Groups call for transit spending, sprawl controls
   By MIKE GLOVER

   11/13/2001
   Associated Press Newswires
   Copyright 2001. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.


   DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Spending on mass transit should be increased and
   new controls slapped on urban sprawl because of a worsening problem with
   smog, environmentalists said Tuesday.


   The Sierra Club released a study that concludes smog is increasing, even
   though most vehicles today emit fewer pollutants.


   The study said only 5 percent of the nation's polluted cities saw a
   reduction in air pollution during the 1990s because of continued
   population growth and an increase in the number of miles being driven.


   "There are more of us and we're driving more miles," said Erin Jordahl,
   head of the Iowa chapter of the Sierra Club .


   She said spending on mass transit is a key way to cut that pollution.


   The Sierra Club study ranked cities around the country for investment in
   public transit and measured the impact on air quality. "Cities that
   invested in public transportation had statistically cleaner air,"
   Jordahl said.


   New York was the only state to spend more on mass transit than on roads,
   and New York City had the least smog per person. Oklahoma was last on
   the list, spending $5.80 on mass transit for every $100 on roads.


   But while boosting mass transit is one way to cut into pollution,
   clamping down on urban sprawl is another, Jordahl said. Urban sprawl has
   lengthened commutes and spread residents over such a large area that
   bicycling and other alternative forms of transportation aren't
   practical.


   "Poorly planned communities are harmful to our health," said Iowa Sierra
   Club spokeswoman Jane Clark. She said one study showed children living
   near streets carrying 20,000 or more vehicles a day are eight times more
   likely to develop childhood leukemia, and many urban streets carry such
   a load.


   Rep. Ed Fallon, D-Des Moines, said he would once again push a measure
   he's backing to control sprawl when the Legislature convenes in January.


   "We've changed the entire layout of our communities," Fallon said.


   Fallon's proposal calls for counties and cities to write long-term
   development plans to control growth, and he said the prospects for it
   are brightening. It was first introduced in 1997.


   "It is a bill that would have a tremendous impact," he said.


   Fallon said a number of groups backing the effort, ranging from the
   Sierra Club to the Iowa Farm Bureau.


   "It's very bipartisan," Fallon said. "It's very diverse."


   Environmental groups favor the restrictions on growth as a way to
   control pollution, while some farm groups have allied themselves with
   the effort because they worry that development is taking away prime
   farmland.


   At the same time, a group of private corporations and public agencies in
   Des Moines formed a Transportation Management Association to study
   increasing traffic problems in that city.


   The group's goal is to cut peak-hour traffic levels by 10 percent.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
For SC email list T-and-C, send: GET TERMS-AND-CONDITIONS.CURRENT
to [log in to unmask]