League of Women Voters of the Bay Area Education Fund 40THANNIVERSARY BAY ARea MONITOR YEAR Reviewing Regional Issues April/May 2015 Volume 40, Number 5 Since 1974-75 Bay Area Monitor History, Part IV By Leslie Stewart The decade between 1995 and 2005 The region continued to have problems included the dot-com bubble, 9/11, meeting its ozone reduction goals, and the birth of social media. And in but a new statewide plan to increase the Bay Area, as seen through articles the number of “clean vehicles” was in the Bay Area Monitor, these years being implemented, and the terms EV also included hydrogen fuel cell buses, (electric vehicle), LEV (light electric Caltrain’s “Baby Bullet,” and the first vehicle), and ZEV (zero-emission push to address climate change. vehicle) entered the acronym list for the Several themes dominated Monitor. Reformulated gasoline was Monitor coverage during that another solution, although the additive period: environmental protection, MTBE (methyl tertiary-butyl ether) infrastructure (from transportation to proved to have its own environmental water supply), and integrated regional side effects. planning. Articles in 1995 discussed Air particulates drew increased air toxics, earthquake preparation, attention, and in 1998, the Bay Area Air and the linkages between land use, Quality Management District passed a transportation, and air quality. The resolution establishing a model wood themes may not have changed, but the smoke ordinance that local governments strategies did. By 2005, some of the could adopt to protect their residents. topics were regulating idling vehicles, To combat particulates from diesel intelligent transportation systems, and exhaust, Air District grants enabled the health impacts of development purchases of cleaner freight trucks patterns. and buses (both for schools and mass Two decades after the country transit). In 1999, the Monitor first wrote began paying significant attention to about air pollution as an environmental environmental protection, agencies justice issue. By the early 2000s, the in the mid 1990s were reducing water Air District began regulating refinery pollution from construction runoff, flares, a high priority for environmental monitoring pollutants in the Bay, and justice advocates, and in 2005, the changing treatment for drinking water. agency introduced its Community Air Military bases and old industrial sites Risk Evaluation (CARE) program for were targeted for cleanup and re-use. highly impacted communities. Monitor articles began covering a Contents range of environmental issues: invasive Bay Area League Day Page 3 species (both plants and aquatic Priority Development Areas Page 4 “critters” in ballast water), endangered Water and Energy Page 5 species in parks, and the impact on Methane Measurements Page 7 wildlife from public access to waterfront continued on page 2 2 - Bay Area Monitor April/May 2015 Bay Area Monitor History, Part IV (from page 1) areas. The energy crunch in 2001 was a topic, as well as water facilities and pipelines throughout the region. The East plans for desalination projects in 2004 and a regional water Bay Municipal Utility District constructed its Southern Loop planning group in 2005. Pipeline starting in 1998, followed by a reconstruction of the Environmental protection faced new challenges brought Claremont Tunnel through the East Bay Hills, and in 2002 on by regional growth. Aided by funding from local voter- the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission approved the approved “self-help” transportation sales tax measures and Hetch Hetchy Water System Improvement Program. bridge tolls (including Regional Measure 2 in 2004, which These seismic projects, together with the planning for assigned bridge toll the replacement of money to regional the Bay Bridge, were projects), new a constant reminder infrastructure projects of the impacts of the were hitting the 1989 earthquake, and drawing boards in the new regional disaster hope they would offset plans were a regular traffic congestion topic in the Monitor — and accompanying earthquake planning pollution. Caltrain for transportation in introduced the “Baby 1999, for airports in Bullet” express trains; 2001, water agency the first plans for the pipeline interties in Sonoma-Marin Area 2003, and post-quake Rail Transit (SMART) water supplies in system were approved, 2004. A more general Caltrain introduced its “Baby Bullet” express trains in 2004. as well as the schedule photo © Caltrain - Chuck Fox regional disaster plan for replacing the was created by the Transbay Terminal. Carpool lanes were expanded, and Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) in 2004, the first toll lanes were approved for the South Bay. In incorporating lessons from the Oakland Hills fire of 1991 and 2002, as the result of its two-year Bay Crossings Study, the the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Transportation Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) concluded agencies and the Port of Oakland also did security plans that constructing a new bridge connecting the East Bay and after 9/11. the Peninsula would be impractical. One possible alternative, Disaster plans and an airport plan update were small ferries, received coverage in many Monitor articles over compared to two regional plans developed during this this period. At the end of 2003, the ultimate infrastructure period. In 2001, five regional agencies had established the Bay project, high-speed rail, was added to the mix. Area Smart Growth Strategy, and by 2003, Transportation Meanwhile, existing infrastructure benefited from 2030, a 25-year transportation plan, was underway. The preservation efforts, as engineers implemented seismic Monitor covered workshops around the region for both retrofits and upgrades to the Golden Gate Bridge and at plans, following earlier coverage of “livable communities” Published six times a year by the League of Women Voters of the help sustain the Monitor. Donations are tax-deductible, as the League of Bay Area Education Fund, the Bay Area Monitor covers transportation, Women Voters of the Bay Area Education Fund is a nonprofit 501(c)3 air quality, water quality, open space, and land use issues in the organization. The Monitor is also supported by the Alameda-Contra nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. The publication is distributed Costa Transit District, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, to League members, elected and appointed officials, government the East Bay Regional Park District, the Metropolitan Transportation employees, libraries, media outlets, nonprofit organizations, business Commission, the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board and the San leaders, and engaged residents. Every edition is also posted online at Mateo County Transit District, and the San Francisco Bay Area Water www.bayareamonitor.org. Emergency Transportation Authority. For more information, call Subscriptions are free, but reader donations are appreciated and (510) 839-1608 or e-mail [email protected]. April/May 2015 Bay Area Monitor - 3 and regional planning. Related articles later examined the relationship between water and land use, balancing smart League Day Addresses Climate Change growth and social equity, access to health care for non- drivers, mobility for seniors, and planning for pedestrians. Smart growth plans depended on reducing single- occupancy vehicle use. A regional bicycle plan was completed in 2002, and that same year, car-sharing was introduced to the region. Transit “connectivity” — improving the transfer points between systems — was an important issue for both MTC and League of Women Voters groups around the region in 2004. David Schonbrunn, a Bay Area transportation activist, recently commented, “One of the best things the League has done was [LWVBA President] Eva Bansner’s research and advocacy on transit hubs. It was a great project and should have gotten more attention.” Transportation improvements were planned specifically along corridors, integrating concepts like bus rapid transit, and there was an increasing emphasis on “transit-oriented development,” including a push for station-area planning to guarantee ridership to new rail stations. After several years of debate over merging MTC and ABAG, the agencies’ partnership on the smart growth plan smoothed the creation of a Joint Policy Committee in 2005. The new coordinating group, initially focused on smart growth and sustainability, also included the Air District. Between 1995 and 2005, the region’s growth was funded increasingly by local sources: user fees, tolls (Regional Measure 2), parcel taxes (by park districts), and sales taxes for transportation. Concerns about pollution were transformed into a push for healthy, sustainable communities. TheMonitor covered more regional and sub-regional agencies than ever before. Topics ranging from regional impacts of casinos to urban agriculture kept things lively for the editorial staff, but the editor’s favorite feature was probably the annual roundup of “bright ideas” from a multitude of sources. Like climate protection, which made its debut in the Monitor in 2005, these ideas were often the beginning of something new and important. Leslie Stewart is the most recent former editor of the Bay Area Monitor. In commemoration of its 40th anniversary year, she has On January 31, the League of Women Voters of the Bay Area held its annual Bay Area League Day, featuring 10 speakers including been writing a series of articles about the publication’s history, (clockwise from top left) the Natural