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Greenbelt Alliance In the News

April 23, 2004

Greenbelt bicyclists for buses

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The San Francisco-based group is holding its annual 480-mile Bay Area bike ride. Bicyclists stopped in Suisun Valley Thursday - Earth Day - to share their transportation vision for the region.

Solano County could put a half-cent transportation sales tax on the November ballot. The Greenbelt Alliance wants the project list to include plenty of transit.

Express buses. Better transit for seniors and the disabled. More ferries. Better access for pedestrians and bicyclists. Better trains. And care given that the highway projects that do get built don't promote what the group considers sprawl.

"Without transit, we're going to create more traffic and more congestion," said Brent Schoradt, the Solano-Napa representative for the Greenbelt Alliance.

The county can't build its way out of congestion, Schoradt said.

He heard applause from the bikers during a press conference in the middle of Suisun Valley, at Wooden Valley Winery. He'll make the group's pitch to a different audience today.

Transportation leaders are putting together a list of projects for the possible transportation sales tax measure. They've created a community group that will hold its first meeting today at the Jelly Belly Candy Co. in Fairfield.

Schoradt is a group member. So are more than 50 other people, including representatives from businesses, the real estate sector, schools, transit riders, trade unions and taxpayers associations.

A similar effort to put together a project list for a 2002 sales tax attempt showed a divide. Some favored transit and some favored highway construction. Transportation leaders tried to strike a balance. The measure got 60 percent of the vote, but needed two-thirds.

Consultant D.J. Smith has stated the need for this measure to have a star project. That project is likely to be a highway building project: Fixing the congested Interstates 80 and 680 interchange.

The emphasis needs to be on fixing traffic congestion, Smith told transportation leaders late last year. Among the transit projects that did well in his polling was passenger train service on existing tracks linking Suisun City, Napa and the Vallejo ferry.

Supervisor Duane Kromm attended the Greenbelt Alliance press conference. The I-80/I-680 interchange is unsafe and needs to be fixed, a solution that should include carpool lanes and express bus service, he said.

But the project list needs plenty of transit, Kromm said. Even if a roads-heavy measure could win, it would be bad for the long-term health of the county, he said.

Today, the Greenbelt Alliance's views will converge with views from other sectors of the community. Transportation leaders will try to forge an agreement.

Smith has told transportation leaders that polling shows a sales tax measure can pass. But that assumes the political community develops a consensus on the needed improvements, he said. It also assumes the project list resonates with voters, he said.

Reach Barry Eberling at 425-4646 Ext. 232 or at beberling@dailyrepublic.net.

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