ClimatePlan is excited to join the Coalition for Clean Air and partners across California in celebrating Clean Air Day! With our statewide focus on the intersection of climate, public health, and equity, ClimatePlan's commitment to clean air is as intrinsic as the air we breathe.

Beyond the policies and solutions we work to advance, preserving clean air is part of our daily operations. With our staff made up of a team distributed across the state's regions, ClimatePlan has been working primarily remotely and saving transportation emissions long before it became necessary because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Keep reading for more about how each of our team members interact with clean air and the environment around us!

ClimatePlan is excited to announce our next webinar, “Local Ballot Measures: The Future of CA Climate Policy?”. It will be next Tuesday, July 26th, at 4 pm; click here to register.

This webinar is part of our decolonizing transportation funding campaign. The campaign aims to increase transparency and access regarding transportation decision-making, policies, and funding. Read more about the campaign here. Our most recent effort was a report card that graded ten state transportation funding programs against ten criteria important to the ClimatePlan network. 

Now we want to zoom into the local level. Specifically, we want to explore ballot measures and local option sales tax (LOSTs). LOSTs are a common source of local transportation funding.

Join us to learn how advocates on the ground across CA are mobilizing around current local ballot measures.

Update: Watch the webinar recording here: https://youtu.be/HSn6w_kQJcA

Previously, we shared about the massive changes occurring in San Diego. Due to effective advocacy by coalitions like Quality of Life combined with strong investigative journalism by Voices of San Diego, San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) has new leadership that is helping the region plan smarter, promote equity, and invest in more sustainable transportation choices. However, there’s been pushback to this new effort. 

In the coming months, ClimatePlan will be spotlighting work led by our partner organizations in our five priority regions: Sacramento, the San Francisco Bay Area, the San Joaquin Valley, Southern California, and San Diego. Regional partners will share their challenges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the inertia of car-centric infrastructure, environmental justice, conservation, and housing. Through shared stories, we believe our partners will connect and learn different strategies and tools to face the challenges in their communities. Our first regional blog focuses on San Diego, where advocates are facing challenges to shift spending away from highways and roads.
 

San Diego County is on the precipice of a transportation revolution. After spending years embroiled in controversy, the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) seems to be ditching their perennial philosophy of endless freeway expansion for a holistic, green, and more equitable public transportation system that would set the bar high for California and beyond.