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In a previous post, I stated that C/CAG could be doing more to help people save for retirement. Why would I say that about an organization almost nobody in San Mateo County even knows about? The reason is that the City/County Associations of Governments (C/CAG) is where county politics and policies are made, where the money is, and where the money is distributed.
But why not have C/CAG tell us their side of story
“C/CAG works on issues that affect the quality of life in general; transportation, air quality, stormwater runoff, airport/land use compatibility planning, hazardous waste, climate planning, energy and water resource strategies, and solid waste and recycling. C/CAG operates as a Joint Powers Authority and has membership that includes each of the 20 cities and the County in San Mateo County.“
So far, so good. Lots of Pros there. Quality of Life, Transportation, Air Quality, Climate Planning, Green Streets, Recycling – these guys certainly win the buzzword bingo. But before we hand out bingo prices and awards, let’s check their plans just a little. And for that, we go to their elaborate website and check the slideshow prepared by their PR Team:
1. Woman with a bike helmet
Solid start. Nothing says “Quality of Life” more than people walking or cycling. It also shows understanding for things like ‘active transportation’, ‘climate planning’, or ‘energy strategies’.
But unfortunately there is another side to this messaging as well: Bike Helmet Bullying (BHB).
Very few women in America are cycling, and the whole helmet bullying is just one of the many reasons. Bicycle helmets are a known tool to suppress ridership and make cycling look more dangerous than it is. And that false understanding of bike safety and the bullying and nagging about useless bike helmets keeps women from riding in San Mateo County. More people have Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) when driving or walking, especially on these crooked sidewalks, and especially if they have balance issues – which, by the way, people on bicycles usually don’t have. But try to force all people older than 55 to use a pedestrian helmet or bully them into wearing a helmet in a car. Can you imagine C/CAG making those suggestions with the main reason that NASCAR drivers do it, too?
The third thing wrong with this picture is that bike and scooter shares aren’t really working in America. Without bike lanes, the areas of usefulness are very limited. This means bikes and scooters replace healthy walking trips instead of car trips. Because the redistribution of vehicles is done by huge diesel pickup trucks, the overall carbon emissions are higher than before.
2. Women riding bicycles
Nothing says quality of life more than people riding bicycles. Even people who hardly ever ride associate health, fun, green, freedom, and happiness with such pictures. This picture also gets the bike helmet thing correct. If C/CAG provided better routes that separate bicycles from larger vehicles, no false safety through clown wear or bike helmets would be necessary. Without these tools of ridership suppression, more women will ride and enjoy the same freedom and happiness many old males already seem to have.
3. Sustainable Streets Master Plan
Good Call about ramping up the ‘Green’ here. First, Complete Streets was meant for all people of all ages and abilities, including wide sidewalks, safe bike lanes, and ADA-relevant tools and features. Now, the county has added stormwater-relevant treatment and called them Green Streets. While Redwood City has done a few rainwater projects around new buildings, the big street projects like Hopkins Ave, Roosevelt Avenue, Vera Avenue, and Redwood Avenue spent millions on fairly useless infrastructure but left water pollution or flooding concerns mostly out of the picture.
4. Countywide Local Roadway Safety Plan
Somehow, Sustainable Streets makes streets sound green, safe, and harmless. This project makes them sound dangerous again. In San Mateo, this is an accurate description, as the county seems to be going backward with safety; speeds and volumes are still going up everywhere. This is what Vision Zero used to be, but since only a few US cities actually made progress with this scheme, they had to come up with a new name for it. While Vision Zero was mostly voluntary, it is now a government program supported and promoted by the U.S. Department of Transportation (US DOT).
5. Autonomous Vehicle Pilot Program
C/CAG does indeed have little to no real coordinated concept of improving Roadway Safety in the County. But replacing bad human drivers with “The Most Experienced Drivers in the World” also known as Autonomous Vehicles (AV) could be one move. We can’t speak for all AVs out there, but Waymo has and almost flawless safety record and is programmed to adhere to all traffic laws – this does come with some hope. Then again despite having many companies in the Bay Area working on that technology, the County leadership doesn’t seem too comfortable with that technology just yet. It does not look as if San Mateo politicians favor safety that much.
6. Equity Framework and Action Plan
There it is. You must mention Equity as much as possible if you want to succeed in Public Relations (PR). Bring it early, bring it often, you want to avoid the ‘Action’ part as much as possible though. Because if one of the richest counties in America fixed the equity thing, what else could their PR Team use to pretend-show how the Board of Supervisors pretend-care? Maybe instead of ‘Action’ we could do another mural or something …
7. Community Based Transportation Plan (CBTP)
quote: “The Southeast San Mateo County Community-Based Transportation Plan (CBTP) focuses on the mobility needs of disadvantaged communities in a single, broad Study Area (click here). The Study Area is composed of “Communities of Concern” in East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Redwood City and unincorporated San Mateo County. The last CBTP for the area was adopted in 2005 and was limited to the City of East Palo Alto.“
This plan is supposed to be all about “Communities of Concern,” of course. Which leads to two questions. Has East Palo Alto transportation improved in any way since 2005? Has anybody from the community ever had any input into the Community-Based Transportation Plan (CBTP)?
My guess is no and no. Because if you actually want to check what this plan is all about, the website returns with: Nothing Found – Apologies, but no results were found
And this error is out there for months already – so we know none of the some 50 people on C/CAG’s board or staff ever went back and cared about community transportation. That is very encouraging and comforting to know.
Bringing it all together
This all sounds put together well by a whole PR team of “community outreach” and “community organizer” people with little real quality-of-life background. We already know that the San Mateo County Grand Jury said that C/CAG basically didn’t do their homework on that topic for at least the last 20 years. This means these ‘pictures of people on bicycles riding the green, safe streets of San Mateo County come across as rather disingenuous and phony.
The “Pros” of this website might all be cons (pun fully intended). The “Nothing Found” page might be the most honest page on the whole website.
Editor’s Note: The views and opinions expressed in all blog posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Redwood City Pulse or its staff.
