Vote No on Measure V V

by Merrilie Mitchell

23 August 2008

The proposed AC Transit parcel tax is unfair in many ways. Measure V V is unfair to low income homeowners, because all homeowners pay the same tax, regardless of income or home value.

Low-income homeowners would pay $96 a year, while affluent renters pay nothing.

At a time when people are losing their homes to foreclosure in record numbers, it is irresponsible to burden financially strapped homeowners with more taxes.

Voters who do not own property should not have the right to levy a 10-year tax on property owners.

If AC Transit needs more revenue, it should increase ridership by offering needed service, rather than focusing on clogging one route (1R) with massive noisy buses that are often empty.

AC Transit should provide Eco Passes for all, a proven moneymaker for transit!

The 1R line is the trial balloon for the controversial BRT (Bus Rapid Transit), with plans for major corridors in the East Bay.

This parcel tax seems to be a back-door attempt to grab millions of dollars for the BRT scheme.

The major benefit of BRT, according to AC Transit literature, is Redevelopment!

The draft EIR for BRT shows it is not Green, and has no significant reduction in energy consumption or air pollution. BRT will use buses that get 3.5 miles per gallon of diesel fuel. We need green, clean-air buses.

It is disingenuous to call this a temporary tax. It will be a tax for perpetuity. The existing AC Transit parcel tax was $48 a year for five years. Now they want $96 a year for 10 years. One can predict with certainty that if this tax is approved, AC Transit will subsequently seek to increase the tax rate again and extend the tax further into the future.

A Greener, Friendlier, Economical Alternative to Bus Rapid Transit

by Merrilie Mitchell

8 April 2008

This is a people-friendly, eco-friendly plan to increase riders and decrease congestion and pollution. It will save millions for transit improvements.

You can do all the above quite simply by using Rapid Bus BUS with Eco Pass instead of BRT for Telegraph Avenue north of Downtown Oakland. Millions saved can restore local buses; enhance transit connections; replace diesel with eco friendly buses; and pilot Eco Pass for all in Planning Area 1 (Northern Alameda County).

Here are the details:

1. Rapid Bus with Eco Pass takes the same time to board as BRT but is a much more flexible system for transit demand management. It does not need multi-million dollar platforms built on Berkeley's narrow streets.


2. Restore the 1R transfer point at 14th and Broadway so Rapid Bus can go north, on Telegraph Avenue without BRT. Improve timing for connecting buses. Increase Rapid Bus to Berkeley during rush hour, every six instead of 12 minutes. Decrease off-peak Rapid Bus as huge empty buses frequent Berkeley while local buses have been decimated generating intense ill will toward AC Transit and Berkeley officials.


3. The millions of dollars saved by not building a BRT project north of Downtown Oakland, could be used toward restoring local buses. And shopper shuttles for business loops such as Shattuck, Solano, etc, would be grand, like the DASH in Los Angeles! Local buses help us shop locally, and increase sales tax to help AC Transit through Measure B.


4. Money saved should also be used for eco-friendly buses to reduce toxic fumes and particulates. Eco-friendly buses would increase ridership while decreasing Global Warming. The large Van Hool buses are considered dangerous and wasteful (at 3.5 miles per gal). The small, 30-foot Van Hool busses, however, are quiet, clean, cute, helping to provide a pedestrian friendly environment. Riders do complain about layout and seating in these buses too, but many people much appreciate the advantages of these over the roaring stinkers.

Eco Pass for residents is long overdue. AC Transit has Eco Passes for UC students and staff, for city employees and businesses, for developments and projects. We need Eco Pass for the local residents and taxpayers. Eco Passes might be financed many ways including parking meter funds, if the notorious city-parking elimination strategist is stopped from taking ours and giving hundreds to UC Berkeley. Eco Passes “spare the fare” and have great benefits—increasing transit use and safety for bus drivers, sparing the air and decreasing global warming, and giving us some long overdue environmental justice.

Commentary published in the Berkeley Daily Planet.

Contents

Links

Contact
(510) 549-1840