Public Health

Earlier this month, more than 40 people, representing 16 organizations
from across the state, piled into an AC Transit Bus and rode to
Sacramento to demand that our Legislators stop the fare hikes, service
cuts, and layoffs that have been devastating  California transit
operators and their riders.

2009 marks an important harvest of our last 5 years of hard work
organizing bus riders, local businesses, public health and community
allies and the local elected officials like former councilmember Wendy
Greuel and Bill Rosendahl, Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard. With the full $23.3 million of federal funding secured, the tide has turned to move the Wilshire Bus-Only Lanes Project into reality.

It has been both a tough and exciting first year for our civil rights
and environmental justice campaign to influence the second largest
federal bill: the $500 billion federal surface transportation act.
Over the past two weeks, I had the opportunity to step back and reflect
on my eventful year as lead coordinator of Transit Riders for Public
Transportation.

Many of the key lessons of the environmental justice movement from the 80s and 90s fighting market driven policies in local campaigns can illuminate how we can re-shape the discussions around climate solutions in Congress this year.

Lead Organizer and National Coordinator of the Transit Riders for
Public Transportation (TRPT), Francisca Porchas discusses the battle
for climate justice in the re-authorization of the $500 billion Federal
Surface Transportation Act in this winter's issue of Race, Poverty, & the Environment themed "Climate Change: Catalyst or Catastrophe?"

Ever heard of cap and trade or carbon trading? Here's a helpful animated video to help you navigate the basics of market driven false solutions like cap and trade  and why ithey should be rejected as a climate change policy.

On Thursday November 19th, the Transit Riders for Public Transportation Campaign and the Bus Riders Union hosted a transportation briefing event, "Re-Envision Urban Transit: Los Angeles and Beyond."