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Sample Letter: Infrastructure Bonds

The Honorable Arnold Schwarzenegger
1st Floor, State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814

 

Dear Governor Schwarzenegger,

Your proposal for issuing infrastructure bonds will certainly facilitate continued growth for California. However, I urge you to consider all of the factors that contribute to the quality of life in our great state and modify your proposal to incorporate more responsible and forward-thinking investments: parks, transit-oriented development, and urban infill.

Because it represents such a major commitment of state resources over a long period of time, I have two major concerns with your infrastructure plan:

• The state's public infrastructure must be broadly defined to include the full range of capital investments that improve the quality of life in California. An infrastructure bond should fund parks and protected lands, which provide numerous benefits to the public.
• New infrastructure investment needs to avoid past mistakes that contributed to sprawl, traffic congestion, air pollution, and inequitable distribution of benefits.

New highway lanes relieve congestion only temporarily; ultimately, they induce more sprawling development, congestion and air pollution. Please prioritize building new infrastructure close to mass transit hubs, which will help reduce vehicle miles traveled to work. I know you understand how important it is to protect California's environment. Please ensure the infrastructure bonds fund state and urban parks, publicly protected lands for conservation, ecosystem restoration, and drinking water system improvements.

California does not need a bond that will build more highway lanes and result in longer commutes, more air pollution, jobs further from home, and continued destruction of the state's most valuable farmland and open space. Rather, we need a bond that builds infrastructure and simultaneously reduces commute distances and time, improves air quality, increases urban infill, provides more neighborhood parks, and saves threatened farmland.

Sincerely,

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