Plan Bay Area is back - this time it's called Plan Bay Area 2040 and we have our first (and perhaps only) opportunity to speak about it at a workshop to be held on the morning of Saturday May 20th. Perhaps it will be theater like before (probably) - but this is our one opportunity for Marin to voice opposition.
- the new plan leads with "we have a housing crisis that requires immediate attention" when really we have an infrastructure crisis requiring attention; we have not kept our infrastructure, especially roads, growing in pace with population. New infrastructure projects focus on rail which people do not prefer and faces adoption challenges.
- Plan Bay Area spent $57 billion to plan for growth in the Bay Area, while taxpayers now pay 12 cents higher and escalating gas taxes to pay simply to maintain road infrastructure without this infrastructure keeping up with needs; for instance even with current funding the Vallejo 37 corridor will not be expanded until the year 2088!
- this is leading to a reduction in quality of life; Marin is built around one overwhelmed arterial - highway 101, while growth in Marin is slow in Sonoma it is not and this is making 101 traffic worse
- the presence of the SMART train is driving and accelerating growth through policy and MTC driven programs; it needs population growth to achieve sustainable ridership
- adding people, which Plan Bay Area drives towards exacerbates the issue
- allocating funding to accelerate and exacerbate growth overlooks major existing acute issues
- Plan Bay Area should be focusing on serving existing taxpayers instead of serving lobbying groups seeking rapid growth.
- Plan Bay Area seeks to solve a plethora of issues including social equity and transportation but in so doing fails to achieve anything. It seeks to shift people to transit, but data shows people are not adopting transit. It is failed social engineering and has not achieved anything but serving those who seek growth
Please make a point of attending the meeting on May 20th at Mill Valley Community Center.