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Free Speech is our Right....Remember? |
Berkeley, CA, United States., May 17, 2012 -
The Institute for
Population Studies (IPS) today announced a website designed to
persuade regional developers, environmental groups, members of the public and
government officials to reevaluate the assertions behind the Plan Bay Area
real estate project, a directive to link land use policy with transportation
infrastructure, per the requirements of California law S.B. 375, theSustainable
Communities and Climate Protection Act of 2008.
The
new website, located at www.PlanBayAreaMyth.org , suggests the plan may
be driven by a small influential faction with financial interests in urban real
estate development, instead of by the social and environmental concerns being
touted, such as carbon emissions reduction, improved air quality, public health
and safety, sustainable job creation, enhanced access to publictransit and
affordable housing options. Visitors to the site are encouraged to sign
a petition requesting a more thorough disclosure of
funders, use of taxpayer dollars in promotion of the plan, inclusion of public
input, and methodologies used in determining the jobs, housing and carbon
emissions data. "Little-known provisions in this plan make it clear
this is business as usual for developers. They're asking us to trade suburban sprawl for
vertical sprawl, while California's environmental goals and
legal protections get trampled. The plan ties billionsinfederal
andregional funding to real estate development, exempts developers from
critical environmental review, places local zoning authority in the hands of a
nine-county panel, loosens affordable housing requirements, and uses a per
capita measurement for carbon emissions instead of total emissions," said
Searle Whitney, IPS President. "Combined, these allowances give
realtors, bankers and developers a green light to build and sell without
community input, as long as it's within one half-mile of a major bus route.
Meanwhile, Bay Area residents are being sold a bunch of environmental
greenwash about cleaner airandless traffic. It simply does not square
with the facts." Specifically, the website says Plan Bay
Area's numbers on job creation, population growth, foreclosure rates and
housing demand were initially based on outdated estimates generated by the California
Department of Finance during the housing bubble that led to the Great
Recession. According to Hing Wong, senior regional planner with the
Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), current projections are based on
"internal modelling," though no information regarding ABAG
methodology for arriving at jobs and housing estimates is available in the ABAG
report, "Jobs-Housing Connection Strategy," revised May 16,
2012. PlanBayAreaMyth.org also shows how the stated carbon
emissions reductions from the plan are implausible and may result in an actual
emissions increase, rendering compliance with California law A.B. 32, the
Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, unlikely. The stated purpose of S.B. 375
is to "enhance California's ability to reach its A.B. 32 goals by
promoting good planning with the goal ofmore sustainable communities."
Officials
for the city of Palo Alto unanimously rejected housing mandates and regional
growthprojections set by ABAG and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission
(MTC), the two agencies responsible for implementing the "Sustainable
Communities Strategy" under S.B. 375. The city's
reasoning was reported as being because "...the regional strategy would
turn Palo Alto into a city of residential high-rises without achieving any
significant environmental benefits." For more information about Palo
Alto's analysis of the plan, read their City Council Staff Report.
Additionally, officials for the city of Corte Madera recently voted in favor of
ending membership to ABAG, citing a lack of local input to the regional real estate plan
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