53 6 NATIONAL CIVIC REVIEW [November

Metropolitan Areas . Joseph F. Zimmermon, Editor

New York OKs Transit Program

Enacts Operating Grants on a Statewide Basis

A law .of particular importance to met- ropolitan areas has been enacted in

New York State authorizing the first statewide program of operating grants for public transportation

Although New York had taken a num- ber of actions to improve public trans- portation prior to 1967, voter ratification of a $2.5-billion bond issue in that year marked the beginning of a major effort to develop a first-class system. Defeat of proposed major transportation capital facilities bond issues in 1971 and 1973, lack of sufficient federal public trans- portation funds and rapidly escalating costs combined by early this year to create a public transportation financial crisis.

Three major legislative actions were taken in 1972 and 1973 to provide ad- ditional capital funds. I n 1972 a transit construction fund was established in New York City with power to issue up to $2.50 million in bonds to aid the city in financing its share of the cost of new public transit facilities without exceeding the constitutional debt limit.

Legislation in New York and New Jer- sey in 1973 authorized the Port Author- ity of New York and New Jersey to construct an additional $650 million of public transportation facilities, including a high-speed rail line between Kennedy International Airport and Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan, a rail link to Newark Airport, and extension of Port Authority Trans-Hudson ( P A T H ) rail service from Pennsylvania station in Man- hattan to Plainfield, New Jersey, via Newark.

To facilitate its greater involvement in public transportation, both states passed legislation repealing a 1962 cove- nant prohibiting the authority from en- gaging in a rail public transportation project, other than the P A T H System, unless it is self-supporting. If the con- stitutionality of the law is upheld, over $140 million annually in authority funds will be available for public transit.

New York has been providing operat- ing assistance indirectly to public trans- portation since 1967 when it authorized capital grants for new equipment and facilities which lower operating costs and the transfer of part of the surplus of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority to the Metropolitan Transportation Au- thority. And the legislature in 1969 in- creased the mortgage recording tax from 50 cents to 75 cents per $100 of indebted- ness over $10,000 to provide funds for regional transportation authorities.

Voter rejection of a proposed $3.5-bil- lion transportation capital facilities bond issue in 1973 necessitated the immediate development of a plan for legislative ac- tion to prevent further fare escalation and deterioration of public transportation service. Bus and subway fares have in- creased sharply in New York City in recent years-from 15 cents in 1966 to 35 cents in 1972, a t which time the Tri- borough Bridge and Tunnel Authority raised tolls on its facilities and trans- ferred its surplus revenue to the Metro- pclitan Transportation Authority, and New York City agreed to subsidize transit authority operations for two years until December 31, 1973.

As a temporary measure early this year the legislature authorized a state loan of $100 million to New York City which was directed to pay the sum to the transit authority in order to hold the fare at its current level until May 1. Then, on April 1, Governor Malcolm Wilson

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signed into law the $200-million statewide public transportation assistance program to be funded by a state appropriation of $100 million and matching local funds. The program is designed to prevent bus, commuter rail and subway fares from ris- ing until May 1 , 1975. Specific amounts are appropriated for each of the five regional transportation authorities. Coun- ties and cities providing or contracting to provide public transportation services re- ceive operating assistance computed by adding the following three amounts:

1. The certified number of passengers multiplied by 1.4 cents per passenger.

2. The certified number of vehicle or car miles in revenue service multiplied by 9.0 cents per mile.

3. The total number of persons within the urban areas served by the system multiplied by 10 cents per capita. Pay- ments to a county or city contracting for public transportation service will not in- clude this amount.

The legislature appropriated $10 tnil- lion to the state Department of Trans- portation to loan money to counties and cities to enable them to pay their match- ing shares of operating assistance. Another law entitles private bus com- panies to a refund of gross receipts, motor fuel, use and sales taxes paid, and re- duces the income surcharge from 14.5 percent to the 9 percent rate applicable to other corporations.

Study Examines Suburbs in Metropolitan Areas

The July-August issue of Neighborhood Decentvalkafion (Center for Govern- mental Studies, 1701 K Street, N. W., Washington, D. C. 20006) contains an article from a chapter in the forthcoming Neighborhood Government in a MetropoZi- tan Setting by Howard Hallman. The au- thor points to a drift to larger units in situations where small suburban commu- nities cannot satisfy residents’ increasing

demand for services. How to accommo- date these demands by shifting the re- sponsibility for their delivery to a different level while preserving the values associ- ated with a small community life style is the issue. In the study of suburban governments,

communities in three east coast metro- politan areas are analyzed. It was found that in many units under 5,000 population which provide strong community identity, the range of muncipal services available is limited. Places where community identity remains strong and service more broad gauged appear in the 10,000-25,000 range.

I t is noted that in larger suburban places (80,000-100,000) residents tend to identify more closely with a neighborhood than the municipality.

The optimal size of a suburban munici- pality, it is said, depends on the size of the metropolitan area:

Where the population outside the central city (or in one suburban county) is in the range from 500,000 to 1,000,000, a popula- tion mode of 40,000 to 50,000 for suburban units probably provides an optimum for balancing community identity and admin- istrative effectiveness. In the very large suburban counties over a million, this op- timal size is greater, perhaps in the 60 to 90 thousand range, so that the total num- ber of units do become incomprehensible. But where the total suburban population is under 500,000, the optimum might be 25,000 to 35,000.

The author cites a variety of ways in which small suburban governments can improve service delivery through struc- tural change. Consolidation through vol- untary merger is dismissed as unrealistic, and the use of a special municipal bound- ary commission at the state or county level to effect such change is recom- mended. In addition, Hallman says, the states, through their power to oversee the conduct of local government, could modify municipal organization to make it more effective.

Maintaining community identity in the wake of consolidation, he suggests, can be

53 8 NATIONAL CIVIC REVIEW [November

achieved by creating neighborhood units with a role in the governing process. Adopting joint service agreements, too, it is stated, can strengthen services while preserving political decentralization.

Although consolidated municipalities can provide a wide range of services, the au- thor says that there are others requiring an even larger population base which should be handled by the county or broader jurisdiction. Regional functions, it is added, may necessitate the existence of a metropolitan tier. Such functions could be handled on a federated basis or by a separate metropolitan agency.

W.G.A.

Parks and Housing Are Twin Cities Issues

The metropolitan council of the Twin Cities Area (300 Metro Square Building, St. Paul, Minnesota 55101) has allocated more than $34 million to local govern- ments to acquire park !and a t major regional sites and develop recreational facilities at five other sites.

The 1974 state legislature passed a parks act authorizing the council to issue up to $40 million in bonds to raise funds for such purposes. The council distrib- utes the funds to counties, municipalities and parks districts.

The council’s metropolitan parks and open space commission, created as a statu- tory advisory board by the 1974 legisla- ture, developed the initial recommenda- tions for the grant program and will monitor the acquisition and development program.

Of the authorized $40 million, $32 mil- lion has been dedicated to the purchase of land and the remaining $8 million will be used to develop existing regional park sites.

The council also has published an up- dated version of its Mzinicibal Housing Profile report originally released in De- cember 1971. The revised report con- tains 21 categories of housing and related

population data for each community in the metropolitan area, New information in- cludes average family income, percentage of housing units that are subsidized, and percentage population change from 1970 to 1973.

Tucson and Pima County Begin Management Study

Tucson and Pima County, Arizona, have established a Commission on Im- proved Governmental Management to “perform an objective study of the alternative methods for improving the organization and management of local governmental structures and systems.”

The 50-member commission has a nine- member steering committee appointed jointly by the city council and the county board of supervisors, one member ap- pointed by each councillor, one by each supervisor and one by the mayor of Tucson ; these members appoint the re- mainder of the commission. Should the towns of South Tucson and Oro Valley decide to participate, the governing body of each town will appoint one member.

With an initial allocation of $sO,OOO, the commission is directed to complete the first phase of its study and submit a preliminary report of findings and rec- ommendations within six months. The commission will study the present system, incorporation of new cities, use of annex- atidn, city-county consolidation. metro- politan federation, special districts and development authorities, functional con- solidation and a council of governments.

EPA Proposes Amendments for Parking Management

On August 22 the United States En- vironmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed amendments to the parking management regulations in the trans- portation control plans for 16 metropoli- tan areas-Phoenix, Tucson, Fresno, San Joaquin Valley, Los Angeles, Sacra- mento Valley, San Diego, San Francisco,

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Washington, D. C . area, Baltimore, Bos- ton area, New Jersey suburbs of New York City and Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Houston.

The current regulations require a pre- construction review after January 1, 1975, of new or modified parking facilities to en- sure that traffic will not interfere with the attainment and maintenance of air quality standards.

The proposed amendments would re- quire a review of facilities containing a minimum of 250 parking spaces rather than the current 50 spaces. According to E P A the proposed amendments are de- signed to encourage state and local gov- ernments to develop and implement local goals which would replace the federal regulations. EPA states that the pro- posed change “will enhance the adminis- trative and productive capacity of local agencies to conduct the review process.”

The amendments allow EPA to dele- gate the authority and responsibility for preconstruction review to local authori- ties and permit the development of a local parking management plan which could be substituted for a federal re- view, subject to EPA approval. The lo- cal plan would assess all parking re- sources in the area and future parking facilities which are definitely required. The information developed would be re- lated to projected public transportation improvements and other measures de- signed to reduce vehicle miles traveled. Several metropolitan areas including San Diego, Seattle and San Francisco al- ready have begun to develop such plans.

The existing regulations and proposed amendments provide considerable flexi- bility in application and review:

-Owner-operators of special-purpose parking facilities (such as park and ride lots to accommodate carpooling or use of public transit systems) are not required to develop detailed proof of the anticipated impact of the facility.

-If traffic reduction can be proved

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through detailed studies and projections to the satisfaction of the reviewing agency, the lot would be approved.

-If an applicant can demonstrate a local need such as inadequate public transit and has taken all reasonable ac- tions to reduce traffic associated with the facility (i.e., locating near existing public transit facilities and/or coordinating with public transit service, providing carpool locator service, encouraging use of bi- cycles by providing bicycle racks, paths, etc.), the lot would be approved.

UMTA Cites Alternatives in Reducing Travel Needs

The United States Department of Transportation’s Urban Mass Transpor- tation Administration (UMTA) has pub- lished a research report entitled Reducing the Need for Travel (National Technical Information Service, U. S. Department of Commerce, 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, Virginia 22151, $5.00, Order number PB-234-665/AS), prepared by the INTERPLAN Corporation, which ex- plores the potential for combating con- gestion and its associated problems in metropolitan areas by reducing the de- mand for travel.

The underlying reasons for travel are analyzed and alternative solutions are identified under three classifications-the substitution of communication for travel whenever applicable, alteration of land use patterns of metropolitan areas and rescheduling of work hours. INTER- PLAN suggests a fourth alternative- travel disincentives or reducing the de- mand for urban travel by increasing the cost of traveling, and educating the pub- lic, through the media, to travel less.

The impact of each of the proposed so- lutions is assessed in terms of its reduc- tion of vehicle miles traveled, number of automobiles owned, energy required and expense to the consumer. The report contains 136 bibliographic references for further research.