[imc-st.louis] draft program on transportation

[Don Fitz]

At the Greens meeting Wed December 17, 08, 3026 Cherokee [at Minnesota], 
we will also be finalizing the draft program on transportation [below]. 
Please join us for the discussion and post any suggested additions or 
deletions to GreensStL at yahoogroups.com before the meeting.

Don Fitz, 727-8554



*Green Party of St. Louis*

*Draft Platform on Transportation*

Recommended by the December 9, 2008 Elston K. McCowan for Mayor Platform 
Committee Meeting with subsequent editing by Fred Raines, Don Fitz and 
Angelika Rowry.

[This is a draft and *not* the final platform, which will appear on the 
web.]

Cities across America, from Boston to Seattle and Miami to 
Minneapolis-St. Paul have developed or are developing creative ways of 
reducing their dependence on the automobile, a major cause of both air 
pollution and global warming, while making their communities healthier 
and more livable. It is past time that St. Louis join them. It is the 
goal of a Green administration to see that this happens.


The Green Party envisions a new St. Louis where citizens can easily make 
the vast majority of trips by bus, train, bicycle and walking. Expanding 
healthy and more efficient forms of transportation would enormously 
improve the City’s air quality, reduce traffic injuries and deaths, and 
lower the incidence of heart disease and diabetes. Reduced automobile 
dependency will mean less traffic congestion, shorter commute times, and 
fewer stress-related illnesses. It also offers the prospect of real 
savings on transportation costs. Research has shown that in communities 
that are more automobile dependent households spend $4000 more per year 
on surface transportation than in communities with more diverse modes of 
transportation. [1].

Unfortunately, mayor Francis Slay’s policy of continuing to focus on the 
automobile for transportation has produced an ecological and urban 
planning nightmare for St. Louis. A Green administration would overcome 
automobile addiction by implementing a comprehensive plan with five key 
components:

· Improving and expanding mass transit;

· Increasing the number of riders per car;

· Increasing bicycle usage and walking;

· Decreasing excessive parking spaces; and,

· Creating car-free zones.

Mass transit

A Green administration would purchase only energy efficient vehicles for 
use by the City. By itself, this would be woefully inadequate to slow 
the hurricanes and other weather disasters which accompany global 
warming. The only way to seriously reduce automobile emissions is to 
reduce automobile dependency.

Though Francis Slay advocated using public money to pay for a private 
stadium and for tax give-aways he could not find money to increase train 
and bus routes. Better financial prioritization would allow a Green 
administration to take steps necessary to provide adequate mass transit 
in St. Louis, including calling a Conference of US City Mayors to demand 
Congressional funding throughout the US. A Green administration would: [2]

· Double the number of buses in operation in order to increase frequency 
and weekend routes.

· Introduce double-sized buses on heavily used lines.

· Create a North/South Metro (train) line.

· Provide free mass transit for the elderly, disabled and students.

· Limit mass transit fares to no more than 10% of the minimum hourly wage.

· Ensure that there is a shelter at every bus stop.

· Require every business which sells lottery tickets to sell bus passes.

· Make the Bi-state management board more democratic by ensuring that at 
least 20% of its members are elected by users and at least 20% are 
elected by employees.

· Create a “traffic light preemption” system (which turn a light green 
as a bus approaches), such as already exists for some emergency vehicle 
locations.

Create bus and HOV lanes

The Slay administration has stood by while St. Louis’ transportation 
system has become embarrassingly outdated. Highway 64/40 is being 
rebuilt with no plans for bus lanes or “high occupancy vehicle” (HOV) 
lanes reserved for cars with three or more occupants. A Green mayor 
would actively work to ensure that every highway and thoroughfare in the 
St. Louis area has bus and HOV lanes.

Bicycling and walking

St. Louis needs a comprehensive urban plan that will allow every 
resident to bicycle or walk to a grocery store and community school. 
Under Francis Slay’s leadership, the City has wasted tax dollars on 
“share the road” signs and seemingly random bike lane designations where 
there is frequently inadequate road space for bicycles. Such a reckless 
public relations gimmick risks injury or death of cyclists lured into 
thinking the signs make roads safe.

At a minimum, a Green administration would:

· Create continuous lanes for bikes, free from vehicle traffic and use 
for car parking.

· Build bicycle paths to separate cycling from congested thoroughfares.

· Build bicycle lanes connected to streets with metro stops.

· Post better signs to notify car drivers of bicycle lanes.

· Implement the Bicycle/Pedestrian Plan developed by East-West Gateway 
(which defines minimum standards for cycling and walking in St. Louis).

Excessive parking spaces

The Slay administration has done nothing to reduce the vast areas 
dedicated to parking spaces and parking lots. Excessive parking spaces 
are dangerous for bicycles, interfere with commerce by increasing the 
walking distance between shops, and degrade the attractiveness of 
neighborhoods. Current rules require businesses to have 1 parking space 
for every 3 people in the occupancy permit. The Green Party would change 
this to 1 parking space for every 5 people immediately and 1 parking 
space for every 9 people in two years.

Car-free zones

Improved mass transit and traffic light preemption will let St. Louisans 
get to work faster by public transportation than by driving cars. This 
will lead to more people using buses and trains. If St. Louisans could 
also get to neighborhood schools, shopping and recreation areas by foot 
and bicycle, the City could design car-free zones with no parking spaces 
for privately owned cars [but with parking for emergency, disabled, 
construction, delivery and shared vehicles].

The Green Party advocates the development of car-free, high-density, 
mixed residential/commercial areas. In these areas, citizens could do 
most of their shopping in their community and use mass transit for most 
of their remaining trips. This should be promoted by developing 
neighborhoods which are (1) adjacent to mass transit routes, and (2) 
require commercial space to be set aside for neighborhood shops such as 
grocery stores, clothing stores, hardware stores, laundromats and barber 
shops. An essential part of such communities is that they have a vehicle 
sharing or renting program for the few trips when a car, truck or 
mini-van is truly needed. All such developments should dedicate at least 
30% of homes for low income families.

A Green administration would work with each St. Louis neighborhood to 
explore its interest in developing a car-free community shopping 
district and attempt to create at least one such district in each ward 
by 2012. The mayor should immediately create a task force to examine 
car-free business and residential zones that already exist in cities 
throughout the world and determine how they can be adapted for St. Louis.

Notes

1. B. McCann, /Driven to Spend: The Impact of Sprawl on Household 
Transportation Expenses/, 2000.

2. Alternative wording for this paragraph is: “In contrast to the 
policies of the present administration, a Green administration would 
promote the development of a comprehensive user friendly mass transit 
system. This would include the following measures:”