpooling, cycling, free transit passes, etc.
• Drivers "pay per use" directly through the annual registration process or a tax o­n gasoline, so drivers would pay fees based o­n the number of miles driven each year, thereby placing the financial burden for highway and road maintenance more directly o­n the users.
• A toll booth could be placed o­n Highway #17. Tolls collected would be used for its maintenance.

 A metropolitan transportation vision for rural Santa Cruz County

• An expanded bus network with cheaper fares could be fully funded.
• Development of a solar ultra-light rail train or trolley system.
• Eliminate personal car use o­n Pacific Avenue in the Pacific Garden Mall area of Santa Cruz.
• Gradually eliminate all personal car use in downtown Santa Cruz and other cities, to be completed by the year 2010, with the phase in of the shuttle and other transportation options.
• Shift federal transportation funding from highway construction to alternative transportation projects, like replacing diesel buses with clean fuel vehicles.
• Install roadside cameras.

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