09-09-2008, 05:21 PM
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Site Administrator
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Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Posts: 435
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Calif. Aims to Concentrate Growth to Cut Use of Cars
More glittering California law......
LOS ANGELES -- California is poised to pass the first law in the nation linking greenhouse gas emissions to urban planning, a departure from the growth approach that spawned the state's car culture and urban sprawl.
The measure, known as SB375, aims to give existing and new high-density centers where people live, work and shop top priority in receiving local, state and federal transportation funds. The idea is that such developments check sprawl and ease commutes, in turn cutting the car pollution wafting through the Golden State.
Authored by Sen. Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), the bill reflects California's push to slash its greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020. Sponsors say the measure is part of a much-needed growth policy for a state whose population is expected to swell to 50 million from the current 38 million in two decades.
"Many places across the country have realized that if you just build spread-out developments, with the expectation that everyone will have to drive for everything, it should be no surprise when the result is excessive burning of gasoline," said David Goldberg, spokesman for Smart Growth America, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit group that helps cities and towns plan more workable, environmentally friendly growth.
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"SB375 breaks new ground, because it specifically links that pattern of development to excess driving and what we need to do to address climate change," he said.
Tom Adams, president of the California League of Conservation Voters, one of the bill's co-sponsors, said the legislation would significantly affect a state where affordable housing comes with a two-hour commute and the number of vehicle miles traveled is growing much faster than the population.
"This will be a watershed moment for car culture in California," Adams said. Without reducing the number of miles people drive every day, he added, the state cannot hope to live up to its environmental policies.
Full Story: washingtonpost.com
Tripe.
Never mind that increasing density ALWAYS increases pollution. Just look at where pollution is the worst,.......dense cities. So, yeah.....lets make more of those. But make no mistake, the people pushing this bilge are well aware of this. This legislation is nothing more than forcing social change and forcing people into the "blue state culture".
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