{"id":5657,"date":"2009-12-04T19:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-12-04T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/articles\/life\/socal-confronts-the-sustainability-challenge\/"},"modified":"2009-12-04T19:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-12-04T19:00:00","slug":"socal-confronts-the-sustainability-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/socal-confronts-the-sustainability-challenge","title":{"rendered":"SoCal Confronts The Sustainability Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"

I worked at the Southern California Association of Governments<\/a>, also known as SCAG, for seven years, from 1999 to 2006, but in all those years I never witnessed such a high-level gathering as I saw this week at the SCAG offices. (Truth be told, I didn\u2019t exactly witness it \u2013 it was so well-attended I had to watch it on video from an overflow room. But it was still impressive.) Present in person were no less than two former Governors of the State of California \u2013 Pete Wilson and Gray Davis \u2013 as well as the State Assembly Speaker, Karen Bass, and the Chair of the California Air Resources Board, Mary Nichols. The remainder of the room, which accommodates a couple hundred people, was occupied by elected officials from six counties, regional business leaders, and the chief executives of the County Transportation Commissions (including the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority or Metro).<\/p>\n

The subject of the day was last year\u2019s landmark state legislation, Senate Bill 375<\/a>. This law requires that traditional transportation planning \u2013 coordinated by SCAG under federal law for its six-county region \u2013 be retooled to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transportation through land use changes and other strategies. The speakers generally agreed that the true challenge went beyond GHG reduction to \u201csustainability\u201d \u2013 ensuring that Southern California continues to be livable, safe, affordable, and healthful for our children and grandchildren.<\/p>\n

The challenges are significant. One of the most obvious is money. By asking travelers to consider driving less, SB 375 clearly places emphasis on more use of transit \u2013 just as the state is cutting funding for transit systems. This point was made loudly and clearly at SCAG. Other strategies will also take resources; just to develop plans can be costly to local governments, let alone to implement them.<\/p>\n

Another challenge, technical and esoteric though it may seem, is modeling \u2013 having the tools that can accurately tell us what difference our actions make in emissions of greenhouse gases. SCAG has models that have served us well enough for many years, but without substantial new investment in upgrades, we will essentially be shooting at state-set targets in the dark. SCAG is using existing funding to improve its models, but additional state funding, though approved, is contingent on state bond sales, which are still in a swoon. <\/p>\n

Governor Wilson \u2013 his arrival ironically delayed by traffic \u2013 emphasized that these days most people\u2019s focus is on economic change, not climate change. SB 375, and the overarching state climate change legislation, AB 32, both set long-term goals, but we are faced with short-term realities. The Governor urged caution as these laws are implemented \u2013 even as he acknowledged the irony of asking government to move more slowly than usual \u2013 and reminded the audience that the most important government services are provided at the local level, so lawmakers need to pay special attention to the solvency of cities.<\/p>\n

What does it all mean for Long Beach? SCAG is looking for leadership from \u201cchampion cities\u201d that have already bolstered development around transit stations and encouraged alternatives to single-occupant cars. Long Beach has lots of dense, high-rise development, a fine transit system, a good portion of the region\u2019s light-rail service, and a thriving community devoted to cycling, not to mention many walkable neighborhoods, corridors, parks, and beaches. We also have a Sustainable City Commission dedicated to implementing many more measures to reduce our collective environmental footprint, including carbon. Will all this be enough to reach goals set by the state? That remains to be seen, and I promise to keep you posted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Long Beach has a fine transit system, a light-rail service, and a Sustainable City Commission dedicated to reducing our environmental footprint. Will all this be enough to reach goals set by the state?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-5657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hi-lo","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5657"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6237,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5657\/revisions\/6237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5657"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=5657"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}