The Inner Circle:
Michelle Luellen, Project Coordinator
During Michelle Luellen's first year working at Circulate San Diego, she has done everything from conducting community walks in Spanish to co-authoring a strategic planning report for the organization. As a Project Coordinator, Michelle's work includes promoting walking and biking from Chula Vista to Carlsbad while also writing Safe Routes to School outreach and activity plans for San Ysidro and Lemon Grove. Read about Michelle's contribution to Circulate here.
SANDAG's TOD Strategy:
Circulate Writes Policy Letter Outlining Concerns
Transit Oriented Development Forum Hosted By SANDAG
SANDAG released a much anticipated draft Transit Oriented Development Strategy as part of the 2015 Regional Plan earlier this month. The regional planning organization committed to creating a TOD policy in 2011, and has spent the years since then meeting regularly with key stakeholders, hosting workshops and a 2-day implementation forum with speakers from across the country, and even drafted six working papers and two reports to assist in the policy's formation.
Yet, the document released by SANDAG contains no actionable policy changes. It merely outlines areas of policy that SANDAG proposes to “continue,” and areas of potential policy updates that SANDAG proposes to “consider” at unspecified future times. Read Circulate's letter expressing concern with SANDAG's draft TOD policy and our recommendations for how to create a TOD policy here.
TransNet Today Report
Two weeks ago, Circulate San Diego released TransNet Today, a report outlining SANDAG's flexibility to advance transit and active transportation with TransNet dollars. In an article by Joshua Emerson Smith, San Diego CityBeat discussed Circulate San Diego's report TransNet Today:
“SANDAG has broad flexibility to implement Transnet in a way that is more friendly to transit then they have been willing to admit,” said Colin Parent, policy counsel for the transportation think tank Circulate San Diego, which released a study on the issue last week called Transnet Today.
With new emerging funding sources, the study argues, the sales tax can be modified by a two-thirds vote of the SANDAG board to adequately meet the region’s transit needs. A review of the ordinance is mandated every 10 years, with the next review scheduled for 2019.
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