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The second idea is to institute "residential congestion dues" that would
apply to all NEW residential development in Alameda. This is different than
the EcoPass that is currently included as part of the planned Alameda
Landing development. The basic idea is that people who bought a residence
in a new development in Alameda would be told in advance that, as a
condition of residence, they would be subject to "residential congestion
dues" that would be applied every time they drove their car through
access points into or out of the development. I want to stress that this
would NOT APPLY TO RESIDENTS WHO ARE ALREADY LIVING IN ALAMEDA in existing
developments; applying it to them would not be fair because they did not
have forewarning before they bought their home in Alameda. The idea is
similar to homeowners dues that people choose to pay who buy into certain
developments. The difference is that the homeowners dues (AKA "residential
congestion dues") could be avoided by the homeowner if they limited the
amount they drove their car.
The technology to implement this idea already exists. People who use the
Fast-Track system have a transponder in their car that identifies them as
having paid fees in advance to cross the bridges. The difference with the
"residential congestion dues" is that the fee would only be applied when the
car was driven through the access points into or out of their development.
This is a critical difference because it would create an incentive to use
public transportation; people could avoid the dues by using transit instead
of driving. Also, the amount of fees they paid would be directly tied to
the number of times they drove into or out of they're development.
Again, this would only apply to people who self-identified as wanting to
live in new residential developments in Alameda. They would be told in
advance. The potential benefits of this idea are many. It could: 1) mitigate congestion resulting from new residential development by creating a true and ongoing incentive to use public transit; 2) provide an ongoing revenue stream that could be used to fund transit improvements in Alameda, including bike lanes, pedestrian amenities, and low-emission alternatives to AC Transit buses, such as smaller electric or hybrid shuttles; 3) mitigate the traffic impacts of any density housing that was included in new developments; 4) improve air quality in Alameda by reducing the number of vehicle trips. Finally, the idea of having "residential congestion dues" in Alameda has the real potential to impact global climate change in a positive way. Alameda would be the first City in the nation to implement the idea of residential congestion dues, but a similar idea has already been tried with success in London, England. If successful in Alameda, it could serve as a model for other new development, perhaps starting with the planned Oak to Ninth development across the Estuary in Oakland. In fact, residential congestion dues should be proposed for the Oak to Ninth development regardless. Over time, if enough cities succesfully adopted residential congestion dues, it could significantly reduce greenhouse gases from automobile trips, and, as has been the case throughout Alameda's history, we would have shown bold and innovative leadership on an issue that affects our quality of life. There are ways to tweak this idea: maybe the dues would only be assessed during periods of peak congestion. Maybe they could be tiered like electricity and water rates commonly are, so that those who drive the most pay progressively higher dues. I hope that by putting these ideas out there people talk about them and come up with their own creative suggestions as a way of building consensus. |