The article in the Chronicle raised a lot of worthwhile issues. However, on
the topic of reduced ridesharing, it didn't speak to the true problem: the
California rideshare mandatory rideshare program, which blossomed in the
80s, was scrapped in the 90s by Gov. Wilson. Under the program, which was
related to state air quality measures, each company with more than 100
employees had to have a rideshare plan and a rideshare coordinator in place.
The entire infrastructure was set up and worked very well. "Transportation
System Management" plans were created and implemented, employers offered
incentive programs like free bus passes and preferential parking to get
people out of their cars. Specialized consultants taught classes and
trained new rideshare coordinators. All this went away over night when the
program was dropped by the state.
Just a thought: what would happen if AB 939 was removed as mandatory state
law? The article speaks about all of us now filling up our recycling cans,
and the need to go beyond this "basic" step. We'd soon be back to ground
zero (not "zero waste") if there wasn't an entire infrastructure in every
city to support recycling programs, pushed along by the "50% by 2000"
incentive. Let's not be too cavalier about "just" recycling.
Heidi Feldman
Public Education Coordinator
Monterey Regional Waste Management District
Tel.: 831/384-5313 FAX: 831/384-3567
When we tug at a single thing in nature, we find it attached to the rest of
the world.
John Muir
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