Assuming he still shows up to work, Gov. Gavin Newsom is about to drive a whole lot more now that he has moved from the Sacramento area to Marin County. But Newsom wants the rest of us to drive a third less to save the planet.
That’s our Gavin. Do as he says. Not as he does. His preference for Marin isn’t out of necessity, Sacramento is a wonderful place to raise a family, so the move reeks of privilege given that it coincides with the climate goals of his administration that are rankling local leaders who spoke in frustration the other day at a meeting of the Sacramento Area Council of Governments. Comprised of elected officials from six counties, SACOG is the official transportation planner for the region.
Opinion
Asking Sacramentans to drive a third less is “completely unrealistic,” Citrus Heights Councilman Tim Schaefer told his fellow SACOG board members. “We’re not going to meet the goals.”
“These are policies of ruination,” said Chris Branscum, the mayor of Marysville.
“I honestly think you need to market this to the public in California,” said Suzanne Jones, who represents the fourth district on the Placer County Board of Supervisors. “You need to get them to buy in first. It will make our lives a lot easier.”
She’s absolutely right. And that’s where Newsom comes in.
When it comes to climate change, all goals and measures to mitigate its effects will require all of us to change our behavior. The state is desperate for leadership with straight talk and sacrifice that starts straight at the top.
Newsom, however, is completely wrong for the job. He isn’t even trying. His duplicity is spectacular. He loves to complain about Big Oil when it comes to climate change. But now, the governor is a Big Commuter.
The California State Transportation Agency is part of the problem. Like Newsom, they talk a good game. “Climate change impacts are here,” said Darwin Moosavi, a deputy secretary for environmental policy and housing coordination for the California State Transportation Agency , told SACOG.
Moosavi outlined a draft plan by the California Air Resources Board that calls for reducing vehicle miles traveled in California by 20 percent in the year 2030 and 35 percent in 2045 (compared to 2019 levels). The reduction is necessary, he said, even as electric vehicles comprise a larger percentage of our overall fleet.
Locally, however, Moosavi’s agency isn’t leading by example either on a key road improvement project, the widening of interstates 50 and 80 between downtown Sacramento and the city of Davis to the Solano County line.
SACOG wants two express lanes on this stretch of freeway for carpoolers and toll drivers during rush hours to lower driving overall. But Caltrans ignored SACOG’s plan and has considered only one. Even Newsom’s California Air Resources Board blasted the Caltrans emissions analysis as bogus.
If the governor and Moosavi want to truly help this region meet its climate change plan, they must start by complying with it, starting with this controversial road expansion project.
Credit SACOG’s Executive Director James Corless for trying to confront the reality of how it will be harder to get any state and federal help to build new roads in this region as funds go to reducing dependence on the automobile.
Speaking about road projects in SACOG’s own long-term plan, “most of those...are not going to happen,” said transportation consultant Celia McAdam, formerly the head of the Placer County Transportation Agency. Speaking to the SACOG board, she said, “you’re going to have to make some tough decisions about what your real priorities are given this new reality.” That’s the kind of straight talk California desperately needs to get what we’re up against.
Newsom’s predecessor, Jerry Brown, would sometimes walk to work. Now we have Newsom driving long distances to work in downtown Sacramento as he is requiring state employees to do.
When it comes to true, tough leadership on climate change, how far we have fallen.
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