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jpf18
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Joined: 13 Aug 2000 Posts: 347 Location: San Francisco
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cosmoecho
Joined: 21 Jun 2016 Posts: 61
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Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2022 6:09 pm Post subject: Re: TIMMA committee meeting 25-Jan 9a. Agenda and memo posted |
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I cannot see the zoom link. Is it by phone only now? |
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cosmoecho
Joined: 21 Jun 2016 Posts: 61
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Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2022 6:09 pm Post subject: Re: TIMMA committee meeting 25-Jan 9a. Agenda and memo posted |
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I cannot see the zoom link. Is it by phone only now? |
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cosmoecho
Joined: 21 Jun 2016 Posts: 61
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radross
Joined: 10 Apr 2000 Posts: 142
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Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2022 7:47 pm Post subject: |
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The SFCTA is going to ask final approval of the tolls tomorrow so you can pay for access to your State Trust land and the Bay to fund a commuter ferry that provides no benefit to windsurfers, wingers, kiters, and as such, has NO NEXUS.
I don't see a zoom link either. Apparently it will be a call in only. Here is the information all on the SFCTA webpage under "meetings":
Watch www.sfgovtv.org
PUBLIC COMMENT CALL-IN: 1 (415) 655-0001; Access Code: 2496 944 0197# # To make public comment on an item, when the item is called, dial ‘*3’ to be added to the queue to speak. Do not press *3 again or you will be removed from the queue. When the system says your line is unmuted, the live operator will advise that you will be allowed 2 minutes to speak. When your 2 minutes are up, we will move on to the next caller. Calls will be taken in the order in which they are received. Commissioners: Clerk: Haney (Chair), Mandelman (Vice Chair), and Ronen
And/Or you can submit an email by 8:00 a.m. tomorrow and the commissioners will receive it.
Written public comment may also be submitted prior to the meeting by emailing the Clerk of the Transportation Authority at clerk@sfcta.org or sending written comments to Clerk of the Transportation Authority, 1455 Market Street, 22nd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94103. Written comments received by 8 a.m. on the day of the meeting will be distributed to Board members before the meeting begins. |
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radross
Joined: 10 Apr 2000 Posts: 142
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Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2022 7:54 pm Post subject: |
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^^^ Toll Meeting. All the information is at SFCTA.org/events. Click through for the meeting tomorrow on "agenda & documents" |
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jpf18
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Joined: 13 Aug 2000 Posts: 347 Location: San Francisco
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Posted: Tue Jan 25, 2022 11:18 am Post subject: |
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radross wrote: | ^^^ Toll Meeting. All the information is at SFCTA.org/events. Click through for the meeting tomorrow on "agenda & documents" |
SFCTA.org/events says it's canceled, but they added a second entry. At any rate, I sent the following written comment to the Clerk last night, just one aspect of this EIR amendment fiasco:
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To the board,
This written comment is in regards to meeting agenda item #4: "Recommend Approval of Base Toll Policy and Affordability Program and Implementation of the Associated Toll System" and the Base Toll Policy Memo 2022-01-25.
Please include this comment in meeting records.
The Transportation Section of the Final EIR of the Treasure Island / Yerba Buena Island Case No. 2007.0903E Redevelopment Project specifically states:
"Visitors to the Islands, high-occupancy vehicles, and Coast Guard-related vehicles would not be charged a congestion pricing fee.". Page IV.E.45.
This Final EIR is a requirement of CEQA. It is certified by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Effectively dismissing the Final EIR, the proposal in front of the board now claims that "The Final EIR assumed that visitors would be initially exempt from congestion pricing, ...". Attachment 2, page 6.
I urge the board to understand that a Final EIR does not contain assumptions. It is the result of the CEQA process, which keeps the redevelopment project in compliance with the requirements of the law. It is final. Regardless of what SFCTA claims they are authorized to do, material changes with significant impacts such as the proposed reversal of the specific provision of exempting visitors to the islands from congestion pricing would require the invocation of the CEQA process to maintain the lawful progression of the redevelopment project. And the impacts of the proposal would be significant. The proposal in front of the board completely fails to mention existing recreational uses such as kayaking, windsurfing and dog walking, which could not be served by the proposed ferry and transit system. And this is not an unfortunate circumstance for these visitors. The Final EIR (IV.E.29) determines a significant effect to the environment unless adequate transit could be provided, which would trigger CEQA. This is not new to TIMMA and SFCTA, which to my knowledge have repeatedly been made aware of the shortcomings of the proposal, just to be ignored as is evident in the proposal.
Approval of the proposal by the board would mean that the redevelopment project is at risk of progressing with an environmental review that was invalidated by introducing material changes with significant impact to the environment outside of the CEQA process. We have seen this before. 15 years ago, the City and County's efforts to install bicycle racks on sidewalks was delayed for years because the project team had incorrectly determined that a CEQA environmental review was not required. Let's not repeat the mistakes of the past. While the bike rack project snafu may have been a small bump in the road, damaging the redevelopment project could become a much more substantial issue.
Please send the proposal back to SFCTA and TIMMA staff for revision to accurately capture the impacts and to maintain compliance with the law. Or better yet, maintain the integrity of the redevelopment project by keeping the Final EIR unchanged and invest resources in the successful realization of the redevelopment project.
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jpf18
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Joined: 13 Aug 2000 Posts: 347 Location: San Francisco
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Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2022 8:53 am Post subject: Article in the Chrom |
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Article in the SF Chronicle, Jan 25th, 2022
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Motorists-could-soon-have-to-pay-to-enter-and-16804289.php
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Vehicles that Treasure Island via the Bay Bridge could face a $5 one way toll if a plan to implement tolling access to the island is approved.
Tim Hussin/Special to The Chronicle
By mid-2024, people visiting San Francisco’s Treasure Island by car could have to start paying tolls to enter and leave the man-made island as a way to subsidize more transit options in preparation of an expected population boom over the next decade.
Plans to implement a toll on Treasure Island have been in the works for more than a decade, and the tolls’ projected 2024 launch coincides with efforts to develop 8,000 housing units on the island, with the first residents moving in this month.
Under the plan, which is being developed by the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, motorists would have to pay $5 tolls to both enter and leave the island during peak morning and afternoon weekday commute hours on the Bay Bridge. One-way tolls on weekends and during off-peak hours on weekdays would cost $2.50. Access to Treasure Island via car would be free between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. on weekends and 7 p.m. and 5 a.m. on weekdays.
Residents who’ve lived on the island since 2019 will be exempt from having to pay the tolls, though new residents would not. The tolling plan also includes discounted rates for “moderate-income” and “low-income” motorists, similar to a delayed effort by the SFCTA to implement congestion pricing in downtown San Francisco. The tolls wouldn’t apply to motorists who make less than 55% of the region’s median income.
The aim of the tolling plan is two-fold, according to SFCTA planners: Mitigate traffic congestion by discouraging driving to the island, and pay for more public transit as the island’s population grows with added development.
Still, the toll plan remains unpopular among several of the island’s residents and businesses who question its need and are worried about the potentially high costs visitors would incur if they want to visit the island by car. East Bay visitors looking to access the island by car during peak weekday hours, for example, would have to pay $17 in round-trip tolls — two $5 Treasure Island tolls, along with a $7 Bay Bridge toll — to access the island.
Jim Mirowski, owner of Treasure Island Wines, said the toll’s rates and hours of operation as they’re currently proposed “would just kill my business.”
“No customer-facing business is going to be on Treasure Island, essentially, because it’s going to discourage anybody from coming on the island,” Mirowski said.
The costs to get to Yerba Buena Island, which connects to Treasure Island, could be notable is a plan to toll drivers entering and exiting from the Bay Bridge is approved.
The tolls are expected to help fund a menu of public transit alternatives as the money would sustain ferry service from San Francisco to Treasure Island at half-hour frequencies, expanded bus service to downtown Oakland as well as a shuttle service that would transport residents to key destinations on the island.
Treasure Island ferry service will be operated by the Water Emergency Transportation Authority, which runs the San Francisco Bay Ferry, starting in 2024, though will be privately managed in the interim.
The tolling plan would generate about $33 million in toll revenues and cost nearly $18 million to operate over a five-year period, according to city projections. It’s expected to begin operated at a funding shortfall and SFCTA planners project the toll system would become “revenue positive” in its seventh year of operation.
Several island residents and businesses have said they are worried that the transit alternatives funded by the tolls won’t be robust enough to substitute the convenience of driving to the island. It’s a point Supervisor Matt Haney, who represents Treasure Island, acknowledged at a Tuesday meeting of the Treasure Island Mobility Management Agency Committee.
Though the pandemic resulted in steep drops in traffic and congestion across the region, San Francisco officials believe that the return of congestion levels from 2019 — when the issue hit its apex — is imminent, necessitating policies such as tolling and congestion pricing to manage future gridlock in the region.
More for you
Since the pandemic, remote work has flattened congestion peaks during weekday mornings and afternoons, traffic on the Bay Bridge has just about returned to pre-pandemic levels and the region’s weekend congestion, in some instances, has worsened since March 2020.
Specifics about the tolling plan, such as rates and hours of enforcement, are subject to change, and Tuesday’s approval by the Treasure Island Mobility Management Agency was just the latest step in a lengthy bureaucratic process that began in the late 2000s. An SFCTA spokesperson said the proposed toll and discount policies have to be approved by the full Treasure Island transportation board, as well as the Board of Supervisors. Dates for those meetings have not been scheduled.
But Tuesday’s vote gave the county transportation authority’s staff the clearance to begin implementation of the electronic toll collection system that would enforce the policy.
“Just to be clear to folks, we’re not committing right now to launch the toll at a certain time and guaranteeing that that will happen even if there’s not transit in place,” Haney said. “I hear that concern a lot.”
Ricardo Cano is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ricardo.cano@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ByRicardoCano
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The article does not mention the regulatory and procedural challenges that have been pointed out during public comment. I got the impression the commissioners have lost control of the TA's planning work, and simply kicked the can down the road by approving the proposed Base Toll Policy and Affordability Program and Implementation of the Associated Toll System. |
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FishShalami
Joined: 15 Jul 2010 Posts: 1
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windsrf
Joined: 01 May 1998 Posts: 464
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Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2022 12:54 pm Post subject: |
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That toll article appeared in today's printed Chron.
Note this comment in particular:
"It’s expected to begin operated at a funding shortfall and SFCTA planners project the toll system would become “revenue positive” in its seventh year of operation."
Sounds like WETA's typical smoke and mirrors approach....
David |
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