$44 million in grants will promote livable communities in Bay Area

From Green Right Now Reports

The Bay Area’s Metropolitan Transportation Commission has approved 22 new capital grants worth $44 million to finance pedestrian, bicycle and streetscape improvements near public transit in cities around the Bay Area.

The projects approved for funding are being developed by community groups and local authorities throughout the region, including the three largest cities of San Jose, San Francisco and Oakland, along with 14 other cities including Berkeley, San Leandro, Hayward, Richmond, Alameda, Union City, San Carlos, Concord, Livermore, Hercules, Vallejo, Santa Rosa, Petaluma, and Cotati.

There were 33 projects requesting $80 million in funds, and applications were received from seven of the nine Bay Area counties. Marin and Napa counties did not apply for funding in this cycle.

The grants were made through the Transportation for Livable Communities program, which supports community-based transportation projects that bring new vibrancy to downtown areas, commercial cores, neighborhoods and transit corridors, making them places where people want to live, work and visit. The MTC is the transportation planning, coordinating and financing agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.

The TLC program also supports Priority Development Areas, designated areas in which there is local commitment to developing housing, along with amenities and services, to meet the day-to-day needs of residents in a pedestrian-friendly environment served by transit.

“The TLC program is a concrete way of expanding transportation choices while also making our neighborhoods more environmentally sustainable and attractive places to live and work,” Solano County Supervisor and MTC Commissioner Jim Spering, who chairs MTC’s Planning Committee, said in a statement. “Whether in downtown areas or in other neighborhoods, TLC projects help build a sense of community by making it easier and more inviting for residents to use public transit, walk or bicycle. The streetscape enhancements and pedestrian/bicycle access improvements built with this money will pay immediate dividends in terms of quality of life and public health.”

Since the TLC program’s inception in 1998, about $200 million has been invested to help provide better linkages between housing and public transit. TLC provides funding for projects that provide for a range of transportation choices, support connectivity between transportation investments and land uses, and are developed through an inclusive community planning effort.