ClimatePlan is teaming up with GRID Alternatives and Access Clean California partners to conduct an analysis on zero emission vehicle policy and funding. This work will build on both ClimatePlan’s decolonizing transportation campaign and Access Clean California.

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On May 25th we hosted a CAPTI workgroup meeting focused on pricing. The meeting had initially stemmed from the interest to track the pricing strategy in CAPTI. In the last few years ClimatePlan had not focused much on pricing and we wanted to assess the network’s interest. To preface the conversation, we invited two guest speakers, Stuart Cohen and John Gahbauer, whom have both published research on pricing of the transportation sector. If you are interested in learning more about pricing, we created this handy fact sheet about pricing. 

The meeting was set to answer two questions:

• Is there interest in strategizing and tracking road pricing together?
• If there was interest, is the CAPTI workgroup the space to effectively do so?

It was essentially a will we or won’t we situation. And it turns out, we will...

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Now that ClimatePlan's Transportation Funding Report Card is released, here are some answers to questions you may have about it. Find the report card now at:

climateplan.org/reportcard

 

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ClimatePlan will be releasing a new report card on State transportation funding during a webinar on Tuesday, April 5th at 2:00pm. The report card analyzes ten funding programs and provides recommendations to align transportation funding with ClimatePlan’s climate, equity and public health values.

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It is vital that transportation decisions are accessible, clear, and transparent so funding through state agencies can create resilient, healthy, and equitable communities in California.

We are developing a funding report card to evaluate how transportation programs align with ClimatePlan’s climate, health and equity values. Register for our Report card release webinar on April 5th: here

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2022 CARB Scoping Plan Update

• Letter to California Air Resources Board (CARB) staff: Re modeling targets and prioritizing EJAC feedback sent 9/03/21

Interregional Transportation Strategic Plan

• Letter to Caltrans Staff: Re Strengthening Scoring Criteria to match goals of CAPTI sent 9/10/21 

AB 285 Report to Legislature

• Letter to Strategic Growth Council: Re Comments on SGC's Report to Legislature sent 12/01/21

In early November, a Bipartisan Federal Infrastructure Bill was signed into law. This has some positive and some concerning implications for ClimatePlanners throughout our state. Before we dive in, we should acknowledge the numerous articles that break down what exactly was in the bill, including the following links:

• Streetsblog: How the Infrastructure Deal will make transit better?
• NACo: Legislative Analysis of Infrastructure and Jobs Act.
• CalBike: How will the Infrastructure bill impact Bike Riders?
• White House factsheet: The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Will Deliver for California.
• Vox: States Have The Power to Make or Break the Infrastructure Law.

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On October 28th, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) conducted a public hearing to consider approval of the Mobile Source Strategy. For those who don’t know, the Mobile Source Strategy is an integrated scenario planning effort that identifies strategies to reduce emissions from mobile sources to meet climate and equity goals.

We see the Mobile Source Strategy as an opportunity to advocate for the importance of vehicle miles traveled reduction to the entire board. This blog is a recap of that meeting and ClimatePlan’s comments. This blog also provides next steps as the mobile source strategy has been sent to the legislature. The short of it is, the ClimatePlan network can step up to advocate for reducing vehicle miles traveled, especially in ways that provide access to resources and reduce air pollution for environmental justice communities.

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Clean Air Day is next week and we as an organization, and staff are making our commitments now. Read more about our commitments and take the pledge with us! The link is here.

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SB 1 workshops are starting up again beginning Tuesday, September 21, from 1:00 to 4:00 pm. Some partners in this network have long contributed to the advocacy around SB 1, and know the drill. Joining these workshops is vital for reinforcing and holding the California Transportation Commission (CTC) accountable to shifting transportation funding. Money needs to go to projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address inequities in mobility as required by the Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure (CAPTI). 

However, this year the workshops are less accessible, and it will be harder to ensure there are shifts in transportation funding. For this reason, the Road Repair and Accountability Act is not living up to its name. The CTC needs to create more ways for stakeholders to engage in the discussion. We are encouraging folks to advocate for this as well. 

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From ClimatePlan and partners

Zero Emission Vehicle Policy Analysis

by ClimatePlan - April 2023

 

 

 

Overarching Principles for Land-Use and Water Integration in the San Francisco Bay Area

by ClimatePlan – August 2020

Water is essential to planning for healthier, sustainable, and more equitable communities. Without water, no one can survive. Stronger and more equitable integration of water in the regional transportation plan will help address the San Francisco Bay Area’s current challenges around housing and water unaffordability, inequitable growth, limited water supply, and limited interagency coordination. This integration will also help the San Francisco Bay Area prepare for climate change. This research, and its recommendations, are focused on the San Francisco Bay Area's regional transportation plan, Plan Bay Area 2050. Download the report

2020 ClimatePlan Listening Session Report

by ClimatePlan – March 2020

To achieve ClimatePlan's Strategic Priorities, it is essential that ClimatePlan’s network is connected and aligned. California is facing complex and immense challenges, ClimatePlan can help California address those challenges by bringing different communities together to develop integrated solutions. In 2020, ClimatePlan staff brought diverse organizations together to develop integrated solutions by hosting regional listening sessions. This report outlines the findings from ClimatePlan's 2020 Listening Sessions. Download the report

 

Lead the Way, California: A Transportation Platform to Move Us Forward

by ClimatePlan and partners – November 2018

This transportation platform provides a vision for California to lead the way to invest and build transportation that connects everyone to a brighter future. This vision is achievable, and the platform outlines five actions the new administration must take to make the vision a reality: 1) Prioritize transportation that moves California forward; 2) Act to meet the greatest needs first; 3) Champion housing justice for California's communities; 4) Clean up California's air; 5) Recognize the true value of California's landscapes. Download the report

 

More Choices, Less Traffic: Achieving Greater Efficiency and Equity from California’s Transportation Investments

by Climate Resolve and ClimatePlan – June 2018

This report describes how transportation investments and land use patterns have contributed to California's congestion woes, and suggests an alternative path forward, centered on reducing driving, or vehicle miles traveled (VMT). This path will reduce traffic, improve mobility, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions — with many more "co-benefits" for community health, equity, and opportunity. The report recommends an intersectional, cross-jurisdictional, equity-enhancing approach for the most potential to improve people's lives. Download the report

 

Leading the Way: Policies and Practices for Sustainable Communities

by ClimatePlan – October 2016

Leading the Way presents the best strategies yet—“leading practices”—that regions around the state have used for public engagement, funding, planning land-use scenarios, and more, as they create Sustainable Communities Strategies. In addition to existing best practices, the report offers ways to go further. It provides inspiration and solutions that advocates and planners can use in their own communities. Download the report

 

Toward A Sustainable Future: Is Southern California On Track?
by ClimatePlan and partners* – December 2015

The On Track report assesses Southern California's progress in the three years since it adopted its first Sustainable Communities Strategy in 2012, produced while the region was preparing its second plan. How are cities, counties, and towns in the state's most populous region acting together to improve land use and transportation planning and reduce greenhouse gases? Download the report

*Partners: The Safe Routes to School National Partnership; American Lung Association in California; California Walks; Climate Resolve; Friends of Harbors, Beaches and Parks; Investing in Place; Move LA; Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC); Prevention Institute; and TransForm.
 

San Diego and SB 375: Lessons from California’s first Sustainable Communities Strategy
By Eliot Rose, Autumn Bernstein, and Stuart Cohen – 2011

The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) approved the first Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS) under Senate Bill 375 in October 2011.  This report takes a comprehensive look at the plan and analyzes why it didn’t achieve the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) reductions that many hoped it would. Download the report

Additional reports from our partners

In response to California’s deepening housing affordability crisis, through the course of 2019, the
Planning and Conservation League (PCL) consulted and convened cross-interest experts with the aim of identifying an improved standard of criteria for equitable infill incentives in urban, suburban, and rural contexts, that could be used for a range of state and local policy applications.

Strong evidence exists that strategies across four categories – pricing, infill development, transportation investments, and travel demand management programs – can reduce vehicle miles of travel (VMT). This paper identifies state policies and programs that are implemented or being considered for each category of strategies, to help inform a framework for California.

Health Impact Assessment: California’s SB 375 and Its Impact on Fresno County’s Disadvantaged Unincorporated Communities and Low Income Urban Neighborhoods
Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, 2017

This Health Impact Assessment (HIA) focuses on potential impacts of SB 375 implementation in four Fresno County communities, analyzes transit access across different scenarios in the region's Sustainable Community Strategy, and makes recommendations for the Fresno Council of Governments.

Greenbelt Alliance's most recent analysis of the San Francisco Bay Area's farms, ranches, and natural areas at risk of being lost to sprawl development, based on current plans and policies. Today, 293,100 acres of farms, ranches, and natural lands are at risk of development in the next 30 years; 63,500 acres are at risk in the next 10 years.

Race, Inequality, and the Resegregation of the Bay Area
Urban Habitat, 2016

This policy brief maps the regional transformation currently underway in the Bay Area and its implications for low-income communities and communities of color. Low-income communities and communities of color are increasingly living at the expanding edges of the region, struggling to find good jobs, schools, and services; in the core, housing and other costs grow ever higher.

Sustainable Communities and Conservation
The Nature Conservancy, 2016

This report surveys conservation measures in existing Sustainable Communities Strategies around the state, along with conservation-related proposals that were made but not adopted in each region. It offers a set of model policies and best practices for future SCSs, because conservation is an essential component of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Planning for a Healthier Future
Transportation for America, 2016

This report summarizes current best practices in the development of health, equity and environmental measures that can be used to evaluate the performance of transportation investments at a regional scale.

Key Strategies to Advance Equitable Growth in Regions
PolicyLink, 2015

This report draws from work in more than 40 cities and regions to connect low-income people and communities of color to the economic mainstream. It lifts up strategies concentrated in seven areas, all helping communities to plan for equitable growth, remove employment barriers, grow good jobs, and strengthen the education pipeline.

Regional Planning for Health Equity
PolicyLink, 2015

This brief introduces strategies for planning for health equity at a regional scale, and summarizes the movement for building healthy communities. It draws from the experiences of regional equity coalitions and metropolitan planning organizations to identify five important conditions that must be met to achieve effective results.

Disadvantaged Communities Teach Regional Planners a Lesson in Equitable and Sustainable Development
Richard Marcantonio and Alex Karner, 2014

This article describes how San Francisco Bay Area advocates for affordable housing, public transit, public health and other social equity outcomes came together as the 6 Wins Network and won the adoption of a more equitable regional plan, which they demonstrated was better for the climate as well as for low-income communities.

A Regional Government Primer for Practitioners 
Safe Routes to School National Partnership, 2013?

The 2012 federal transportation act, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21), created new ways for Safe Routes to School programs to attract funding from metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs). This is a brief guide to understanding your MPO’s process and leveraging points can help you and your partners recognize new opportunities to fund walking and bicycling projects in your communities.

Creating Healthy Regional Transportation Plans
TransForm, 2012

This guide reviews direct and indirect impacts of transportation on health, and how Sustainable Communities Strategies can improve health. It gives specific guidelines for Regional Transportation Plans on everything from bicycle/pedestrian improvements to promoting access for and participation by vulnerable communities, addresses challenges and roadblocks, and offers case studies of successful plans, projects and programs.

A Bold Plan for Sustainable California Communities: Report on the Implementation of Senate Bill 375
NRDC and Move LA, 2012

Southern California, Sacramento, and San Diego were the first three regions in America to adopt Sustainable Communities Strategies—transportation plans specifically designed to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. This report tells the story of how these regions tackled implementation of SB 375, and their unique challenges and successes.

Getting Involved in Transportation Planning: An Overview for Health Advocates
By Public Health Law and Policy and TransForm, 2011

This fact sheet discusses the important links between transportation planning and health, describes the key players and processes of local and regional transportation planning, and suggests steps to advocate effectively for healthier transportation policies.

SB 375: An Opportunity to Design Healthy, Sustainable Communities
ChangeLab Solutions, 2011

Groundbreaking legislation in California—SB 375—offers the chance to integrate health priorities into long-term planning efforts. This fact sheet provides an overview of the law and ways for public health advocates to get involved in the planning process.

 

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The California Transportation Commission has adopted the Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure (CAPTI), but there is more to be done. Building off the momentum that advocates (including ClimatePlan and our network) and agency staff created, ClimatePlan is announcing our workgroup! Read more below for background on CAPTI, its importance, and how to get involved. 

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Fact Sheets

Local Transportation Funding Through Ballot Initiatives quick facts

ClimatePlan developed a one page fact-sheet on local transportation funding through ballot measures. Download the fact sheet here. We also created a two-page factsheet that outlines how initiatives are put on the ballot, how ballots pass, and the regulations that govern local ballot initiative. Download that factsheet here. 

 

 

Road Pricing Fact Sheet

ClimatePlan developed this fact sheet for those unfamiliar with road pricing as a CAPTI strategy. See also: our blog summarizing a presentation during our May 2022 CAPTI workgroup meeting from guest speakers Stuart Cohen and John Gahbauer, whom have both published research on pricing of the transportation sector. Download the road pricing fact sheet.

 

 

CAPTI Explainer

ClimatePlan developed this chart, which breaks down the Climate Action Plan for Transportation infrastructure (CAPTI framework). The chart is centered around transportation (and beyond) planning and funding. Download the chart.

 

 

 

SB 1 Workshop talking points

This document compiles talking points for three SB 1 programs; the Trade Corridor Enhancement Account, Solutions for Congested Corridors, and Local Partnership Program. It is a living document. Please feel free to add comments or email Nicole if you want to add resources or points. Contribute to this document here.

 

 

 

California Air Resources Board: 2022 Scoping Plan Update

ClimatePlan developed a one-pager, which summarizes the 2022 Scoping Plan update process for the California Air Resource Board. It also highlights actions to take and why the 2022 Scoping Plan is important. Download the one-pager.

 

 

 

California's Climate Goals & Transportation Spending 

ClimatePlan developed a fact sheet to show that despite California's ambitious climate goals, the state's transportation investments continue to prioritize roads and highways. This fact sheet shows that if California does not transform how it spends transportation funds, the state will not meet its climate goals. Download the fact sheet

 

Platforms and Frameworks

• Guiding Principles for Equitable Engagement in Coordinated Planning
  ClimatePlan worked with Local Government Commission, Youth United for Community Action, Fresnoland, Anza Borrego Foundation, and Nature For All to develop these guidelines for equitable engagement. This platform builds upon expertise from our organizational perspectives and research completed by CivicSpark fellows. Download the guidelines

• Commitment to Investment without Displacement
  ClimatePlan worked with partner organizations to develop this policy platform, which includes a shared goal and nine principles to ensure investment without displacement. This platform builds upon expertise from partners across different issue areas such as housing, environment, social equity, transportation, and conservation to provide an cross-sector approach to address this complex issue. Download the platform

• Mapping and Planning for Public Health
  The Public Health Alliance of Southern California is releasing the California Healthy Places Index to map cumulative health advantage. The index maps social determinants of health: economic, social, political, and environmental factors that influence people's physical and cognitive function, behavior, and disease. The data is from publicly available sources, at a census tract level. Freely available online, to help communities and public and private agencies help prioritize investments, resources, and programs. PowerPoint introduction
  
  
• City and Regional Planning for Parks, Open Space, and Agriculture
  The Nature Conservancy, Trust for Public Land, and The Conservation Fund recently launched the Greenprint Resource Hub, a first-of-its-kind database for practitioners, policymakers, and community members looking to incorporate parks, open space, and agriculture into their economic and social goals. The database includes detailed case studies of how cities and surrounding regions have incorporated nature into city and regional planning, informing their decisions about how to grow and where to protect land to secure habitat, water, recreation, and food production.
  
  
• 2016 RTP Platform: Advancing Sustainable Equitable Regional Planning
  ClimatePlan worked with Public Advocates, Safe Routes to School National Partnership, and California Pan-Ethnic Health Network to develop this policy platform, which includes ten detailed recommendations for the Regional Transportation Plan Guidelines in 2016. This policy platform is a great resource for any group working on an RTP update.
  Download the platform

• Social Equity Policies for SB 375 Targets
  From 2010 - 2012, ClimatePlan partnered with Public Advocates and others to promote a socially equitable approach to SB 375 targets. This approach would analyze the potential beneficial and harmful impacts of targets and SCSs on lower income Californians and communities of color specifically, and select alternatives that maximize both GHG reduction and positive equity impacts while avoiding or offsetting any negative impacts.
  Download recommendations 

• SB 375 Health & Equity Metrics  
  This brief summary by Human Impact Partners, created in 2011, provides Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) with a set of metrics to promote health and equity as well as sustainability. For example, a plan selected using the indicator “Automobile Level of Service (LOS) on Roadways,” will prioritize making driving easier, despite the many ways driving harms health; instead, using “Premature Death due to Traffic­-Related Pollution” will be more likely to reduce pollution by promoting alternate forms of transportation. Download 2-page summary

ClimatePlan’s CivicSpark fellow, Nicole Cheng, recently facilitated a webinar discussion entitled “Using Collaborative Planning to Address Compounding Crises.” Over the past year, Nicole has been working on ways for planning departments throughout the Bay Area to better integrate land use and water supply planning. Over the year of research and engagement, it has become clear that climate change and the pandemic have amplified existing challenges around integrating water and land use in planning. But, there are also opportunities for transformational change in the way that agencies, advocates, and communities can work together to create more resilient, equitable communities throughout the state. 

The webinar had a great lineup of panelists, including Thomas Niesar - Water Supply and Planning Manager at Alameda County Water District (ACWD), Zoe Siegel - Director of Climate Resilience at Greenbelt Alliance, and Clarrissa Cabansagan - Director of Programs at TransForm. 

You can listen to the full webinar here. 

Here is an outline of the webinar and time stamps associated with it. 

• Panelist introductions: 5:00-7:18
• Summary of the challenges: 8:06-32:17
• Barriers to collaboration/opportunities: 32:17 - 47:37
• Audience Q and A: 47:37- 1:02:36

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Right now, we are one year into a global pandemic and stay-at-home orders. The data from the State Water Board is showing 1.5 million Californians are behind on their water bills; the average amount of debt per household is $500. According to the Legislative Analyst office, Californian renters owe $400 million in unpaid debt, on top of a shortfall of 220,000 of affordable homes (MTC and ABAG). Latinx, Black, and Asian households are more likely to be behind on rent and water bills than white households. A decline in ridership has led to a decrease in public investments in transportation infrastructure, which is largely used by low income communities. 

This is just the tip of the iceberg. These multiple, compounding crises further highlight the importance of collaborative infrastructure planning for healthy and sustainable communities. Current financing infrastructure relies on local governments, water agencies, and transportation agencies to fund their own operation, maintenance, and infrastructure upgrades. Local governments can rely on impact fees. However, many transportation and water agencies have few outside sources of revenue. So, they largely rely on funding from their constituents and customers in paying their utility bills, paying ridership fees, etc. 

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In August 2020, ClimatePlan released a new report -  Overarching Principles to Better Integrate Water and Land-use in the San Francisco Bay Area. [Thank you again to the water agencies, non-profits, and our partners at MTC (Metropolitan Transportation Commission), San Francisco Estuary partnership, and Local Government Commission for your wisdom and expertise].  Since the release of the report, we have been moving forward with implementing the principles laid out in the report. I have been working with MTC and ACWD (Alameda County Water District) to refine the implementation plan of Plan Bay Area 2050--the Bay Area’s regional transportation plan-- and have been developing a policy-framework to provide local guidance to implementing the strategies.  I have also been assessing collaboratives and key partnerships within the Bay Area to find spaces to develop this policy-framework.  

The Issues at Hand: New Report Summary and Centering New Context

Our new report highlights how water affordability, housing affordability, vulnerability to climate change, and transportation challenges intersect. 

Housing unaffordability is exacerbated by the challenges of high transportation costs and water costs. This is because both add an additional burden for low income households, and Black and Latinx communities. These communities have been underinvested in because of the legacy of redlining, disinvestment, and systemic racism. It is well known that the current COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how many of these communities are not able to comfortably meet basic needs of housing and water. The pandemic has also exacerbated water and housing affordability challenges, by bringing on debt: marginalized and low income residents are now unsure of how much money they owe from their suspended rent and water bills.

Moreover, these communities are more likely to be the most vulnerable to climate change because they are under-resourced. Preparing for climate change will require infrastructure upgrades to account for flooding and droughts, a financial burden that would mostly fall on residents at this moment. MTC, ABAG, and ACWD recognize these problems, and are taking vital steps towards better integrating water into land-use planning.

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