Newsom adopts Wiener's transit lie
Everyone knows that transit is so morally superior to driving that we aren’t supposed to ask about how much it costs.
Pay no attention to the fact that the next light-rail line Portland wants to build will cost nearly $3 billion; planners don’t mention the cost in their presentation of the proposal.
Nor are we supposed to ask whether anyone is actually riding transit. When Portland’s last light-rail line, which cost $1.5 billion, opened a few years ago, transit ridership declined. But that’s no reason to question the next line.
Now we have some new questions we aren’t supposed to ask. A bill signed by California Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday has exempted transit projects from detailed environmental review, meaning we no longer get to find out that the rail project that’s supposed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will actually increase them.
Not surprisingly, the bill was written by state Senator Scott Wiener, who also wants to force single-family neighborhoods to accept high-density transit-oriented developments in their midst.
When President Trump proposes to reduce the red tape required by the National Environmental Policy Act, environmental groups accuse him of “trying to gut the law” and attempting to “weaken” environmental protection measures.
But when Newsom and Wiener do exactly the same thing for transit projects, they are hailed as heroes.
Wiener called his bill a “big win in the fight against climate change.” That’s a great myth; too bad it is a lie.
Almost every rail transit project I’ve ever seen did far more harm to the environment than any benefits it produced...
See also Another lie from Scott Wiener.
Labels: Anti-Car, California, CEQA, Climate Change, Environment, Gavin Newsom, High-Speed Rail, Highrise Development, Muni, Portland, Rail Projects, Scott Wiener, Smart Growth, Trump
posted by Rob Anderson @ 2:30 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
I always like to remind my friends about "fix energy costs" and robert heinlein's good ol concept of "tanstaafl"...
Even those huge power generating windmills in the valley had a significant energy cost to build...takes many years to recover the cost in carbon offsetting wind power. Drive my friends crazy made. Oh and electric cars...i ask them where the electricity comes from. Usually they say solar energy, or hydro or wind...again i remind them of the concrete that went into major dams and the huge slug of energy to make it...
Must suck to completely and utterly fail at every thing you've tried to achieve in life - and to know that failure is the only thing you'll be remembered for. You are a sad, small person and the world will be a better place when you're gone.
If a neighborhood only has a single family, is it really a neighborhood?
Maybe a "Neighhhh" borhood - a horse farm
"Must suck to completely and utterly fail at every thing you've tried to achieve in life - and to know that failure is the only thing you'll be remembered for. You are a sad, small person and the world will be a better place when you're gone."
Otherwise you think I'm doing a pretty good job, right?
You probably already know this, but it turns out that despite the recent media campaign, certain SF constituencies like environmental reviews when they can use it to push their own agendas: https://hoodline.com/2020/09/twin-peaks-partially-reopens-to-cars-as-neighbors-gear-up-for-a-fight.
Wonder if anyone will ask why a CEQA review would be needed to reverse part of an allegedly "temporary" plan?
Because "temporary" is a lie. The city routinely implements an "improvement" on city streets that it declares "categorically exempt" under CEQA, an exemption that is only legitimate for projects that can't possibly have any impact on the environment. See for example the Twin Peaks project.
All these Slow Streets and TETL projects don't qualify for that exemption, since taking away street parking and traffic lanes on busy city streets is obviously an impact on the city's environment.
Recall that the city tried to use the categorical exemption when it illegally rushed the Bicycle Plan through the process in 2005/2006. Judge Busch rebuked the city for their dishonest tactic in 2006.
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