Move SD Newsletter - Summer 2008
Interview:
Reed Vickerman Jr., Chairman of Move San Diego, Vice President Corporate Operations, Amylin Pharmaceuticals
Q. Tell us a little about Amylin.
A. Amylin is a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in the Golden Triangle since 1987. We have over 2,000 employees in 600,000 square feet of space in nine buildings in San Diego. We have two approved therapies for diabetes and are in late-stage development of a promising treatment for obesity, a leading cause of Type 2 diabetes.
Q. Why did you get involved with Move SD?
A. With limited transit options to the Golden Triangle area, Amylin has been providing a shuttle to the Coaster and looking at other ways to increase transit rider ship. Commute times, and their negative impact on our employees’ quality-of-life, are a large factor in attracting and retaining the skilled workforce we need.
Q. What are your hopes for Move SD?
A. San Diego has so many amazing attributes (weather, location, skilled workforce, collaborative leadership) that I believe we can be a model metropolis for the new century. Unfortunately transit is one of the things holding us back. Our lack of transit mobility, sustainability and economics are a continuous drag on our progress. Move SD, along with other civic and business organizations, needs to address these shortcoming head-on before our quality-of-life erodes and people choose to leave the region and seek their fortunes elsewhere, where transit is a solution not a problem.
Move SD News
Public Private Partnership Meets to Save Coaster Connections
Move San Diego has initiated meetings with senior MTS management and Golden Triangle businesses seeking to continue the shuttle services vital to Coaster riders getting from the Sorrento Valley station to their workplaces (MTS routes 81 and 971-978). The shuttle routes are running out of funding at the end of the year. Participants include representatives of Amylin, Qualcomm, SAIC, Scripps Healthcare, Gen-Probe and other regional employers. If you or your business uses the Sorrento Valley Coaster Station, please contact us about these ongoing discussions.
Move SD hosts International Transit Team
Move SD was pleased to host members of the CCDC International Transit Team including a presentation by Professor George Hazel, author of “Making Cities Work, the Seven Deadly Wins for city development,” which is a distillation of his experience and research. Hazel was the first Professor of Transport in Scotland, Director of City Development for the City Edinburgh Council and Director of Transportation for the Lothian Regional Council, introducing many new initiatives including Greenways bus priority, the first car-free development in the UT, the first community car club in the UK and the reallocation of space back to people in areas like the Royal Mile in Edinburgh Old Town.
Hazel is one member of a team of international and local experts hired by CCDC to identify opportunities to: (a) more efficiently manage downtown San Diego’s transportation system, (b) to investigate funding options for specific transit improvements, and (c) reduce significant transportation and parking impacts of the Downtown Community Plan (DCP).
The 7 Deadly Wins for any City (i.e. what it takes for a City to be vibrant, successful, sustainable) are:
- Transportation is about people and goods, not vehicles.
- A city is a place of exchange.
- A city is place of chairs. (chairs provide value to public spaces)
- A city is a place to enjoy.
- A city is defined by its arrival points (arrival points set the image for any city within the first 3 minutes of anyone arriving).
- A city is a place of movement and connectivity.
- A city is a complex set of interactions.
What forces are required for a downtown to work?
- Maximize exchange space
- Minimize movement space
- Maximize the productivity of the movement space
He shared many examples of the importance of these concepts to San Diego’s economic growth and indeed its viability, including that all studies show that when you “increase the region’s connectivity, real estate values rise.”
Their analysis of the Downtown Plan points to why they were brought in to begin with. They presented a chart of mode splits (transit trips and auto trips) now and in the plan for 2030. The plan would require an additional 250 acres of parking; an additional 35 lanes of freeway capacity and showed queueing at freeway ramps of 15-20 minutes. It planned for only a 1% increase in transit (23 to 24% by 2030).
Their conclusion: “This plan puts the region in danger of killing the economic viability of downtown.”
The results of this teams analysis of the DCP will lead to a new public and environmental review process allowing the region to reconsider the transportation and sustainability aspects of the plan.
Agency News
CTC Adopts Climate Change Addendum to Regional Transportation Plan Guidelines
The California Transportation Commission has taken action to address climate change and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) during Regional Transportation Plan update processes.
The Addendum creates RTP policies related to smart growth, land use and sustainability specifically calling for decision makers to “Emphasize transportation investments in areas where desired land uses may result in vehicle miles traveled (VMT) reduction or other lower impact use” as well as to “Consider shifting transportation investments towards improving core transit, programs for walkability, bicycling, other alternative modes, transit access and housing near transit.” Other policies considered critical include increased use of pricing strategies and improving transportation modeling and performance measures.
The Addendum adopted on May 29, 2008, was in response to a request from Senate Pro Tem Perata along with two Executive Orders issues by Governor Schwarzenegger that called for a coordinated approach reducing GHG as well as to address the detrimental air quality effects.
The transport sector produces almost half of GHG in California.
Info on California’s climate change activities can be found at: http://www.climatechange.ca.gov/index.html
SANDAG to Undertake Transit Action Plans
As result of a legal settlement related to the Regional Transportation Plan SANDAG has agreed to a number of new studies and priorities related to addressing climate change impacts and improving transit planning and projects.
SANDAG will:
- Continue participation and support of the CCDC Downtown Transit Plan
- Include mode share goals for regional communities and corridors in the 2011 RTP
- Develop a long-range transit plan, and five year and ten-year transit action plans
- Undertake a comprehensive study regarding the impediments to public transit
- Increase emphasis on double-tracking of the coastal rail corridor
- Update the Smart Growth Concept Map related to transit and give priority to projects near transit and areas with the greatest potential for increasing walking and biking and shortening vehicle trips
- Prepare, adopt and implement a Safe Routes to Schools Strategy
Copies of the settlement between SANDAG and Save Our Forests and Ranchlands, the Affordable Housing Coalition of San Diego County, Citizens for Responsible Equitable Environmental Development, and the San Diego Public Transit Riders’ Alliance is available to members of MoveSD upon request.
Please Join Move SD
Members receive our weekly e-clippings service: MoveNews: clippings related to transportation and sustainability, as well as invitations to private events. Download our membership form from our website, or join online.
The MoveSD vision is convenient, healthy, sustainable transportation throughout the San Diego region. Our Board of Directors is Reed Vickerman - Jr. Chair, Aaron Contorer, Marcela Escobar-Eck, Fred Maas, Tom Sudberry, Jonathan Broadhurst, Jay Corrales and Marla Hollander.
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