REDWOOD NEEDLES Presented by the Sierra Club Redwood Chapter Newsletter, The REDWOOD NEEDLES Return to Article Menu Sierra Club Opposes Sales Tax Increase to Widen 101 by Margaret Pennington, Redwood Chapter Political Chair The Club's Sonoma County Group, with approval from the Redwood Chapter and Sierra Club California, opposes a proposed Ballot measure that would add 1/2 cent to the current sales tax to be used to widen Highway 101. There are no redeeming virtues to this proposal. It is a bad idea all the way around. From an environmental perspective it is a nightmare! There are SO MANY reasons to oppose this measure that it's difficult to know where to begin, but here are some favorites from assorted Club members and friends: * Topping the list - from Gayle Goldstone, Club member and SRJC business instructor: "It's the money! An investment that yields no return makes no sense. If it isn't going to do any good (i.e. provide any relief from the problem), there is really no point. . .This is unquestionably the worst possible way to throw the public's money down a rat hole!" * Why won't widening solve the problem? From Doug Salzman: "In the best projected year, the widening proposed by the Calthorpe plan was expected to result in a ten percent reduction in delay. That is a 10 minute delay would become a 9 minute delay! That's in the BEST year. By the year after that Sonoma County Transportation Authority (SCTA) admits that the commute hour improvement would be 'pretty minimal.'" * Double taxation. Highway 101 is already slated to be widened by Cal Trans with funding from the usual road building source - gas taxes. Congress recently passed a law that 90% of the gas tax must return to the states, so more of these funds will be available. If the road must be widened (must it?), there's no need to tax ourselves twice. * Sales tax is the WRONG way to fund highway construction - especially from an environmental perspective. Highway construction has historically been funded by the gas tax which is a user tax: the more you drive, the more you pay. This is an especially good strategy for funding something that is an environmental "bad" - which driving is - despite our dependence and addiction (my own included). Environmentalists should support taxing "bads" and subsidizing "goods." Scarce sales tax revenues should be used to fund alternative transportation projects such as more busses, van pools and better bicycle lanes. SCARCE sales taxes should NOT be wasted on expanding highways which can be funded with gas tax dollars. * What about the environment? To be sure more lanes will mean more cars, more pollution, more growth, more encroachment on the natural environment. Specifically, almost all the existing trees (the "Redwood Highway") are slated for removal to make room for additional lanes. It's estimated the gravel required for "Three Lanes All the Way" would fill a train from here to Denver. The Russian River cannot afford the loss of the gravel required for this useless highway widening. * Widening the freeway through downtown will amount to driving the knife deeper into the heart of Santa Rosa. The widening will doom the efforts to reunite the downtown and will prevent any possibility of Prince Memorial Greenway being a successful pedestrian and bicycle route from east to west County. This list could go on and on - and likely will in the next issue of the Needles. Sonoma Group urges its members to oppose this measure. Please tell your friends, your neighbors, your co-workers why you will be voting no. Also, please tell us, so we can include your reasons to "just say no" in our next newsletter. To get involved with the campaign to oppose this measure please contact: Margaret Pennington, Sonoma Group Political Co-Chair, 829-2294, penningt@sonic.net (Thanks to Gayle Goldstone, Laura Hall, Sky Chaney, Joan Vilms, Doug Salzman, Sonia Taylor, Bill Kortum, Tom Winter for their great comments - I wish we had room to print them all!   Return to Article Menu Last updated on 12/01/99 Comments or suggestions? Drop us a line at heyneedles@aol.com