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City of Mill Valley
Urgent action needed on ABAG/MTC planning, by the Mill Valley City Council at tonight's meeting
The following is a letter that has been sent to the Mill Valley City Council, to stress the urgency for our Council to comment on the proposed takeover of all of ABAG's land use and housing planning, by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. I urge fellow Mill Valley residents to attend the Council meeting and make their comments and voice their concerns.
Dear Mill Valley City Council & Neighborhood leaders.
TONIGHT. September 21, 2015; Regarding Agenda Item 8:
| 8. | Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and Association of Bay Area Government (ABAG) Report on Possible Consolidation. |
http://cityofmillvalley.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=&event_id=383&meta_id=37623
Thank you for putting this important item on the agenda. The Staff Report on Item #8 is written as if this is a boring procedural or organizational matter of little consequence. Nothing could be further from the truth. As you'll see from Dick Spotswood’s article, this is a serious "Power play over control of Bay Area's regional governance." For additional analysis from a regional perspective, see the attached article from The Marin Post.
Representatives from ABAG have made it clear that they need the support of every member City and County to stop what they believe is a detrimental and potentially illegal action on the part of MTC, to render ABAG a hollowed out, powerless organization, by stripping it of all its planning functions. MTC’s proposal would severe a relationship that has been in place since the 1970’s and its actions are unprecedented, since land use planning responsibilities rest solely with local COGs in every other municipality in the State of California.
Time is of the essence. Stephanie Moulton-Peters brought this issue up at a previous meeting, and the window for action is rapidly closing. The MTC Board is meeting this Wednesday, on September 23. In a typical display of lack of transparency, the agenda for that meeting hasn't been released. This is what we have to look forward to if MTC is allowed to bully its way into control of both land use and transportation planning at the regional level.
At stake is the significant weakening of local control. Just think about Marin County having only one County-wide rep, selected from among five Supervisors (currently Steve Kinsey), making decisions on behalf of the 260,000 residents. Just one!
Only 1/5 of the population will have any direct link to a decision-maker, or the opportunity to vote him/her out of office if his/her decisions are out of alignment with community values. On the other hand, ABAG has a representative structure that has been greatly strengthened through the efforts of Pat Eklund. Each city has a City Council representative and alternate to ABAG. This increases information flow both to and from local citizens to regional planners in a regional agency. The ABAG model, with admittedly great room for improvement, presently provides greater transparency than the proposed MTC model.
In response to MTC's power play, Assemblyman Phil Ting is quoted in the 48 Hills article saying, " It's time to take a hard look at reforming this (MTC) agency. We need to make it more accountable to the voters, the state, and the region." Concern about this has caused Sacramento lawmakers, at this very moment, to be working on a bill that would radically change MTC and require its board to be directly elected.
Please do not sit on the sidelines with a shrug and a yawn and wait for Council Liaison Jackson to continue to update the Council, as the Staff Report suggests. I urge you to take action in support of local control and to preserve our ability, as a city, to have direct input about land use and housing planning, in the future.
Recommended Action:
- Submit a letter to MTC Chair Dave Cortese before their September 23 meeting.
- Use Pat Eklund's recommendation to provide a full year of funding to allow time to consider alternatives before rushing to a decision. Or follow the lead of the League of Women Voters who write, "at the very least, MTC should honor the existing contract and provide ABAG full funding for its planning efforts, until a mutual solution is reached."