The Collector
January 31, 2020
We’re Suing Humboldt County
CRTP has joined a lawsuit brought by Eureka residents who live in the housing that was slated to be demolished by the County in order to build a new parking lot on 4th Street. Although the County has announced that it no longer plans to buy the property, many residents were already displaced, and the remaining residents are living under deteriorating conditions. The lawsuit seeks to force the County to fulfill its legal obligation to provide displaced residents with access to alternative housing that has comparable access to public transit.
Plaza Task Force Makes Final Recommendations
The Arcata task force held its last meeting this week and finalized its report and recommendations to City Council. Among the recommendations: parklets, possible street closures, and shifting some parking off the Plaza. The final report is scheduled to be delivered to City Council on February 19th. Then it will be up to Councilmembers to take action to improve pedestrian design on the Plaza.
CRTP Cosponsors Supervisor Candidate Forum
Candidates for Humboldt County Districts 1 & 2 Supervisor seats answered questions about a lot of important topics on Wednesday night. We asked them their plan to address the climate crisis by reducing the amount of driving in Humboldt. Unfortunately, many of them ignored the premise of the question and only talked about making cars cleaner. (That’s important, but we still need to drive less!) The full video of the forum will soon be available for anyone to watch.
Old Arcata Road On-Demand Transit May Get Easier to Use
A consultant is recommending changes including allowing users to book a ride up to 1 hour in advance (instead of the 24 hours currently required) and providing curb-to-curb service (instead of requiring users to get to a designated pick-up/drop-off location). In its first year, the service only provided 10 rides, and the hope is that these changes would make it more popular. The recommendations will be considered at the Humboldt County Association of Government’s Technical Advisory Committee meeting next week, along with an interim assessment of other potential mobility-on-demand services for the county.
Caltrans Wants to Change Safety Corridor Project
The agency is asking the Coastal Commission to amend its permit, including to add another “auxiliary” lane on northbound Highway 101 between Bracut and Bayside. How long will it take Caltrans to figure out that no matter what word they put in front of it, an extra lane is an extra lane – and that will encourage more people to drive in the future? The hearing is scheduled for February 14th…in Long Beach.
County Airport Trying to Fix Problems
Meanwhile, travel from the airport jumped significantly last year. We don’t want to rain (or fog) on anyone’s parade, but it’s worth remembering that flying is generally the most carbon-intense form of transportation.
Bike/Ped Project Featured in Fortuna’s State of the City Report
Creating safer ways to bike and walk to an elementary school – what’s not to like?
Henderson to Become a One-Way Street at Broadway
Will it to anything to make Broadway less of a death-trap for people walking and biking?
Weekly Street Story Update: A Milestone
As of this week, more than 500 reports have been made on Street Story in Humboldt County! You can make your own Street Story report here.
SB50 Fails in the Senate
The bill, which would have required cities to allow denser housing near transit, had united a diverse coalition behind it, but divided the environmental justice and social justice communities. How will California meet its housing construction goals now? Let’s hope it’s not through the sprawling status quo.
Free Youth Transit Passes for California?
AB1350, which would require transit agencies to provide free passes to anyone under the age of 18, passed the State Assembly unanimously this week. Free bus passes for kids could be a transformative development in many areas. But cash-strapped rural transit agencies like the Humboldt Transit Authority are hoping that the state provides some way to make up for any lost fares.
Huffman Introduces Active Transportation Bill for Public Lands
The bill would set aside 5% of annual funding for transportation projects on federal lands for bike and pedestrian infrastructure.
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.