Newsom announces $690 million grants for trains, buses, ferries

By RIA ROEBUCK JOSEPH THE CENTER SQUARE CONTRIBUTOR

(The Center Square) — More than 28 climate-friendly projects to expand transit and passenger rail services throughout California have been awarded funding to meet the state’s 2045 goals of 71% reduction in air pollution and 94% drop of gas consumption from current levels.

Trains will become an integral part of passenger transportation in California.

The projects, mostly benefitting disadvantaged communities, boast of reducing greenhouse gasses equivalent to removing more than 445,000 gasrun cars from the streets.

“Our state is placing a high priority on investing in public transportation projects that aim to shift away from fossil fuels while making public travel more rider friendly,” Gov. Newsom said. “Today’s announcement not only provides better travel alternatives but also helps to speed up our transition to a cleaner, healthier transportation future for all Californians.”

The grants totaling $690 million are administered by the California State Transportation Agency as part of a $3.2 billion investment in public transportation.

The transportation agency is supported by the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program, which in turn gets its funding from the Capand-Trade program and the General Fund for High Priority Grade Crossing Improvement and Separation projects.

Together with January’s investment of $2.54 billion, total funding for California’s public transportation projects is more than $3.2 billion since the start of the year.

“California is making a multiyear, multibillion-dollar investment to transform and modernize our transportation infrastructure, creating jobs, alternatives to driving and reducing pollution,” Gov. Newsom said.

The highest grant was $100 million to San Dieguito Bridge Replacement, Double Track and Special Events Platform Project which is just under half the price tag of about $231 million. The funds will be used to replace the aging wooden trestle San Dieguito Lagoon rail bridge, construct a special events platform for the Del Mar Fairgrounds and construct 0.3 miles of new main track, and siding rehabilitation / track improvements to 0.9 miles of siding track to create a total of 1.2 miles of new usable double track. A number of grants would be used in part to purchase zeroemissions buses and develop several high-priority mobility hubs and rail projects as part of the state’s transit system.

One of the more interesting projects comes from the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority, which proposes to expand electrical infrastructure to allow for expansion of electric propelled, zero‐emission ferry service along the Main Street Alameda-Oakland to San Francisco route utilizing 3 zero emission expansion ferries and conversion to zero emission for existing vessels.

Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency Secretary Lourdes Castro Ramírez noted, “These funding awards help expand the availability of transit options near housing, and especially affordable housing, and provide people the freedom to more easily access jobs, health care, schools and, ultimately, create greater economic opportunity.” correct agency in the correct jurisdiction. “And the line that separates the county and city is not very straight.”

“This simplifies all that,” he said.

Chief Hartwig noted the urgency in building the fastest

Council

Continued from Page A1 square foot for 100% to 200% beyond frontage and $10 per square foot for 200%-plus beyond frontage.

Restaurants would have been able to reduce the fees they pay to as low as $3 per square foot by making various design changes to their parklets, such as making them portable or installing platforms or roofs.

The rate structure was aimed at collecting much of the revenue needed to cover the city’s costs of cleaning and maintaining the Downtown Promenade, which staff estimated will cost about $675,000 in fiscal year 2024. The fees were expected to generate about $650,000 from parklets on the promenade, which goes from the 400 to 1300 blocks of State Street.

The council was all set to approve the previously agreed upon rate structure at its April 11 meeting. It was on the council’s consent agenda, which usually is approved without any further discussion.

But Councilmember Alejandra Gutierrez pulled the item back for further discussion, claiming she wanted to support the downtown business owners who complained the fees were too high, beyond what they wanted to pay to help

Fair

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Adam Jones, and some of his friends, who will perform live tricks and jumps. On top of this, the fair will have a hypnotist and a magician, and the livestock area will have a lot of different farm animals. Some are for petting, and others will be for educational animal display, which will also highlight local agriculture.

Mr. Sprague said his staff deserves a “tremendous amount of credit” for making an event as big as the Santa Barbara Fair and Expo come together. He noted the months of work and years of experience the event requires.

He added he especially would

Blotter

Continued from Page A1 genetic genealogists at the DNA Doe Project have been working to identify Ventura Jane Doe since 2018, analyzing distant cousin matches to her DNA profile and building a family tree to try to connect all her relatives and locate the right branch that will reveal her identity. It’s a daunting task, reaching all the way back to a couple who lived in a community known as Bajío de la Tesorera (or “La Blanca”) in the Mexican state of Zacatecas.

They have determined that one of Ventura Jane Doe’s parents is descended from Martin Parga (1847-1902) and Catarina Montellano (1853- possible response times for medical emergencies. “The brain and cardiac muscles start to die after eight minutes. Five minutes could be the difference between being awake and talking to their loved ones and being in a less alert state.

“That’s why any of us who work in the field said, ‘Can’t we do it better?’ The answer is yes, of course, we will,” Chief Hartwig told the News-Press after the groundbreaking ceremony, during which elected officials and fire chiefs lifted ceremonial shovels.

Chief Hartwig said everything came together in terms of the wills of fire chiefs, fire boards, city councils and the board of supervisors.

Talks about the center began 10 years ago, Chef Hartwig said.

“Maybe the will was everywhere, but the fire chiefs finally said, ‘We’ll compromise. We’ll trust each other enough to serve people outside our jurisdiction.’

“You have to say a line on a map is just a line on the map. That doesn’t mean anything to the calling public,” Chief Hartwig said. “They don’t care if it’s a green, red or white engine.” email: dmason@newspress.com