For those who need it most, like seniors and San Antonians with disabilities, a safe and reliable transportation system is literally a lifeline. Businesses need deliveries of inventory and raw materials as well as access to an increasingly global marketplace. For all of us, transportation provides access to jobs, school, recreation and services. Personal mobility enhances every aspect of our lives, whether it’s the multiple health, economic and environmental benefits of the Howard W. Peak Greenway trails or the convenience of an express bus with wi-fi. And amenities that improve our local quality of life, such as our highly successful San Antonio B-Cycle bikeshare network, also support our tourism and travel industry.
Unfortunately, in San Antonio as well as across the United States, our public infrastructure is suffering from disinvestment. Road maintenance always tops the list of citizen concerns, our rail system functions most effectively for freight rather than passenger transport, and we are just beginning to make significant investments in bicycle and pedestrian facilities through our Complete Streets initiative. Even more worrisome, our lack of a truly integrated long-term transportation plan makes it almost impossible to coordinate transportation and land use or prioritize the investment of public dollars.
What can we do to address these problems? With regard to adequate funding, local elected and appointed officials and advocacy groups across the country are calling on Congress to reauthorize a long-term, transportation bill that increases federal funding for our cities and regions. The San Antonio Mobility Coalition, or SAMCO, has been a leader on this issue in our community, and is partnering with the City of San Antonio and VIA Metropolitan Transit to recognize “Stand Up For Transportation Day” on April 9 to help Congress keep focused on renewing the Federal Transportation Act.
The current federal transportation funding authorization is set to expire on May 31. If Congress fails to act on a long-term funding bill there will be a wave of uncertainty that puts the economic future of our cities and surrounding metro areas in jeopardy. Uncertainty about transportation project planning puts a damper on private sector investment as risks increase related to questionable infrastructure commitments. Across the nation, our communities face a competitive disadvantage as the massive investments in public transportation in Europe and Asia are creating the infrastructure needed for a 21st century economy.
At the same time, a new transportation authorization must come with an increase in dedicated funding for public transit and highways and greater local control. The current law falls dangerously short of what is required to meet current demands, much less grow these systems, particularly in areas like San Antonio where our SA Tomorrow planning projections indicate we will welcome an added 1.1 million local residents by 2040.
At the regional level, we must leverage our transportation investments to support smart, sustainable growth. So many of the debates we have seen flare up in recent years are really battles about how our city’s transportation system functions, from the needs filled by TNCs like Uber and Lyft to the establishment of toll roads to what role a streetcar system plays in urban transportation.
Every day we are considering piecemeal the very issues that need to be addressed more comprehensively: Where are my aging parents going to live so they can have access to medical care and services? How can I enjoy a night out on the town without having to drive home? Can my kids bike to school safely? How do we create jobs by expanding international trade when our roads and rails are already at capacity? Planners may use terms such as “trip generation” and “modal split” to describe and analyze these issues, but at heart these aren’t technical issues. In fact, they are questions about what San Antonio looks like, how easy it is to live here, and whether our community can grow sustainably.
To answer these challenging questions the City of San Antonio, in conjunction with our partners such as VIA Metropolitan Transit and Bexar County, has embarked on the SA Tomorrow planning process. The three concurrent plans that comprise SA Tomorrow – the Comprehensive Plan, the Multimodal Transportation Plan, and the Sustainability Plan — will be developed over the next 18 months based largely on local input and resident participation.
Attend the SA Tomorrow Kick-Off at Alamo Convocation Center this Saturday, April 11, from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Help design our transportation future and keep our city healthy and growing.
*Featured/top image: The E route trollies will have a bright “E” that indicates a free ride.
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Too bad she didn’t have the vision or foresight to help keep Uber here and instead missed that opportunity. What other opportunities is she going to miss?
A City of San Antonio Council and Mayor Salaries, Amendment 2
Maybe they should get pay more than $1,040 per year and the Mayor more than $4,040.00 per year.
However $45,722.00 and $61,725.00? Com one, what is it going to be next year? We allow this now and it will become a runaway train that the tax payers will not be able to stop and there will be tax increases to pay for these salaries. Give me a sensible figure and I can feel more comfortable. I seem to remember that this was put on a ballot once before. The AMENDMENT NO 2 doesn’t give the tax payers a choice. It is this way or the hay way.
A City of San Antonio Council and Mayor Salaries, Amendment 2 ballot question is on the May 9, 2015 election ballot for voters in the city of San Antonio in Bexar County, Texas.
If approved, Charter Amendment 2 increases the salary of city council members from $20 per meeting, amounting to $1,040 per year, to $45,722 per year. It was also designed to increase the salary of the mayor from $4,040 per year to $61,725 per year.[1]
Councilman Ron Nirenberg explained that, as things are, the council member and mayoral offices are basically full-time volunteer positions. He said, “I think it goes without saying that everyone up here takes on this job willingly, knowing exactly what we’re getting into. And the beauty of this job is you never have to wake up in the morning thinking that you’re going to work for the money.” Nirenburg agreed, however, that it was time to let voters decide if they wanted to open up the city council and mayoral office to candidates from a wider range of economic classes.[2]
Uber will lose her the election
As soon as I saw the author was Ivy “The rich people on the North side can afford toll roads” Taylor, I knew somewhere in this article she would suggest forcing people to pay to use roads their tax dollars have already built as a solution for San Antonio’s transit future.
Sorry Toll Roads Taylor, it was your thankfully merely interim administration that messed up with Uber and Lyft and people are not going to accept paying Zachary and Cintra their hard earned dollars to drive on 281/1604/35.
Maybe you can get your diabesity buddies at Coca Cola to sponsor b-cycle so that program isn’t lost on your watch as well.
Thankfully the election is growing nearer and your time is short.
#AnyoneButTaylor
No thanks, Ivy! We all be celebrating your departure come election day.
You Rivard folk need to fix this:
Taylor was SELECTED, not ELECTED.
And having watched the CCTV broadcast of the selection process last summer, many of her fellow city council members made it very clear they were only selecting Taylor because she promised not to run for mayor. Guess her lies sure fooled them.
And yet she blocked the street car and Uber.
Uber will only be right for San Antonio if they will be willing to operate on an equal playing field as cab companies. This is a social justice issue. Uber wants to only serve in the downtown area and north side of town (predominantly white and rich) and not serve the south side (mostly Hispanic and lower income). Then there’s the issue of serving people with disabilities. It’s sad when people only care about cheaper cost instead of thinking about an option to serve ALL people in our community. Mayor Taylor wants to work on fixing things like the VIA system, a transportation option that serves all. And she wants Uber to be here, just as long as they play by the rules. http://nowcastsa.com/blogs/dont-ignore-social-justice-transportation-rules
Dear Mayor Taylor, You well note that “At the regional level, we must leverage our transportation investments to support smart, sustainable growth.”. I would suggest, however, that it is not just the transportation investments that must be leverage but also our investments in water and sewage. As I am sure you are fully aware, transportation engineers and planners have known for a long time that you cannot build your way out of congestion. If you build it, they will come and, in the San Antonio region, the precursor to “them” coming is the provision by SAWS of sewage service.
As noted by Gene Dawson, president of Pape-Dawson Engineers Inc. in an article last year in the E-N “Organized wastewater collection is what drives development.” Presently SAWS has the liberty to extend services with no reference or accountability to any “smart, sustainable growth” scenarios. As an example, their request for and receipt of a CCN to provide sewage service into NE Bexar County set off the Bracken Bat Cave fiasco that ended with the City pumping millions of dollars into the area to save it from the threat of the dense, residential development that was made possible as a direct result of SAWS request. Now, when there is the opportunity to have SAWS request the withdrawal of that CCN and avoid a repeat in that area of an “irresponsible and unsustainable growth” scenario, they have taken no action to do so. Nor, does it appear that you, as a SAWS Board member, have taken an action to request them to do so.
If the SA Tomorrow process does not result in some means by which one of, if not the, principle drivers of sprawl is reined in and made instead to serve as a driver of “smart, sustainable growth”, then no matter what you do with the transport system, you will always be playing catch up to SAWS’ inducement of sprawl and its associated congestion….not to mention the further degradation and loss of environmentally sensitive areas – like the Bracken Bat Cave and Edwards Aquifer recharge zone.