EDITORIAL: Bill to restrict car use an open power grab

OUR VIEW: SB 375 would increase state's control

By The North County Times Opinion staff | Friday, May 30, 2008 12:35 PM PDT ∞

The prevailing mood in Sacramento seems to be that if government can't entice Californians to use mass transit, then it will force them to use it.

The above seems to be behind yet another legislative attempt to regulate how and where we live by targeting our air-polluting cars. With hope, this try will die in the California Assembly, but we fear that hope could end up being wishful thinking.

State Senate Bill 375 is being pushed by state Sen. Darrell Steinberg, a Sacramento Democrat, as the topper for a list of measures drafted to help curb global warming.

No matter how one dresses up the language, however, the intent is to transfer even more power to the state to force residents in urban areas to use mass transit. It also would increase pressure on local governments to speed approval of so-called "more affordable" housing closer to jobs.

The bill was approved by the state Senate months ago, and odds are high this measure will sail through the state's lower chamber, given Fabian Nunez's desire to leave a record of accomplishment. The former speaker was the major force behind the state's greenhouse gases emissions law, and is bound to spend his final months in the Assembly pushing for passage of this bill, which is high on the environmentalists' wish list.

The bill also must be a planner's dream. It places the sort of restrictions on communities that could have impacts far beyond what we can envision here, with even more planners required to fine-tune and sort it all out.

But it also calls to mind one historical note about planners ---- urban planners in particular ---- and their ability to look into the future.

Billed at that time as the first international meeting of urban planners, a gathering was called 110 years ago in part to grapple with the top health and environmental hazard caused by personal transportation: horse manure, and projections that New York City would be buried in it up to three stories high by 1950.

Human ingenuity prevented that scenario from happening, not governmental control of the kind this bill envisions.

Additional reading:

California Senate Bill 375

REGION: Sacramento targets driving

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Pre-Registration Comments[-]Go to Top

Walt wrote on May 30, 2008 7:08 PM:And with about 50 to 1 leverage the irony is incentives to shift to already available fuel efficient near zero emissions cars saves overwhelmingly more greenhouse and other polutants. Mass transit vehicles can clean up their acts too but their share of travel is so low the impact is zilch. But the myth mass transit helps the environment lives on. Indeed power to manage citizens' lives is the real agenda.

NoCounty Native wrote on May 31, 2008 6:50 AM:The real soulution to automobile air pollution is to fund transportation infrastructure building roads, highways, and bridges. Idling cars on the road stuck in traffic is inefficent. Automotive pollution controls work best when the vehicle is moving. Also you get zero miles per gallon if you are just sitting idle in traffic. We can reduce our fuel demand just by having traffic flow.
The politicians will never have a real solution. They will just run circles around a problem to justify their special interest campaign contributor existence.

Cory wrote on Jun 2, 2008 11:18 PM:An easier way is to stress carpooling. If money is spent on parking lots for carpoolers to use, results could be achieved faster. The benefits would extend several ways. The trip would be cheaper (if everyone pays the driver), the roads more open (if everyone does it), and the air would be cleaner (if the person who gets the best gas mileage drives). Since the trip would be cheaper, people can have money left over to pay bills, debt, for needs, and for wants. It would be a start.

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