A DECISION IS BEING MADE TOMORROW AFFECTING THE NEXT 100 YEARS!!!!

URGENT: PLEASE TAKE ACTION AND CONTACT THE LEGISLATORS BELOW
RIGHT NOW! THERE IS A SAMPLE LETTER AT THE BOTTOM.

SAVE OUR
BRIDGE

URGENT: PLEASE REPOST TO ANYONE WHO CARES ABOUT BICYCLING, PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION, TRAILS, OR THE ENVIRONMENT

San Francisco Bay Area Cyclists, Ecologists, Light Rail and Mass Transit Advocates, Conservationists, and advocates of the Bay Trail are calling on *EVERYONE* to help stop a devastating blow to the Bay Area that would greatly impact the next 100 years of life here.

The decision is being made tomorrow!

The world-famous Bay Bridge is being rebuilt. This is our major transportation artery in the region. If there is not provision for bicycle and pedestrian access; if motorists’ tolls are used to tear down the important Transbay Terminal, tremendously hurting buses and future rail (all for Real Estate interests!); if the bridge is not able to accomodate a return to light rail (the SF Trolley System was one of the most efficient transportation systems in the world before monopoly practices destroyed it); and if the Metropolitan Transportation Commission continues to defy its own policies by prioritizing the looks of the bridge over the function, the Bay Area–which is already suffering tremendously from skyrocketing congestion and lack of bicycle access and lack of good transit, may fall into a truly dark era of business failure and widespread suffering.

THIS CAN *STILL* BE AVOIDED BUT A MAJOR WEAK LINK WILL OCCUR TOMORROW IF WE DON’T STOP IT!!! DO NOT DELAY!!!! CONTACT THE REPRESENTATIVES AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS LETTER BY FAX, EMAIL, OR PHONE. DO NOT WORRY IF YOU ARE FROM A DIFFERENT AREA–TOURISM IS A MAJOR ECONOMIC CONCERN HERE AND WOULD YOU WANT TO VISIT A COLLAPSED BAY AREA?
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Forward: From:
john.holtzclaw@sfsierra.sierraclub.org
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Red Alert on San Francisco Bay Bridge

The draft Senate-Assembly Conference report has just been released. This report is what the Senate and Assembly will enact as their bridge bill. The conference will vote upon on this draft early tomorrow morning (Friday 8 August) so your calls and email are needed tonight.

The provisions which concern us the most:

1. It may bypass (unclear) the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) so that no environmental impact report is required — that means that the public won’t have a chance to review and comment on the design of the bridge or whether it contains bike/pedestrian lanes or light rail. And it’s a horrible precedent.

WE MUST DEMAND THAT THERE BE NO CEQA EXEMPTION.

2. Bicycle/pedestrian lanes and light rail.

The report states: “…local and state permitting authorities shall not impose any requirement that a bicycle, pedestrian, or mass transit facility be constructed on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a condition for issuing any permit, granting any easement, or granting any other form of approval needed, for the construction of a new bridge.” (SEC. 6, 30604.5)

It allocates funds for construction of a “designer” cable bridge and for five 12-foot wide lanes in each direction, with 10-foot shoulders on either side. (SEC. 3 (8) (B & C) The wide lanes lure drivers into dangerously excessive speeds.

It does not allocate funds for construction of a bicycle/pedestrian lane or light rail lane. It does allow the Bay Area Toll Authority to request funding for the bicycle/pedestrian lanes out of toll revenues, but not for a light rail lane. (CHAPTER 4.5, 31015 (a) (3))

WE MUST DEMAND THAT A BICYCLE/PEDESTRIAN LANE AND A LIGHT RAIL LANE BE GIVEN HIGHER PRIORITY FOR STATE FUNDS THAN THE CABLE DESIGN.

3. It allows the Bay Area Toll Authority to request funding out of tolls “for the relocation to the transbay bus terminal” further from downtown. (CHAPTER 4.5, 31015 (a) (2))

WE MUST DEMAND THAT THE TRANSBAY TERMINAL NOT BE RELOCATED FROM ITS PRESENT LOCATION

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Address your comments to the conference committee members listed below:

Senator Quentin L. Kopp (South San Francisco)
State Capitol, Room 2057
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 445-0503
Fax: (916) 323-2186
E-MAIL: Senator.kopp@sen.ca.gov

Dede Alpert (San Diego)
State Capitol, Room 2187
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 445-3952
fax: (916)-327-2188
EMAIL: Senator.Alpert@sen.ca.gov
District phone: (619) 645-3090
Has a good record on the environment.

Assemblyman Kevin Murray (Culver City) State Capitol, Room 4126
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 445-8800
Fax: (916) 445-8899
Email: Kevin.Murray@assembly.ca.gov

Assemblymember Carole Migden (San Francisco)
State Capitol, room 2114
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 445-8077
Fax: (916) 323-8984
Email: Carole.Migden@assembly.ca.gov

Assemblyman Scott Baugh-R (Orange County)
Vice Chair / Transportation Committee State Capitol, room 4177
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 445-6233
fax: (916) 445-2751
EMAIL: repweb@assembly.ca.gov

Senator Richard Rainey.
(Walnut Creek) : no email listed
State Capitol, room 4090
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 445-6083
Fax: (916) 445-2527
Rainey Is respected for being supportive of bicyclists and for being upset over Caltrans’ costs over runs.

Here’s a sample response letter:
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Thursday, August 07, 1997

Senate-Assembly Conference
Re: draft Bay Bridge Bill
Sacramento, CA

Dear Conference Members:

I urge you to make the following changes in the draft bill for
the new eastern span of the Bay Bridge.

1. Under NO conditions should there be a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) exemption. The process of the Environmental Impact Reports and public commentary exist for the public’s interest, and should not be precluded in any bill. This would be an unacceptable precedent.

2. A public project of this magnitude is the most reasonable opportunity to fulfill the need for and the mandate of maximum feasible public access as chartered in the MacAteer-Petris Act of 1956. Any provision excluding or hampering the possibility of a bicycle/pedestrian/wheelchair facility or a mass transit facility (light and high-speed rail) should not be in the bill. The bridge should provide for maximum access before any additional funds are allocated for aesthetics.

3. Under no circumstances should any toll funds be used to move the current Transbay Terminal in San Francisco. The public is better served by the current facility, which is larger, more convenient, maintains the possibility of a Caltrain Connection, and is millions of dollars cheaper to retrofit than to rebuild.