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TRANSPORTATION THINK TANK NOTES FROM MARCH 2, 1999
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** NEXT MEETING: Wednesday March 17, 5 pm at CAFE BRASIL **
** 1410 Mission Street in Santa Cruz. All are invited. **
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<> The AGENDA for the March 17th meeting will include discussion by Kim <>
<> Chin and Peter Littman describing the current status of the Highway 17 <>
<> Express Bus, and plans for the future operation (or non-operation) of <>
<> that service. Madeleine Hormann of the County Regional Transportation <>
<> Commission staff, who has also been working on this issue, has also <>
<> been invited to join us for the meeting. <>
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NOTES FROM TRANSPORTATION THINK TANK'S FOURTH (Mar 2) MEETING...
Twelve people attended: Peter Beckmann, Ron Goodman, Dick Little,
Peter Littman, Micah Posner, Emily Reilly, Peter Scott, Janet Singer,
Michael Singer, Richard Stover, Mark Taylor and Dave Walworth,
gathered around the good table in Cafe Brasil once again. It's an
ideal setting---thanks again to Joao Luis Frota.
Richard Stover facilitated the meeting.
RE ADVOCACY BY THE TTT GROUP:
Mike Rotkin's note (sent earlier), urging a greater advocacy role for
the group, stimulated a brief revisiting of the issue:
Emily Reilly re-iterated that she wants the TTT to be a place for
free discussion of ideas, not direct advocacy.
Dick Little expressed a desire for the group to oppose the plan for
a parking structure on the UCSC campus.
Janet Singer likes the idea of TTT as an "oversight" group, providing
resources of information. She and Michael offered their website
(http://www.cruzio.com/~forums/) as a service.
Ron Goodman felt that our "oversight" role allows agency employees to
participate in our discussions.
Dick Little noted that transportation alternatives need to be
attractive; for example, he finds BART a pleasant comfortable ride,
while on some of our old buses he finds discomfort in the hard plastic
seats and the bumpy rides.
Peter Beckmann noted that we can "advocate" by being a resource.
David Walworth did not want our Mission Statement to contain
explicit mention of the reduction of the use of automobiles, and
preferred that we advocate a more positive line, such as improving the
quality of life.
Micah Posner liked our Mission Statement.
We agreed not to change it, since we have already agreed on this final
version:
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** To improve the quality of life by reducing the use of automobiles:
** by educating ourselves and the public;
** by generating ideas for more effective transportation;
** by crossing traditional political, geographical and
psychological boundaries.
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All told, we re-affirmed our role as more of a resource provider than
as a group to engage in direct political advocacy for particular
issues of the moment such as the Route 1 widening or the UCSC parking
structure. The Mission Statement appears to state our goals and role
sufficiently clearly. This will, of course, not prohibit those who
might attend TTT meetings from expressing and advocating their own
personal views.
RE TIME AND DATES FOR FUTURE MEETINGS:
Based on the results of our recent poll, which showed a strong
preference for Wednesdays at 5 pm, we decided to hold future meetings
on the FIRST and THIRD Wednesdays of the month at 5 pm, at Cafe
Brasil. Our meetings will therefore take place at this time unless
specially noted otherwise.
RE AGENDA FOR THE MARCH 17TH MEETING (EVERYONE IS INVITED):
Peter Littman said that Kim Chin of SCMTD plans to have material for a
presentation regarding the status of the Highway 17 Express Bus. The
contract for this service is scheduled to terminate this coming June,
unless it is renewed by the appropriate authorities. It is timely
that our TTT is taking up this matter now, at its formative stage.
DISCUSSION RE FUTURE TTT ACTIVITIES:
(a) FORUMS:
Several people expressed an interest in sponsoring a public forum on
some relevant transportation issue. Peter Scott noted that it would
be good to invite Linda Wilshusen, Executive Director of the Santa
Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission, to describe the
activities and responsibilities of that body. [[Added note: the
SCCRTC WEB PAGE:
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<> http://sccrtc.org <>
<><><><><><><><><><><><>
provides extensive information and lots of relevant links for those
able (and of the temperament) to log on to it.]]
Janet Singer recalled attending a Sierra Club sponsored forum on water
issues in Santa Cruz County held about a year ago at the Patagonia,
and noted that we might model one after that, and also found the
recent film shown by People Power ("Taken for a Ride", also at
Patagonia (see the announcement in our last TTT notes) informative.
Micah Posner, who operates "PedEx", said that PedEx does flyer
distribution. He would also like to see a forum; wants to hear what
various visions are, even from CalTrans.
(b) OTHER POSSIBLE PROJECTS:
Dave Walworth would like to address the issue of PARKING.
Micah Posner noted that he is working with the City Council on
possible revisions to the City's Parking Ordinance.
Peter Scott described the theory of "Ecology of Micromotives" in which
each individual of a group acts in his or her own interest to reach an
end result that is not ideal. This is a generalization of the
"Tragedy of the Commons". For example, if only a few folks drive
around in cars, the effectiveness of transportation for those few is
enhanced, but if too many do it, the result is gridlock, and difficult
to untangle. There are lots of examples of this phenomenon.
Dick Little suggested that we produce a dictionary that translates
transportation bureaucratese into plain English.
Ron Goodman began to feel that our meeting was too "stream of
consciousness" and was not accomplishing much, but Peter Beckmann and
Peter Scott reassured him that such was not the case. In any event,
we will have a printed AGENDA for our next meeting.
Our next meeting (as noted above) will be March 17 at 5 pm at Cafe
Brasil, 1410 Mission Street in Santa Cruz (a block and a half East of
Bay on the inland side). The Route 17 Express Bus Service will be
discussed.
-- Peter Scott, note-taker.