Welcome to the ASERT website! We’ll be keeping you up to date about our region’s transportation developments. With budget cuts on the Local, State, and Federal level, regional transportation options like rail are even more viable. The 101 Improvements Project from Milpas to Hot Springs Rd. has run into financial problems, which makes widening to the Ventura County line look even further off than the proposed 15 years. ASERT is here to advocate for more Sustainable and Equitable ways to move people throughout the region. Along with better local transit options in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, that includes a commuter rail service between Oxnard and Goleta. Santa Barbara County’s Measure A 2008 includes $25M for the commuter rail service, and ASERT will be looking for Ventura County to include commuter rail in any future transportation tax measure they propose. I hope to see you at the forum in Santa Barbara on the 24th, and in Ventura on the 31st. You can learn how to change regional transportation options by attending the forums, and on the 31st you can participate in a workshop of your choice where you can learn how to make change happen.
COAST is a Santa Barbara County grassroots organization, the only local group dedicated to socially, economically and environmentally sustainable transportation. COAST brings to the table 15 years of experience advocating for transportation alternatives for all and is now taking the opportunity to broaden their regional impact.
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Social capital is the value of strong social networks; the ‘glue’ that holds a community together.
Social equity is the fair distribution of the costs and benefits of government policy decisions across the groups that make up a community. When those groups are defined in terms of income, race or ethnicity, it is referred to as vertical equity, also termed environmental justice.
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At our National Train Day celebration at the Amtrak station a RailPAC petition urging release of $160M in Prop 1-B dollars for passenger rail rolling stock was signed by all those who stopped by the tables. Many of whom had just stepped off packed Amtrak trains and others were about to hop on the notoriously crowded southbound Surfliner train.
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So far ASERT has hosted two successful forums for experts in the transportation world to convene and talk about regional transportation here on the South Coast.
First, local elected officials and former Massachusetts Governor and Presidential nominee Michael Dukakis met at the Santa Barbara Library to address a full house of supporters on the possibility of rail as a viable transit solution for Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. “Why the folks inside the beltway don’t get it is beyond me,” said Dukakis while he decried the current administration’s lack of support for rail and proclaimed it’s time to get started on the “Steel Interstate.”
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The annual Unmet Transit Needs process is underway in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.
For Ventura County:
Public Meeting Regarding Ventura County Public Transportation
Come and make your views heard regarding public transit service needs with in Ventura County and between Ventura County and Los Angeles/Santa Barbara Counties.
You can provide comments at two evening meetings:
Moorpark session- Wednesday January 27, 2010 6-8 PM at the Moorpark City Hall community Meeting Room
Ventura County Session Tuesday January 26, 2010 6-8 PM at the Ventura County Government Center Hall of Justice Pacific Meeting Room
You can send your comments by mail, phone, email or fax:
Call with your comments to 1-800-438-1112 and ask to make a public comment
Send your comments by mail to the Ventura County Transportation Commission, Unmet Transit Needs Process, 950 County Square Drive, Suite 207, Ventura CA 93003
Fax your comments to (805) 642-4860
Email your comments to vkamhi@goventura.org
Comments are due by Feb 15, 2010
For Santa Barbara County
Comments are due by Jan 29th, 2010 and can be mailed or emails to:
Santa Barbara County Association of Governments
260 N. San Antonio Rd., Suite B
Santa Barbara, CA 93110
-or by email to-
comment@sbcag.org
Local community members and elected officials gathered at the Santa Barbara Amtrak station on Saturday, July 18th to highlight the importance of working regionally to address transportation issues here in the South Coast. Many chose to ride from Santa Barbara to Carpinteria and back, to emphasize the role rail will play in reducing congestion, and offering commuters more sustainable choices.
“With 20 years of phased construction on the 101, even the bus will get stuck in traffic,” observed Dennis Story, Chair of Coastal Rail Now. “We have to look at comprehensive regional solutions, and rail will play an important part in this.”
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You spoke up–and we turned in over 70 public comments from bus riders about the fare increase. But now we need to show up and make sure the VCTC board will listen. Please join us for a public meeting and public comment session to discuss the proposed VISTA fare increase. Come support public transportation by adding your voice to the dialogue! Whether you ride the bus or just want to support those who do, please consider attending one of the two hearings listed below.
NOTICE OF PUBLIC METING: July 8, 2009, Meet in front of city hall at 6pm, public meeting starts at 7-9pm Ventura City Hall
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Please join us for Central Coast Train Day at the Santa Barbara Station, July 18th. This event will highlight the importance of regional transportation issues, and the necessity for Ventura and Santa Barbara counties to work together to tackle the tough challenges of providing sustainable and equitable regional transportation.
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