Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill this week (SB 375) that aims to fight sprawl by rewarding communities that build homes and workplaces close together. The law uses transportation funding as an incentive by giving communities with denser projects the bulk of yearly funds.
Land use planning as a means to fight global warming is a growing policy trend.
Read more in this story in the Los Angeles Times.
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I’m wondering if it’s right to use transportation funds as a carrot or a penalty for planning. I realize that government uses incentives to promote behavior they think appropriate. However, in this case you are taking money from citizens that applying it in such a way that it goes toward some citizens and not toward others. That deserves some discussion (and I’m sure the Cali legislature didn’t talk this over with any sense of depth).
Also, I disagree that this type of development manipulation will do anything to help global warming. We desire to restrict sprawl for reasons of natural resource depletion. People are still going to commute out of these neighborhoods and travel to their mega malls, so you won’t stop the distance driving.