The Collector
July 12, 2024
Next Wednesday, the Arcata City Council is scheduled to take its final votes on the city’s updated General Plan, along with the Gateway Plan and Gateway zoning code. If you’ve been reading CRTP’s emails over the last few years, you know what a big deal this is. By adopting robust parking reforms, modernized design guidelines, and streamlined approval processes, these new documents will make it much easier to build walkable, affordable, transit-supportive housing in our town. They also significantly strengthen the city’s commitment to transportation safety, equity and sustainability.
Adoption of these plans will mark a significant milestone in the city’s efforts to fight climate change and build a healthier and more equitable community. Since the Councilmembers have already reviewed the documents and had the opportunity to request changes, we have high hopes that the plans will be adopted. But it’s not a sure thing! If you’re available next Wednesday evening, please
attend the meeting to voice your support; otherwise, we encourage you to
contact the City Council with your support before the meeting.
Humboldt County has been talking about a new sales tax measure aimed mostly at road maintenance for over a year, and
CRTP has been advocating since the beginning for transit funding to be included. Local transit funding is critical because, just as the county has been saying about roads, state transit funding is never enough to support a high quality system and is
subject to the whims of state officials. But the Board of Supervisors is scheduled to finalize the tax measure in less than two weeks, and despite our efforts, the county’s public messages about the tax so far have offered little more than lip service to public transit. So CRTP and our allies from EPIC, RCCER, the NEC and 350 Humboldt put out a clear public message this week: a tax that funds roads but not public transit would be neither fair nor climate-friendly, and we can’t accept that.
CRTP knows that bike and pedestrian safety can be a particular challenge in tribal communities. The recent national
Dangerous by Design report showed that Native communities have the highest rates of pedestrian fatalities compared to any other racial/ethnic group. We wanted to take this opportunity to remind you that that the Street Story tool has been adapted to be used in and by tribal communities in California. When choosing an area you would like to make a report, you can click “tribal” and select which tribal community you would like to report in. Street Story provides the opportunity for tribal communities to have an active voice in the safety of their streets and the people on them.
Eureka’s Design Review Committee is supposed to review the aesthetic qualities of new development. Parking is not in their jurisdiction. But at a meeting this week, it was clear that if they had been allowed to, members of the committee would have required a new senior housing project to build more parking, possibly in the form of an underground garage. A few years ago, the city might very well have imposed such a requirement. And since
building underground parking can add $50,000 or more to the cost of each apartment, such a requirement would have killed the project and prevented 44 much-needed affordable senior apartments from being built. Thankfully, state and local laws now prevent the city and its committees from imposing such outrageous parking mandates for a project like this.
News from Beyond the North Coast
Active Transportation Program Funding Still Facing Steep Cuts
Until recently, due to state budget cuts, California’s main program for bike and pedestrian infrastructure was slated to have its funding almost eliminated for the next two years. Thankfully, $200 million was restored in the final budget. But that still leaves the program $400 million short, and even when fully funded, it was never enough to meet statewide needs. Nevertheless, next week, you can weigh in at a public workshop on how the limited funds should be spent.
More on the Caltrans Complete Streets Bill
As we reported last week, SB 960 was substantially weakened by the Assembly Transportation Committee. But our friends at CalBike point out that the bill would still represent some progress toward safer state highways, and still faces an uncertain future. You can find out more and take action here.
The Collector is CRTP’s weekly transportation news roundup, published every Friday. We focus on North Coast news, but we also include relevant state, national and international transportation news – plus other items that we just find kind of interesting! To submit items for consideration, email colin@transportationpriorities.org.
