Tag Archives: mass transportation

Bicycle Riding

I have been riding my bicycle a lot for the past several years. You discover a lot by bicycling and walking.

Walking affords one to really see their surroundings. Each time I walk in my neighborhood I see new things.

Bicycling really allows one to get to places more quickly than walking. It also allows one to see how reckless many automobile drivers are. I’ve known several people who have been hit by cars while on bikes (car drivers’ fault), including my son.

Both forms of transportation afford one more exercise. They both involve more planning and time, but the benefits far outweigh the “benefits” of driving for convenience and is healthier to our bodies, mind and planet.

We need more walkable communities, better mass transportation, and more incentives to walk and bicycle.

My Position on Improving Mass Transit

I am starting to be asked my position on certain issues as my candidacy for Salt Lake County Council takes on its character and I get out and about more. One of the issues is mass transit, how it can be improved, if I support property and sales tax increases to improve it. Here is my position, which can also be read at my campaign website.

Current Spending and Funding:
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Salt Lake County Citizens willing to accept paying more taxes for TRAX

A recent Desert Morning News poll shows that 92% of Salt Lake County citizens polled are willing to pay more taxes to get more TRAX lines added.

A proposal from the Utah Transit Authority calls for residents to vote on a property-tax increase that would cost an average of $95 a year on a $180,000 home. The poll question incorrectly said the $95 increase would apply to a $200,000 home.
The tax increase would allow Salt Lake County to obtain a 30-year bond for UTA to collect $875 million for the expansions. The federal government and UTA would pick up the rest of the expected $1.25-billion tab.

This is a good start towards the shift that people will have to make. Eventually people will have to realize that we will have to pay more taxes to add more bus lines to take people to the TRAX stations – together with riding bicycles and walking more. It’s inevitable.

Here is more info for those who would like to be more involved:

Want to share your opinion on TRAX expansion?

Are you willing to pay more property taxes to pay for TRAX expansion? Contact your representative on the Salt Lake County Council:

• District 1 – Joe Hatch 468-2933
• District 2 – Michael Jensen 468-2932
• District 3 – David Wilde 468-2931
• District 4 – Mark Crockett 468-2937
• District 5 – Cort Ashton 468-2935
• District 6 – Marvin Hendrickson 468-2938
• At Large – Randy Horiuchi 468-2936
• At Large – Jenny Wilson 468-2934
• At Large – Jim Bradley 468-2939

To find your district and e-mail your council representative, go to http://www.council.slco.org.

If you want to hear more, go to the council’s meeting this Tuesday at 1 p.m. No public comment will be accepted. The meeting is in Room N2007 at the county government complex, 2001 S. State.

Poll shows support for increased TRAX lines

According to a Deseret News Poll, a majority of Salt Lake County residents support an increase in property taxes to build four more TRAX lines. This is an increase from a poll taken last fall.

While this is a move in the right direction on the thinking part of county residents, and certainly “baby steps” are in order, it is time for citizens to realize that the whole picture should involved increased park and ride lots in communities, fee-based parking at TRAX stations, and increased bus/shuttle service from the smaller lots to the TRAX stations.

United Parcel Service – tops in converting to alternative fueled vehicles

Today I read a post on another blog entitled UPS leads the way

UPS have announced they are adding 50 hybrid vehicles to their fleet, and 4,100 low-emission conventional vehicles this year. Currently their alternative fuel fleet is 1,500 vehicles, one of the largest in the country. Alternative fuels being used by UPS include natural gas, liquefied natural gas, propane, electricity and hydrogen. The 50 hybrid vehicles will be deployed in Dallas in June and are expected to reduce the fuel consumption by 44,000 gallons over the year, and should reduce CO 2 gases released by 457 metric tons. It would be amazing to think what the effect would be if they converted their whole fleet, when you consider that they delivered 3.6 billion packages and documents in 2004 (internationally).

Read more:
UPS’s plan
UPS’s Sustainability Practices
UPS: Alternative Fuels

Senat Bill 70 – Vigil at State Capitol!

This came in from HEAL Utah. I plan to attend.

We’re down to the last week of the legislative session, which ends March 1st. Governor Huntsman has pledged to veto Senate Bill 70, which should send the bill back to the Legislature on Tuesday, February 28th. That gives the Legislature 2 days to attempt to override the governor’s veto.

Can you be at the Capitol to help stop this? We need to make a stand during the final hours of the legislative session to send a message that we do not want to make it easier to dump nuclear waste in Utah.

Press Conference and Glowstick Rally
Tuesday, Feb. 28th, at 6:15pm
East entrance to the West Building of the Utah State Capitol (this is in the courtyard behind the Capitol building)
We’ll provide the glowsticks!

We believe having a strong citizen presence at the Capitol at the end of the session will force our legislators to be accountable to the people they represent–us. Will the legislature pass a state budget, improve funding for our schools, and deal with the state surplus? Or will our legislators prioritize making it easier for nuclear waste to be dumped in Utah and in the final hours of the legislative session take power away from the governor and give it to nuclear waste dumps like Envirocare?

After the press conference, we’ll head into the galleries of the House and Senate Chambers. If our legislators know a lot of us are watching, they’ll be less likely to try to sneak this override through. Can you join us?

Capitol Vigil
We hope to keep a strong citizen presence going throughout the last day of the session–Wednesday, March 1st. If you have an hour or two that day, sign up to join us at the Capitol between 8:00am and 10:00pm (they end at Midnight). Your presence alone will send a message to our legislators that we’re watching and want them to focus on real priorities. You can also take this opportunity to talk to any your legislators (we’ll have “How-to Lobby” packets to hand-out).

In every district we’ve flyered, the response has been overwhelmingly positive (80-90% of the people we talk to are opposed to SB 70). Yet, this bill passed easily through the legislature. Help bridge this gap. This is our last chance this session to make sure our legislature puts the health of Utahns above the interests of nuclear waste dumps.

(Our final day of flyering this session is this Saturday. Meet us at 11:00am at Pioneer Park at the corner of 400 W and 400 S if you can join us.)

Thank you for staying involved over the past 5 weeks. Let’s finish strong.

John Urgo
Outreach Director
HEAL Utah
68 S Main St, Suite 400
SLC, UT 84101
(801) 355-5055
john@healutah.org

Toll Roads in Utah: Building them for the wrong reasons

Lawmakers in Utah are examining a bill that would permit the building of toll roads. This concept in itself is a good one.

But Utah lawmakers want to pass the bill for the wrong reasons.

The reason for introducing legislation for building toll roads is to raise money to build more roads.

That’s just what we need…..more roads.

NOT.

What we need is a change of mindset and an awakening to the fact that peak oil has occured, global warming is a real issue, and that every American is going to be forced to become less and less dependent on fossil fuel for transportation and other means of existing.

Implementation of the building of toll roads to raise money for more toll roads smacks in the face of living in a fantasy world. Money from toll roads should be put towards better and more mass transportation and alternative energy plans.

Bicycle Program

This came across my email desk yesterday.
———————————————————

This is a community service on a bike program, exploring sustainability, intentional communities and organic farms. Our website is http://www.portlandpeace.org

……………………………………………………………..
SUSTAINABLE ENERGY IN MOTION BIKE TOUR – http://www.portlandpeace.org ……………………………………………………………..
Bike hundreds of miles. Meet incredible people. Participate in amazing service projects. Stay on organic farms and work to promote sustainable food growth practices. Study and work with Native American
communities. Live with the land and camp under the stars.
Change your world, one mile at a time.
……………………………………………………………..
web: http://www.portlandpeace.org phone: 503-239-8426

This summer, you can take an extraordinary journey. Tune up your bike, pack your bags, and join fellow riders from all over the world for an incredible excursion across Oregon, utilizing the most sustainable method of transportation available: your own bike.

* Study and apply the philosophies of permaculture, alternative
building, appropriate technology and sustainable energy.

* Spend time with Native American communities, work with salmon
restoration and indigenous building practices.

* Gain a deeper understanding of how organic food is grown, and
distributed.

* Explore some of the most beautiful places in Oregon while learning
about natural history, deep ecology, and environmental ethics.

* Observe local economics projects and grassroots democracy struggles
in places through which you travel.

* Participate in a traveling community of cyclists coming from all
over North America with a variety of backgrounds but with a shared
longing for a better world.

* Discover consensus decision-making and use it to make collective
decisions within your community.

* Learn about nutrition, health and fitness through long-distance
cycling.

Visit our website for more information and to enter to win one of our one-week tours! http://www.portlandpeace.org / 503-239-8426

Toll Roads

There is talk on The Hill of building a road in the western part of the Salt Lake Valley so that folks could bypass part of the I-15 corridor from I-80. This road would be a toll road.

I am against this, just as I am against the building of the Legacy Highway. We do not “need” more roads. When I drive at night, I cannot see the lines on our freeways – how sad! Where is the road maintenance money spent?

I think the idea of toll roads might be a good one – for existing roads. This would potentially decrease the amount of automobile drivers on our roads and drive up the demand for mass transportation. There are lots of possibilities.

Here is what we need:
– Better road maintenance of existing infrastructure
– Increased funding for increased mass transportation
– Long range goals for mass transportation, including high speed rail lines
– incentives for people who use mass transportation
– fee based parking lots at all rail stations

It puzzles me as to why our legislators continue to advocate funding for more roads. This only creates more development and more opportunities for more cars to be on the road. Our state is regressing in the area of environmental sustainability with regards to transportation.

No more roads!

UTA proposes route **cuts** while touting environmental responsibiltiy

I found out yesterday that the Utah Transit Authority is proposing cuts to midday routes so as to implement an express route from the South (Salt Lake)Valley for commuters. This has a lot of people, including me, upset.

Our valley is becoming more and more unfriendly to public bus riders and, by virtue of UTA’s actions, making mass transportion more unaccessible to the poor.
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