Check out the article by Steve Pent in the December 7th Santa Maria Times
(courtesy of EdHat).

Santa Barbara City Councilmember Grant House’s comments in response to the article:

COAST’s work on Unmet Transit Needs (UTN) in North Santa Barbara County
revealed the need for this kind of van service stemming from farmers’
unwillingness to provide rides to backbreaking work in the fields due
primarily to liability concerns.  Public transportation seemed unable to
deliver regular transit service to frequently changing seasonal
destinations.

After providing white papers on Unmet Transit Needs to the County from 2002
to 2006, the hard work of project leader and board member Alex Pujo
uncovered models in other rural counties, idle vans sitting in neighboring
San Luis Obispo County, and possible sources of funding to initiate the
program. Melinda Burns, then with the Santa Barbara News Press, reported
extensively on the workers living in Santa Maria.  The McCune Foundation
provided funding to assist in the research and outreach for COAST’s UTN
project which also resulted in the start up of The Breeze bus service
between Lompoc, Vandenberg Air Force Base, and Santa Maria.

The program has been modeled after the successful farmworker van program in
Kings County.  The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors with leadership
from Supervisor Salud Carbajal supported using vans with drivers recruited
and trained from the affected population.  A win-win for all involved, we
wish the project continued success.

Grant House
Councilmember
City of Santa Barbara
ghouse@santabarbaraca.gov
805 564-5319

Click here to see the Santa Maria Times article

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This year’s Train Party was a decided success, the delightful company and festive entertainment made for an evening that was truly a celebration of transportation and its advocates and was attended by more than 55 people.

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Dr John Pucher from Rutger's University, aka "Car-Free John"

Santa Barbara Walks recently co-hosted (with the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition and the Coalition for Community Wellness) a Walk/Bike Forum with international expert Dr. John Pucher from Rutger’s University.  “Car-free John” as he is known by friends and colleagues, gave an informative presentation on the health benefits of walking and cycling as transportation and how these activities are essential for our community’s sustainability.  His presentation included a plentitude of examples how other countries have succeeded in encouraging and providing infrastructure and policies that support pedestrians and bicyclists.

Discussion of health, social and economic benefits to the crowd in the Faulkner Gallery

Dr. Pucher’s presentation was followed by a panel discussion with Grant House (Santa Barbara City Council Member), Janet Wolf (County Board of Supervisors) and Michael Chiacos (Community Environmental Council).  The panelists provided opinions of what Santa Barbara has been doing to accommodate non-motorized transport as well as candid impressions of where we as a community have been lacking.

When Michael Chiacos asked John Pucher, “What should we do first, what are the low hanging fruit?” John said a sound education system teaching the youth how to walk and bike safely was the most important.  He followed this by indicating that having the infrastructure to support pedestrians and bicyclists (well-connected sidewalks, bike paths and bike lanes, etc.) was second to educating the youth.

The Forum was quite a success and we received positive feedback from many of the roughly 50 people that attended.  If you missed it, Santa Barbara City TV is showing the recording on their site. Visit www.citytv18.com/ to see the schedule.  In addition you can download the PDF version of John’s PowerPoint presentation here.

Measure A passes with 78.8% of the vote!

Thank you to everyone for their hard work on this important measure.