Compact livable communities
Vision
Cities are compact and convenient, vibrant and verdant, fun, beautiful, and efficient places to live, work, and shop, walk, bicycle and take transit, improving our health and mood and greatly reducing the need to drive. Read Laura mulls climate disruption, acts for more!Actions
- Support city zoning for effective and inviting infill transit oriented development (TOD) with mixed uses (residential with retail), local parks, and nearby activity centers for fewer and shorter trips;
- Showcase good designs for quality of place and support good infill projects.
Resource links
- Sierra Club Stopping Sprawl resources
- City of Santa Monica Bergamot Area Plan
Complete Streets
Vision
“Complete Streets” are safe and inviting for people as pedestrians and bicyclists, not just in cars, and bring life back into cities.Actions
- Promote development of a city's Complete Streets policy and Bicycle Plan;
- Establish bike share facilities.
Resource Links
- Sierra Club Complete Streets training
- North Star Chapter (Minnesota) Complete Streets
- National Assoc of City Transportation Officials Urban Street Design Guide and Urban Bikeway Design Guide
- Model Design Manual for Complete Streets
- Los Angeles City Bicycle Plan
- Good neighborhoods support complete streets
- Walking and health
Expand transit
Vision
Electric rail transit is the widespread renewably-powered backbone to connect compact neighborhoods.See these highlights of U.S. light rail and French trams for some inspiring examples. Los Angeles' Expo Line light rail (4/28/12 Phase 1 opening weekend to La Cienega, above) was only approved because of organized grass-roots support.
“The sustainability agenda demands transit, especially the development of rail systems that are competitive with the car in passenger appeal and speed.” (Sustainability and Cities: Overcoming Automobile Dependence, Peter Newman and Jeffrey Kenworthy, page 154)
Actions
- Organize support to plan and fund expansion of local transit networks with local transit agencies and larger coalitions;
- Promote greater use of existing transit service.
Resource links
- Transit case studies
- Sierra Club transportation policy
- “Citizen's Toolkit for Transportation Planning,” Dennis Lynch
- Center for Transportation Excellence
- American Public Transportation Association
- ITDP Bus Rapid Transit Planning Guide
- Move LA (California)
- Greenlight Pinellas (Florida)
Funding and parking reform
Vision
Transportation is well-funded, and financial incentives are for sustainable alternatives to driving and using fossil fuels.The federal Highway Trust Fund spends $50 billion per year on road and transit projects but only takes in $34 billion per year from the 18.4 cents per gallon federal gasoline tax that hasn't been raised since 1993. In the debate about how to close the gap note that benefits of the current gasoline tax are it is proportional to carbon emissions and easy to collect; switching to a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) fee could lose that correspondence and raises issues of privacy and costs of collection.
Actions
- Organize support for national, state, and local funding for good transportation projects;
- Support parking reforms including removing off-street requirements and unbundling (separately pricing) its cost;
- Broaden transportation demand management (TDM) workplace parking alternatives (cash-out, transit passes);
- Promote smart-phone-based carpooling.
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