Press Releases

For Immediate Release

MTC Chair Steve Kinsey to Address National Press Club

Contact:

Randy Rentschler
510.817.5780

John Goodwin
510.817.5862

OAKLAND, Calif., Dec. 1, 2004...Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) Chair and Marin County Supervisor Steve Kinsey tomorrow will address the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on making pedestrian safety a priority in federal transportation policy. Kinsey’s address will be part of a Surface Transportation Policy Project (STPP) event to release the organization’s Mean Streets 2004 study, which will rank every metropolitan area in the United States on the basis of pedestrian safety. The Mean Streets study also will identify populations with disproportionately high pedestrian fatality rates, and make specific recommendations for federal, state and local policymakers to improve pedestrian safety and walkability.

Pedestrian safety initiatives to be discussed by Kinsey include California’s Safe Routes to School program, which recent legislation extended on a pilot basis until 2008. Initiated in Marin County, this program has proven to be an effective way to reduce peak-hour congestion near schools and to create hospitable walking and bicycling environments for children. Congress is now considering legislation that would create a similar program nationwide.

MTC’s newly released Draft Transportation 2030 Plan for the San Francisco Bay Area includes an historic $200 million commitment for improvements to pedestrian and bicycle facilities throughout the nine-county region. The draft plan also provides $27 million annually to MTC’s Transportation for Livable Communities/ Housing Incentive Program (TLC/HIP) initiative, which funds the planning and construction of pedestrian, bicycle and transit access projects to revitalize the Bay Area’s downtowns and neighborhoods.

STPP is a nationwide coalition of organizations working to expand transportation choices. Other speakers at the Thursday press event will include STPP president Anne Canby; Maryland General Assembly delegate William Bronrott; Dr. Georges C. Benjamin, M.D., FACP, executive director of the American Public Health Association and board member of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety; AARP board member Dr. Byron Thames; Patrick A. Miller, Ph.D., FASLA, president of the American Society of Landscape Architects; and Paul Farmer, executive director of the American Planning Association.

MTC is the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area’s transportation planning, coordinating and financing agency.

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Note to Editors: A media conference call will be held at 9 a.m. (PST) on Thursday, Dec. 2 for reporters who cannot attend the Washington news conference. The conference call will include Anne Canby, Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, and several of the news conference speakers. The call-in number is 888-872-2038, access code 2030#.

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