Transactions Newsletter

While the TLC program assists individual Bay Area communities with improving their livability through small-scale, transportation-based projects, numerous efforts are under way to promote community improvements on a regional scale. Here's a brief look at a few of the major efforts.

• The Bay Area Alliance for Sustainable Development, formed in 1998 by 45 leaders of business, environmental and social equity groups and government agencies (including MTC), is striving to forge regional cooperation in transportation, land use, growth management and other areas of common interest. The alliance is seeking comments on its draft Compact for a Sustainable Bay Area, which emphasizes the economy, environment and social equity, and focuses on improving transportation, preserving open space and revitalizing neighborhoods.

• In 1998, three county supervisors from Alameda, Contra Costa and San Joaquin counties joined forces to address their mutual concerns about jobs/ housing imbalances, traffic congestion and air quality. They created the Inter-Regional Partnership (IRP), consisting of 15 elected officials from 60 cities and five counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, San Joaquin and Stanislaus. The IRP promotes commute-reducing ideas: rezone underdeveloped commercial land for residential use, limit new commercial development until housing growth catches up to demand, promote higher density developments near transit hubs, and provide tax incentives for people who live near their work.

• The Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group, made up of major Santa Clara County employers, actively supports residential development and has joined with the county to create a Housing Trust Fund that plans to raise $20 million for first-time homebuyers' assistance, affordable rental housing and homeless shelters.

• The Bay Area Transportation and Land Use Coalition, comprising more than 50 organizations, has adopted a platform that specifies a wide range of activities to address regional concerns regarding transportation, affordable housing, air quality, equity and efficient investment.

• MTC, the Association of Bay Area Governments and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District are developing a partnership that will identify strategies cities and counties can implement to strengthen the link between land use, transportation, community vitality, social equity and environmental preservation.

-- Marjorie Blackwell

Contents

• Cover Story
• Front Page
• MTC Cultivates Community Improvements
• Complete list and descriptions of TLC projects
• Helping the Bay Area Grow Wisely

News Briefs:

• Three Bay Area bridge projects roll, but Bay Bridge design stalls
• What's up for future of Bay Area airports
• Commuter Check® sales set record