|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
In a previous post, we established that the City/County Associations of Governments (C/CAG) has a PR Team that is promising a lot of good things:
“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.” [C/CAG]
I tried to look behind the curtain and check out the county’s plans, but right from the start, something looked off. All the pictures on the slideshow look like stock photos taken from slideshows. And only one picture has the smiling faces of politicians. Even someone who has never paid much attention to what politicians do must know they like to do photo ops. If there is any chance to be in a photo with kids, cats, and dogs, some of these politicians will fight each other for that kind of exposure. “You have a bike lane opening, green street celebration, air quality station, or wellness and quality-of-life convention; just send us the invitation, and we will find a politician to come. For pictures with sewage, stormwater runoff or hazardous waste, it might be a little bit harder, but we can try.“
When including land value, the costs of highway expansions for drivers and truckers outweigh the benefits by a factor of three. [ ssti.us ]
That is why I was somewhat surprised they found so many volunteers for a photo about a highway widening. It turns out highway widening is really, really bad. They might come in different forms, names, and sizes. They hide behind names like carpool lanes, express lanes, interchange projects, frontage roads, shoulder widening, or these sneaky auxiliary lanes. But whatever the name is, if it leads to more lanes along the corridor, it’s a highway widening – and those are bad and especially for children. This project increases air pollution, carbon emissions, and health care costs for everybody. And for a photo like this, were all these politicians willing to stand there and smile and be genuinely happy? I guess politicians really are weird.
These campers are way too happy!
This photo raises a lot of questions like:
- How come Belmont council member Davina Hurt, a member of two boards to improve air quality (BAAQMD and CARB), is celebrating the increase in air pollution and cases of childhood asthma? She also calls herself an “environmental advocate.” Interesting.
- How come U.S. congressman Kevin Mullin—who says he favors Public Transportation and RWC Ferry Service—also celebrates the car competition’s acquisition of very expensive infrastructure?
- In what world does it make sense that SamTrans and Caltrain board member Rico E. Medina would celebrate “congestion relief“? Does this mean fewer people will use his public transportation options, leaving him with a much bigger “Fiscal cliff”?
- How come MTA and SamTrans board member David Canepa would celebrate this project while complaining about the same impending Fiscal Cliff?
- How come County Supervisor David Canepa, a champion for equity, would support a project that so clearly hurts communities of concern?
- How come San Mateo council member Diane Papan voted against bike lanes but voted for more car lanes going through San Mateo’s Equity Priority Focus Areas?
- How come CA State Assembly member Diane Papan suddenly “LIKES” children and now supports safer streets, youth health and wellness … and still supports highway widening?
- How did they find enough money to pay for a $600M highway widening but claim empty pockets when it came to $20M for a few ADA-required bike/ped crossings to get safely across that monstrous highway?
- And why would the CEO of an NGO celebrate more air pollution and car violence coming to these low-income neighborhoods?
Yes, the things we do for money …
Was Socrates (470 – 399 BC) right about the County?
Was Socrates correct when he apparently said:
“If one knows what is right, he will do it; nobody wants to be evil.”
“There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.“
In his defense, Socrates lived some 2,300 years before this County and C/CAG were ever created.
But in today’s world, having a PR team working with a public agency seems to indicate that none of this can be explained away by ‘ignorance.’ PR teams work very intentionally and know how to research. They also know how to work against that research, so to speak, governmental disinformation.
More Information
- SSTI: Cost of Highway Widening outweighs Benefits
- PMC: The Freeway Running through the Yard
- IQAir: Car Pollution is causing Asthma
- CCAir: The Hidden Legacy of Highway Expansions
- MIT: Vehicle emissions are contributing to premature Deaths
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.
