Crossposted at Daily Kos
Are you ready for commuter rail in the Norther San Francisco Bay Area?
Measure Q will pass a 1/4 cent sales tax to help pay for the planning, implementation, construction, and start up of a quiet efficient Diesel Multiple Unit commuter train.
But to levee this tax, we need a super majority in our two counties, Sonoma and Marin.
Calling all train lovers, traffic haters, tree huggers, money grubbers, and especially all able bodied, sharp minded, and generous SF Bay Area Kossaks!
LETS PASS MEASURE Q!
27 Days Left!
Take ACTION:
JOIN THE MAILING LIST
DONATE
VOLUNTEER
ENDORSE
WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
JOIN THE FACEBOOK GROUP
Jump:
_______________
Crossposted at Daily Kos
NEWS
The Marin IJ endorsed Measure Q in an opinion piece last night. This is only a little piece of news because 1: SMART is going to win every endorsement there is to win, because of the near mandate it has in both Marin and Sonoma counties, and 2: because I'm sure a more formal and stern endorsement will come later from the editorial board. But still, it is something to be happy about.
Take ACTION:
JOIN THE MAILING LIST
Get up to date on whats going on with SMART through their mailing list!
DONATE
Fork over some cash if you believe in commuter rail!
VOLUNTEER
Give up some of your valuable time to phonebank or help the campaign gain the 66.7% of the elctorate it needs to win!
ENDORSE
An easy way to show a little bit of support, for those of you swamped by other more urgen endeavors!
WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Get some easy and cheap positive press out there for SMART!
JOIN THE FACEBOOK GROUP
Another EASY way to show support for those of you crunched for time or money, or for those of you only mildly interested because you don't live in Sonoma or Marin Counties.
Get INFORMED:
Go to the Marin Independent Journal's Website (the local newspaper for Sonoma and Marin Counties), and check out the archives for past and present information and opinion iece written about SMART. This is a Great way to get up to speed with what's going on in this last month of the campaign.
Check out the SMART District Website. They have tons of information including the EIRs and a series of White Papers that answer detailed questions.
Also, Check out the SMART Campaign Website. They are another source of information.
Check out my humble little blog, Make_The_SMART_Choice, for a little bit of commentary and analysis.
27 Days left!! Vote Yes on Measure Q! Lets get this thing passed!
/SystemAnomaly
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
The IJ Recommends a yes vote on Q
Good (albeit, probably expected what with the near super-majority approval) news from the Marin Independent Journal. They endorse a yes vote on Measure Q!
Measure Q is the way to get SMART rolling
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
ACTION: The Future of Commuter Rail in the Bay Area: SMART
Are you from the San Francisco Bay Area?
Are you a fan of commuter rail?
For those of you in the East Bay and San Francisco area, do you ride BART, and love it?
For those of you in the North Bay, counties Sonoma and Marin, Sitting in your cars and buses for hours on end on one of the most congested highways in Northern California, do you Envy BART?
If you do, look below the fold for the first of many pre-election awareness and action calls for the future of commuter rail and alternative mass transit for the North Bay.
I present to you a series of resources and action-calls on The Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit District's proposed commuter rail line: The SMART Train.
Jump for the bright future of commuter rail in the Bay Area:
____________________
Some of you may be asking, what is the SMART Train? First I think we better start with the Sonma-Marin Area Rail Transit District. The SMART District is a transportation district that was formed in 2003 by California State Assemby Bill 2224.
The Board and its staff are charged with the task of
In essence, the SMART District has proposed
To do such, they have gone through rigorous efforts to get a 1/4 cent sales tax levied in both Sonoma and Marin Counties, in an effort to raise the money necessary for the planning, implementation, and start up of service throughout a 20 year period.
Obviously, here in California, a sales tax is one tough cookie to get passed by a general vote. They need a super majority to have this tax measure pass.
In fact, this issue has been on the ballot before, 2 years ago. Despite the tireless efforts of the staff, nay sayers, NIMBYs, and a a couple of flubs here and there made the SMART tax, then Measure R, miss its required super majority by fewer than 2 percent.
That cannot, and hopefully will not happen again this year.
Stick with me North Bay Kossaks as I explain some fundamentals about North Bay life to those with a general interest in commuter rail.
The North Bay is a beautiful place to live. We who're lucky to live here count our blessings everyday. But if there is one thing wrong with the Counties we call home, it would be the traffic. We have only one main strip of highway (Highway 101), and this single corridor services any and every major city and town North of San Francisco. Millions of people live in our two counties, and on top of thousands of people commuting via Highway 101 into San Francisco each day, there is also torrents of inter- and intra-county commuting. Per SMART's website:
This 1/4 cent sales tax increase will be on the Marin and Sonama County ballots again this year as Measure Q. The staff has worked incredibly hard over the past two years to shore up the proposal, and have done their best to address the issues the public cared most about two yeas ago. They have provided a number of EIRs (Environmental Impact Reports) that thoroughly examine potential benefits and maleffects of the proposal, and the net result is that this train can and will be a huge help for the North Bay.
It will lessen our environmental impact (kinda important since Marin claims to be one of the greenest counties around).
It will provide a cheaper alterntive for commuting (4$ for a one way ticket, or the same amount you'll pay to cross the Golden Gate Bridge, think of the money saved on gas!).
It will be a huge improvement for commuter's lives (howabout a 45 minute train ride, with the ability to rest, work, or enjoy one's self, rather than spend 1.5 hours in traffic).
This thing has to pass!
That's why I write here, on Daily Kos, to see if I can whip up some support for the future of commuter rail in the Bay Area.
And for the next 28 days, I will be posting this call to action in an effort to raise money, raise awareness, and stir voter turnout for this very important commuter rail referendum.
29 DAYS TO GO!
Take ACTION:
JOIN THE MAILING LIST
Get up to date on whats going on with SMART through their mailing list!
DONATE
Fork over some cash if you believe in commuter rail!
VOLUNTEER
Give up some of your valuable time to phonebank or help the campaign gain the 66.7% of the elctorate it needs to win!
ENDORSE
An easy way to show a little bit of support, for those of you swamped by other more urgen endeavors!
WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Get some easy and cheap positive press out there for SMART!
JOIN THE FACEBOOK GROUP
Another EASY way to show support for those of you crunched for time or money, or for those of you only mildly interested because you don't live in Sonoma or Marin Counties.
Get INFORMED:
Go to the Marin Independent Journal's Website (the local newspaper for Sonoma and Marin Counties), and check out the archives for past and present information and opinion iece written about SMART. This is a Great way to get up to speed with what's going on in this last month of the campaign.
Check out the SMART District Website. They have tons of information including the EIRs and a series of White Papers that answer detailed questions.
Also, Check out the SMART Campaign Website. They are another source of information.
I will be posting again, hopefully everyday up until election day, to remind everyone interested that there are ways they can help get Measure Q, the future of commuter rail in the Bay Area, passed on November 4th!
Here's to Commuter Rail! Here's to SMART!
Let's make the SMART choice guys and gals. Lets pass Measure Q!
/SystemAnomaly
Crossposted at Daily Kos
Are you a fan of commuter rail?
For those of you in the East Bay and San Francisco area, do you ride BART, and love it?
For those of you in the North Bay, counties Sonoma and Marin, Sitting in your cars and buses for hours on end on one of the most congested highways in Northern California, do you Envy BART?
If you do, look below the fold for the first of many pre-election awareness and action calls for the future of commuter rail and alternative mass transit for the North Bay.
I present to you a series of resources and action-calls on The Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit District's proposed commuter rail line: The SMART Train.
Jump for the bright future of commuter rail in the Bay Area:
____________________
Some of you may be asking, what is the SMART Train? First I think we better start with the Sonma-Marin Area Rail Transit District. The SMART District is a transportation district that was formed in 2003 by California State Assemby Bill 2224.
The Board and its staff are charged with the task of
planning, engineering, evaluating and implementing passenger train service and corridor maintenance from Cloverdale to a Ferry Terminal that connects to San Francisco.
In essence, the SMART District has proposed
rail service along 70 miles of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad alignmentand
building a new bicycle/pedestrian pathway linking [those] 14 rail stations.
To do such, they have gone through rigorous efforts to get a 1/4 cent sales tax levied in both Sonoma and Marin Counties, in an effort to raise the money necessary for the planning, implementation, and start up of service throughout a 20 year period.
Obviously, here in California, a sales tax is one tough cookie to get passed by a general vote. They need a super majority to have this tax measure pass.
In fact, this issue has been on the ballot before, 2 years ago. Despite the tireless efforts of the staff, nay sayers, NIMBYs, and a a couple of flubs here and there made the SMART tax, then Measure R, miss its required super majority by fewer than 2 percent.
That cannot, and hopefully will not happen again this year.
Stick with me North Bay Kossaks as I explain some fundamentals about North Bay life to those with a general interest in commuter rail.
The North Bay is a beautiful place to live. We who're lucky to live here count our blessings everyday. But if there is one thing wrong with the Counties we call home, it would be the traffic. We have only one main strip of highway (Highway 101), and this single corridor services any and every major city and town North of San Francisco. Millions of people live in our two counties, and on top of thousands of people commuting via Highway 101 into San Francisco each day, there is also torrents of inter- and intra-county commuting. Per SMART's website:
ranked by Caltrans as one of the most congested freeways in the Bay Area.As such, Highway 101 has a degrading effect on the environment, on our pocketbooks, and on our quality of life.
This 1/4 cent sales tax increase will be on the Marin and Sonama County ballots again this year as Measure Q. The staff has worked incredibly hard over the past two years to shore up the proposal, and have done their best to address the issues the public cared most about two yeas ago. They have provided a number of EIRs (Environmental Impact Reports) that thoroughly examine potential benefits and maleffects of the proposal, and the net result is that this train can and will be a huge help for the North Bay.
It will lessen our environmental impact (kinda important since Marin claims to be one of the greenest counties around).
It will provide a cheaper alterntive for commuting (4$ for a one way ticket, or the same amount you'll pay to cross the Golden Gate Bridge, think of the money saved on gas!).
It will be a huge improvement for commuter's lives (howabout a 45 minute train ride, with the ability to rest, work, or enjoy one's self, rather than spend 1.5 hours in traffic).
This thing has to pass!
That's why I write here, on Daily Kos, to see if I can whip up some support for the future of commuter rail in the Bay Area.
And for the next 28 days, I will be posting this call to action in an effort to raise money, raise awareness, and stir voter turnout for this very important commuter rail referendum.
29 DAYS TO GO!
Take ACTION:
JOIN THE MAILING LIST
Get up to date on whats going on with SMART through their mailing list!
DONATE
Fork over some cash if you believe in commuter rail!
VOLUNTEER
Give up some of your valuable time to phonebank or help the campaign gain the 66.7% of the elctorate it needs to win!
ENDORSE
An easy way to show a little bit of support, for those of you swamped by other more urgen endeavors!
WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Get some easy and cheap positive press out there for SMART!
JOIN THE FACEBOOK GROUP
Another EASY way to show support for those of you crunched for time or money, or for those of you only mildly interested because you don't live in Sonoma or Marin Counties.
Get INFORMED:
Go to the Marin Independent Journal's Website (the local newspaper for Sonoma and Marin Counties), and check out the archives for past and present information and opinion iece written about SMART. This is a Great way to get up to speed with what's going on in this last month of the campaign.
Check out the SMART District Website. They have tons of information including the EIRs and a series of White Papers that answer detailed questions.
Also, Check out the SMART Campaign Website. They are another source of information.
I will be posting again, hopefully everyday up until election day, to remind everyone interested that there are ways they can help get Measure Q, the future of commuter rail in the Bay Area, passed on November 4th!
Here's to Commuter Rail! Here's to SMART!
Let's make the SMART choice guys and gals. Lets pass Measure Q!
/SystemAnomaly
Crossposted at Daily Kos
One of the best things to do
If you guys want to do something really informative , go on over to the Marin Independent Journal's Letters to the Editor page. You can stay on top of all of the good and bad opinions flying around the voter's minds in Marin and Sonoma.
The next best thing, other than staying on top of negative and positive talking points, which you will undoubtedly see in the letters, is to start informing yourself in other ways.
One of the best ways is to peruse the archives of the Marin IJ for any news past or present about SMART, Measure Q, Measure R (as it was known back in 2006), its proponents or opponents have to say, etc...
Check out the SMART District Website. They have tons of information including the EIRs and a series of White Papers that answer detailed questions.
Also, Check out the SMART Campaign Website. They are another source of information.
All of the above are great ways to get informed about this project, and the first point is a great way to get the word out once you've sucked in enough information!
/SystemAnomaly
The next best thing, other than staying on top of negative and positive talking points, which you will undoubtedly see in the letters, is to start informing yourself in other ways.
One of the best ways is to peruse the archives of the Marin IJ for any news past or present about SMART, Measure Q, Measure R (as it was known back in 2006), its proponents or opponents have to say, etc...
Check out the SMART District Website. They have tons of information including the EIRs and a series of White Papers that answer detailed questions.
Also, Check out the SMART Campaign Website. They are another source of information.
All of the above are great ways to get informed about this project, and the first point is a great way to get the word out once you've sucked in enough information!
/SystemAnomaly
Sunday, July 27, 2008
The begining of it all...again
Hello all,
This is the first post on this blog, and as such, I want to let you know a little more about why I felt compelled to start writing.
Here in the North Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area, meaning Marin and Sonoma counties, we have a problem. Ask most anyone what problems could possibly plague them in such a beautiful area, and they all have the same answer: traffic congestion on highway 101.
This long corridor of highway is the only means for transportation around the North Bay.
That needs to change.
And so it did, or started to, when the California Assembly created the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) district, which was given the directive to instituting a viable commuter rail system on the now publicly owned right of way that stretched along the old North Western Pacific Railroad corridor from Larkspur to Healdsberg.
SMART went about their mission by introducing a sales tax in the 2006 election cycle.
California being what it is, the sales tax had to pass with a super majority in the General Election. Measure R (R for rail, as they liked to remind us) fell just, and I mean just barely short of the needed 66.7% majority vote, landing instead at 65.3% We were so close, so very very close to getting a new and viable alternative form of transit for the congested and car-reliant North Bay.
Well, guess what, we've got another chance.
That's right, two years later, this November the 4th of 2008, we will have an opportunity to pass the sales tax measure, now titled Measure Q. This 1/4 cent sales tax increase will help pay, over the 20 year period of its activity, will help pay for the planning, inmplementation, construction, and start up of a new commuter rail line in the Bay Area, and the North Bays first mass transportation system.
It is essential that we pass this tax measure. The environment, the quality of our lives, and the weight of our pockets hang in the balance.
Please take a look at a couple of the links above this, and other posts. Join the mailing list. Donate if you can, by either forking over cash or by volunteering your time and effort. Endorse the campaign and the idea, and attribute your name to this necessary and important endeavor. Heck, even try and get some positive opinions onto the pages of the local newspaper, the Marin Independent Journal, and beat back the minority of radical activists that are selfishly blocking the passage of this sales tax.
We only have 29 days to go until election day!
Lets do this, and make the SMART choice on Nov. 4th. Vote YES on Measure Q!
/SystemAnomaly
JOIN THE MAILING LIST
DONATE
VOLUNTEER
ENDORSE
WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
This is the first post on this blog, and as such, I want to let you know a little more about why I felt compelled to start writing.
Here in the North Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area, meaning Marin and Sonoma counties, we have a problem. Ask most anyone what problems could possibly plague them in such a beautiful area, and they all have the same answer: traffic congestion on highway 101.
This long corridor of highway is the only means for transportation around the North Bay.
That needs to change.
And so it did, or started to, when the California Assembly created the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) district, which was given the directive to instituting a viable commuter rail system on the now publicly owned right of way that stretched along the old North Western Pacific Railroad corridor from Larkspur to Healdsberg.
SMART went about their mission by introducing a sales tax in the 2006 election cycle.
California being what it is, the sales tax had to pass with a super majority in the General Election. Measure R (R for rail, as they liked to remind us) fell just, and I mean just barely short of the needed 66.7% majority vote, landing instead at 65.3% We were so close, so very very close to getting a new and viable alternative form of transit for the congested and car-reliant North Bay.
Well, guess what, we've got another chance.
That's right, two years later, this November the 4th of 2008, we will have an opportunity to pass the sales tax measure, now titled Measure Q. This 1/4 cent sales tax increase will help pay, over the 20 year period of its activity, will help pay for the planning, inmplementation, construction, and start up of a new commuter rail line in the Bay Area, and the North Bays first mass transportation system.
It is essential that we pass this tax measure. The environment, the quality of our lives, and the weight of our pockets hang in the balance.
Please take a look at a couple of the links above this, and other posts. Join the mailing list. Donate if you can, by either forking over cash or by volunteering your time and effort. Endorse the campaign and the idea, and attribute your name to this necessary and important endeavor. Heck, even try and get some positive opinions onto the pages of the local newspaper, the Marin Independent Journal, and beat back the minority of radical activists that are selfishly blocking the passage of this sales tax.
We only have 29 days to go until election day!
Lets do this, and make the SMART choice on Nov. 4th. Vote YES on Measure Q!
/SystemAnomaly
JOIN THE MAILING LIST
DONATE
VOLUNTEER
ENDORSE
WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
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