Housing, Transportation Top Bay Area Concerns

OAKLAND, Calif., Oct. 26, 2007 (KGO) (KGO) -- Transportation and planning experts throughout the Bay Area are looking for creative strategies to deal with future housing and transportation needs.

The strategies keep in mind the state's mandate for a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the coming years.

How they will manage the confluence of transportation, land use and climate protection is the challenge facing leaders of a Bay Area on the move.

"Poll after poll shows that people in the Bay Area rank transportation congestion and housing affordability as the two biggest challenges facing the area," said Henry Gardner, Association of Bay Area Governments.

Some of the solutions include building housing in the major cities instead of the suburbs, in villages where people can live, work and play near mass transit.

Some controversial ideas include congestion pricing, which means charging to use freeways to discourage driving at peak hours.

"We don't have that signal in our transportation system, and we think it's time we consider it," said Steve Heminger, Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

Transportation accounts for half the greenhouse gas emissions in the Bay Area. Most agree the gasoline tax will have to rise to change habits, and discourage consumption. Most of these drivers were willing to pay more.

"In the interest of saving the planet for my daughter, I would be willing to go up to one more dollar. But at that point, I would stop being able to feed my daughter," said Margo Reed, Oakland.

"You add a dollar or two dollars to me personally, I'll pay it. But if you add it to working people you're not solving their problem," said Jane Brunner, Oakland council member.

Oakland council member Jane Brunner did not favor raising prices as a strategy. But there was wide belief people in the Bay Area could be persuaded it was necessary.

"Once people understand that we can address things like congestion and bad public transit while we're addressing global warming, I think they'll get behind a lot of these solutions," said Stuart Cohen, Transportation and Land Use Coalition.

The transportation plan looks ahead to the year 2035. They'll be working on specifics over the next year.

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