Good afternoon and welcome to today's energy seminar. I'm excited to introduce our speaker for today Lauren Faber O'Connor who's the Chief Sustainability Officer for Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. In that role she is responsible for implementing LA's Green New Deal. Before that she was the political director of the Environmental Defense Fund's West Coast Office. Before that the Assistant Secretary for Climate Change programs at Cal EPA. Before that a Cedar Advisory Policy Advisor to the British Embassy in Washington DC. Before that she was the master student at Columbia in Climate and Society and before that and most pleasingly and emotionally rewarding to me she was actually a bachelor's student here like many of you in earth systems and economics a little while ago. So with that introduction Lauren's going to tell us how she's been able to actually be implementing a new a new Green Deal whereas everybody else in the world seems to be discussing and arguing such things and I'm here to tell you she's just a person to do it so Lauren take it away. Thank you John so much. It means a lot to me to be here as well. You can pull up my my slides here thank you. It as I said it means a ton for me to be a part of this seminar and to be doing anything I can to be working more closely with you. John is an absolute local state national international leader in clean energy and I've learned such a great ton from you and I've tried to apply those learnings everywhere I go so you continue to be a really important mentor to me and so take heart take note everyone who you know is is able to take his class or be part of any of the the institutes that that John leads as well. As he mentioned I am Mary Garcetti's chief sustainability officer so I'm down here in Los Angeles I'm the native Angelina but actually never really pictured myself living here after I grew up and went off to college to Stanford and so spent my career as John said in other places other parts of of the country and really only over the last kind of few years before I joined the Garcetti administration back in 2015 was I seeing the kind of change that I I just was so enthralled to see in a place like Los Angeles the second largest city in the country and I think what I would also just say over the course of my career is that I've really come to realize local local action at the city level is truly one of the most impactful places to make a difference on climate change and and to really push climate action and so that has been a lesson learned I came out of college or grad school thinking I've got to work at the international scale in order to really make a dent in the climate crisis and I think with with each professional move I've gotten closer and closer to home literally and figuratively moving into local government and it's not to say that any of those other places aren't places to make an extraordinary amount of difference but cities really are on the front lines of climate action and that is because we are the front lines of everything you feel from the climate crisis whether that is the negative impacts or the economic opportunities and public health opportunities that come along with strong action to combat climate change and so we we like to talk about in the mayor as you can see in this picture you know feel that nobody is doing more on climate change than cities but actually at the same time nobody is doing enough and cities really are where you can pull such unique levers on climate policy across all different sectors that have a huge bearing on our greenhouse gas profile whether that's whether that's urban planning and which determines really how far you drive to get from work to home that determines exactly the the patterns of our urban centers to building codes and so many other facets that really are at the the jurisdiction of the city level that have great consequence when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions next slide and so for example just in and you can just start popping through these they'll just kind of you can just click click click through them but the city is doing a ton of work just to to really have a global influence and you know we are we have the Ellie's Green New Deal which I'll talk more about I think there's one more you can pull there. Ellie's Green New Deal is really about creating a global model for what it means to take local action to uphold the Paris climate agreement and I'll talk about what that means in a minute but again when you have the second largest city in America we really do participate on the global stage and so what we do in a city like LA matters because it helps above and below when it comes to smaller cities bigger cities what can be happening at the state level and beyond and and one thing you know just in terms of where we are kind of politically in a policy world I think what we've seen is that previous administrations and an incoming administration who are really dedicated to climate action have recognized the role of state and local governments in in really pushing that action and and understanding that the role of the federal government can the role the federal government can play to really help reinforce and help empower state and local governments to take that meaningful action. When Mayor Garcetti released LA's Green New Deal in April of last year April 2019 we started out by it really when we were developing it as you know kind of the next stage of the sustainable city plan that Mayor Garcetti released in 2015 which was the first time the city of LA ever had a sustainable city plan and when he put that in place in 2015 he said every four years we're going to update the plan and so when I joined I joined right after the plan was released in 2015 and four years felt this you know plan update felt very far away and I can't tell you how quickly it came upon us when here we were in 2017-2018 going we've got to embark on a process you know really in-depth comprehensive public process in quantitative analytical process to figure out you know what the new incarnation is of the sustainable city plan because what I think was really prescient of the mayor and thinking about that four-year increment was not just that he wanted to make sure that he had an updated plan within his his term in office to demonstrate that he is always looking to to increase our ambition and our goals but it was absolutely a mandate that we do that because even though in 2015 what we released was some of the most far-reaching goals and targets on the books just four years later some of those things were considered conventional wisdom we've achieved our goals and we really had to go further faster the science was significantly more dire coming out of some of the IPCC reports and sort of the 2018 and 2019 timeframe as you all know and the technology across the energy space and water and waste have all improved at exponential pace and so our ability to think more expansively in terms of solutions and pace of our goals had really opened up and also what had changed was that our president had said that we were pulling out of the Paris agreement and and Mergar City was really at the forefront of saying that was not going to stand and that we were going to uphold the Paris climate agreement I'll talk a little bit more about the efforts that we've done under under that scenario but really we wanted to say what does that look like so we undertook a really comprehensive quantitative analysis of what our greenhouse gas budget would be for the city between now and 2050 so for so many reasons we had to dramatically update the sustainable city plan to meet the ambition and the opportunity of the moment next slide what the Green New Deal is grounded in and this is exactly as John put you know we saw all this argument around the country and beyond or what is a Green New Deal what is a Green New Deal and we just thought let's put this to bed we're going to describe we're going to show we're going to model what a Green New Deal is and its key principles for us are really this commitment and recognition of the urgency of this problem and the ambition that we have to with which we have to approach this crisis and that when we approach this crisis we have to make sure that environmental justice and equity is foundational is key and core to how we develop our plan and how we implement our plan and then at the same time we're we're safeguarding our economy and making sure that we're creating an inclusive economy that is is open to anyone and everyone and is making sure that workers who are currently in fossil fuel industries that we are of course looking to ramp down that they have a place in the green economy as well and that as government we have to do everything in our power through our budgets through our resources through our personnel through our buying power to walk the walk to model that behavior to implement solutions and at an even more accelerated pace so that we are serving as that local model next slide just to give you a flavor you can go to plan.la mayor.org to actually read LA's Green New Deal and learn more about it but this just gives you a sense of how comprehensive and wide-ranging the Green New Deal is in LA and right at the outset environmental justice is number one on the docket. It was a really interesting kind of process as we were going through a stakeholder engagement process to determine what kinds of goals and programs we wanted to highlight and focus on across all these key areas we wanted to make sure that environmental justice and equity shows up in all of these topic areas but we also wanted to make sure that it was brought forward as its own key principle and key set of goals so we did just that we both wove equity throughout all of the chapters and demonstrated at the very top of the plan that it was a top priority to make sure that the the policies the programs the goals that we're setting are with the eye toward environmental justice and making sure that the communities that have been most impacted by environmental harm are the ones that we're focusing on to improve their health their access to you know improved improved amenities improve lives and improve services. I think this is one of our kind of favorite ways of boiling down what it means to really hit carbon neutrality and hit on the key sectors is LA's five zeros so this is a zero carbon grid zero carbon buildings zero carbon transportation zero waste and zero wasted water and you know those are foundational pieces to foundational sets of actions to the overall green new deal and so what's particularly interesting here is that Los Angeles owns and operates its own municipal utility it is the largest municipal utility in the country and it's not just the largest municipal utility in the country for those of you that are studying the power sector and utility regulation and utility business models you'll understand when I say it's a vertically integrated utility which means which is rare in California but it means that the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power runs all of its generation so we're used to utilities in California just delivering power and what happens behind the delivery of power the transmission of that electricity the generation of that electricity that comes from all different sources the the operation of the grid the balancing of the grid that comes from different sources but with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power the municipally owned utility of the city of Los Angeles we do all of that so when it comes to procuring and operating energy itself energy generation itself or actually operating and balancing the grid so that you know we basically have supply and demand matched at all times that is also the responsibility of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power so when when a city like Los Angeles says we're hitting 100% renewable energy it is different than some other cities that say things that say that and they do that through often buying green tags you know demanding kind of renewable electricity being being serviced into their system whereas we are actually not just for our municipal our municipal electricity demand but for the entire city the four million residents of the city of Los Angeles are actually developing the renewable generation that is needed to support the grid to then deliver that electricity to Angelinos so it really is quite a feat when we talk about 100 percent renewable energy for LA and then similarly on zero carbon buildings zero carbon transportation take transportation for for example and I'll come on to both the grid and transportation in a minute but we're talking everything from light duty vehicles to medium you know medium heavy duty buses obviously you know the we have some of the largest bus fleets across the county as the county of Los Angeles and we own and operate the port of Los Angeles which is the busiest port complex in the country in the western hemisphere I should say and there's a there are there's about 10 000 heavy duty diesel trucks that operate at the port on a daily basis and it is an incredible amount of infrastructure to have to transform I'll come on to that in a little bit as well so next slide when I talk about what does it mean to hit carbon neutrality we did do a a clear carbon budget and so this this graph this graphic is actually specifically LA city's carbon budget and uh that means if you look at these these different slices building energy use we expect to be able to get down to an absolute zero and that means building decarbonization which is an example of this importance of moving of a review of our plan every four years because building decarbonization which means getting carbon out of our buildings which is removing the use of fossil fuels to power our buildings was not really something people were thinking or talking about in 2015 and it wasn't because it was just that far off idea it was just that I was talking about you know energy efficiency and things along those lines but the the scope of the policy discussion and climate change progresses so quickly that that building decarbonization now is is fundamental and foundational and as the grid continues to get cleaner and cleaner and cleaner and towards zero carbon what's left of those buildings is the use of natural gas in buildings and that's a key area that we have to focus on is reducing the use of natural gas in our buildings and we want to do that for a number of reasons of course it's carbon intensive so we know that it contributes to extremely unhelpful indoor air quality when we are burning a fossil fuel inside our buildings and if the level of of pollution that exists inside our buildings because of burning a fossil fuels if that level existed outdoors where ambient air quality is actually regulated indoor air quality is not regulated but ambient outdoor air quality is regulated it would far exceed the allowable limits and so so building health healthy buildings is an extraordinarily important part of our plan and we expect that we we we need to be able to essentially electrify our buildings or deploy other forms of of fuels like hydrogen fuel down the line in order to to reach zero carbon buildings and then there's transportation which which are on road transportation we do expect to hit zero emissions so so cars trucks buses on the road we do expect to be able to get all the way down to zero emission but the city of Los Angeles as I mentioned runs the port of Los Angeles its own it's a proprietary department as is the airport lax which is the third busiest airport in the country and I'm sorry in the world and so you know what we don't necessarily have control over our aviation fuels and that's an area that requires a significant amount well is fuels within shipping and fuels within aviation and that's why you still see a little bit at the end in 2050 and then industrial missions there's quite a lot of heavy industry in LA where we're going to have to look at how we you know get all the way down to zero to hit neutrality in 2050 if the solutions don't come to bear between now and then but there's a ton of work that you can that we need to do and one of the thing I want to point out with this graphic is you see much steeper lines in the early years basically between now and 2025 you see significantly steeper lines and that is because of our intention of upholding the urgency of this crisis which means that the emissions that we emit now are the ones that really matter we can't kind of go crazy now and then in 2040 really start taking this seriously because the damage will be done the atmosphere will have been polluted and so we we know that we absolutely have to take as much focus and acceleration in the near term and that's a really important signal that we're sending globally and when we do this we also know that there are significant health benefits that we're saving lives over 1600 lives a year by 2050 just just out of the air pollution improvements that can be made the air quality improvements that can be made from a lot of these interventions and then the associated cost savings and economic savings that come with reduced bad health outcomes and then an incredible opportunity around job creation job creation in building retrofits job creations in modernizing our grid and building out the grid infrastructure that is needed to support renewables the job opportunities in building out a an EV electric vehicle charging network as well as the the the vehicles themselves but that infrastructure is such a huge opportunity and just one note on how we actually use this this plan internally we it is absolutely an organizing and accountability tool for all of the departments across the city so this isn't just something that our utility you know that DWP is responsible for or our department of transportation or sanitation or our buildings department this is something that is shared across our you know our engineering department our libraries our zoo our you know internal general services department every 35 city departments are involved in delivering on these priorities the port the airport the police department the fire department everyone has a departmental chief sustainability officer that is sort of my dotted line of you know my army throughout the city working on sustainability initiatives and progressing our our goals and so it's a really effective coordinating tool and a really effective management tool for the mayor I want to come on to just checking my time here I want to come on to quickly a couple of deep dives in in a few areas and I mentioned the role of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power a couple of years ago we embarked on what really is considered the most comprehensive in depth wide-ranging analysis and modeling exercise to really chart out our course to 100% renewable energy and we are doing that with the national renewable energy laboratory which is one of the national labs under the department of energy and it has been an incredible partnership that includes a significant amount of public engagement and an actual 100% renewable energy advisory group that has been with us working with us for the last two years to help inform the analysis respond to the analysis and this just this isn't just about how to address hitting our renewable energy goals just flipping out what we have in natural gas generation to renewables but this is taking into account building decarbonization and its impact on the grid EV you know electrification of transportation and its impact on the grid it's looking at job impacts it's looking at air quality impacts it's really providing and that's why I say it's one of the most comprehensive it's really providing this entire holistic look and again how are we balancing the grid how are we making sure that supply and demand are met at all times and this has been an extraordinary extraordinary effort that will be culminating in the next few months which is exciting and then we'll be sort of embarking on a much broader outreach and engagement on the final results on mobility this is an area that you know folks might not think of Los Angeles as you know super innovative when it comes to clean transportation people think of us as the car capital of the world and I think of us as really the transportation innovator of the world because you know we have constantly over a century and a half been remaking our transportation system some for the better than the worse when it comes to you know the the massive build of our freeway system and the sprawl that had ensued however here we are saying we're going to remake ourselves again and that's through the build out of 15 rail lines through the largest public infrastructure investment project in US history for public transit in the city of Los Angeles to really focusing on people centered streets streets are a city's most precious collateral it is an incredible public space that we are we're dedicating to parked cars often more than anything else and so how are we reimagining and engaging Angelinos run what that could really how that could really transform and I will tell you we'll talk about this in a sec a response to COVID-19 is beginning to address some of this this demand for more public space for people has really started to re-engage people around this particular concept and then finally I wanted to just come on to also in the world of transportation next slide the port of Los Angeles which really is unfortunately one of the most polluted parts of the country because of the influx of of very dirty ships coming in from all over the world and some of the you know heaviest dirtiest diesel trucks coming in every direction of freeways all around communities in the San Pedro Bay area it is also one of the most important economic centers in Los Angeles in the region and in the country one in 54 jobs in America are connected to the port of Los Angeles so it is an incredibly important economic center but we have a huge responsibility to make it the most efficient and the cleanest possible and so in 2017 Mergar study committed set a goal for the port to have a completely zero emission drage which means the the sort of delivery trucks coming in and out of the semis these big trucks coming out in and out of the port to be zero emission by 2035 and this is the 10,000 trucks I was talking about and on dock equipment the cargo handling equipment to be zero emission by 2030 this has sent waves around the world really for innovation really this is the only port complex in the country that is thinking this way and we're we're using our international platforms to also bring in additional ports to work with us because you know there's so much that this kind of trade connected you know type of work can do if we can collaborate so happy to engage more on that topic if anyone's interested but on the topic of collaboration outside of our borders next slide there's two associations really that I want to highlight one is climate mares climate mares is a network of now 468 mares american mares in 48 out of 50 states together that represents 74 million americans and climate mares was actually created by co-founded by america or city back in 2014 this was under the obama era where mares um and this was a dozen or so mares came together and said we're all you know working on climate change working on greenhouse gas emission reductions and we think that we can probably learn from each other and really the peer-to-peer mayoral level we want to do that but we also really want to make sure that that dc is listening to us that that they know that this is very important to us and that we want to see this is preview you know prior to paris we want to see really ambitious outcomes at the federal level and at the international level and that's really what climate mares was founded on but I will say that when president trump said that we were going to pull the united states out of the paris climate agreement you know climate mares really said enough was enough and within a day the at that point in 2018 was that it you know at that point 2017 climate mares was at about 60 mares strong overnight after that happened climate mares doubled in membership and then tripled and quadrupled within the week it has since been as I said 468 mares and that is because there was a kind of zero tolerance for any sort of message or impression that america is not focused on and taking climate change seriously and that we see the significant threat to our residents to our economies and the opportunity that exists when we actually tackle this issue and so climate mares has grown and has grown in it's ambition has in its reach and we're not only using our bully pulpit to really push back when something kind of negatives comes forward as a rollback out of dc or when we want to support and underscore some great things that are happening in states and cities around the world or at the international level but also taking on unprecedented levels of collective action which is really exciting and one example is the climate mares ev purchasing collaborative now what we saw as climate mares was a situation where a city of like los angeles could command a price and access to evs for our fleet that was pretty competitive and you know most vehicle types are available to us in a big city but our colleagues in say anoxville tennessee did not have the same access to vehicle types and to pricing which we thought was not right and we thought was unhelpful to our overall goals and so we thought well what if we can combine our purchasing power to really command both equal access and and and competitive pricing for our cities and we set out to develop this one stop shop platform now called ev purchasing collaborative that does just that and so you can go to drive ev fleets.org and you can check it out and it really has enabled thousands of of new purchases of vehicles we've now added transit buses and electric school buses to the platform so now we have hundreds of cities participating and thousands of of evs on order or purchased as well as charging infrastructure through this platform which really skips over a bunch of process at the city level and just says here is a contract that you can just go right into it's used a competitive process and car companies understand that they want to be listed on this collaborative because of the access that it it lends itself to so many different markets across the country so that's been a really exciting development of collective action at the city level but we've also been really forthright about the need for a green and equitable recovery from COVID-19 and that and recently wrote a letter to Congress to that effect that you know we are in a moment of extreme crisis on so many levels and that everything we do to build ourselves back to build ourselves forward has to take climate change into account and I can come on to that a little and a little bit as well next slide I think this is my last slide the other really important collaboration that city like Los Angeles is a part of is C40 cities it's a another that's a probably the most climate the most important and effective climate leadership group out there period and Mergar City has been a member Los Angeles has been a member for many many years and Mergar in the steering committee leadership for many years and seeing how effective C40 can be at leveraging the members which are the 97 you know 97 of the world's largest cities so from every region of the world these mega cities what they can do in terms of economies of scale in terms of you know being laboratories for change and really testing and demonstrating new types of solutions and the learnings from each other incredible focus on the learnings from each other he was extraordinary he's extraordinarily dedicated to this organization and was voted a year ago to be the chair voted in by his peers to be the chair of it and it is I will tell you not a ceremonial or ministerial position of course it serves those roles but it is a very hands-on position and so we are you know we have our our fingers on the dial of of the course of climate change action globally at set by the biggest cities in the world and what I think we really are doing our setting bars not floors and charting new areas of work in clean construction and consumption based emissions in you know clean buildings in in greenhouse gas emissions and climate impacts from our food systems everything you can imagine and one of the really important things that Mergar said he came forward as his key platform when he came in as chair at the beginning of this year was this notion of pursuing a global Green New Deal and that the key principles there are founded very similarly on on what LA's Green New Deal is founded on which really is that urgency that importance of focusing and prioritizing equity and justice and that we are building an inclusive prosperous economy so that means building coalitions of cities cities even beyond the C40 network of youth and really empowering youth voices of businesses that are leaders and where we can push even harder and of course in the in our labor sectors as well where we want workers to feel empowered to participate in in essentially what's going to become their future so this real coalition building what became kind of that the platform at the start of the year when the mayor declared the 2020s the decade of action as we started 2020 and then in March when the coronavirus was really taking hold across the world Mergar said he called upon his C40 colleagues and within two days we were on a zoom call back when zoom was novel with about 60 mayors from around the world so every time zone people were up early up late all to be a part of this and really talk to each other about what's going on in their communities and what to watch out for and how to support each other but it was really because of climate change that this these relationships are being built and what came out of that was the establishment of the global mayor's COVID-19 recovery task force and you can also check that out in the C40 website but has become really the leading voice on what a green and just recovery must look like and that any stimulus across any country any jurisdiction must be a green stimulus that this is a once in a generation moment where where dollars where currencies are being infused into economies will be infused into economies at rates not seen in a generation or more and in a century or more and and we must make sure that climate change and a clean energy economy and clean clean growth are at the center and the heart of that and that's really the the platform that we've laid through C40 and that we're bringing to the international negotiations we're bringing to all of our national governments and that's really the the power of when cities are collaborating to to make change that far exceeds the the jurisdiction or the you know capacity of anyone city and anyone in any one country and so with that I think I will close thanks for that question thanks very much Lauren that was fantastic I think I'm going to give you and your boss the Yoda do or not do there there is no try word for this year it almost seemed like you got you just got to that point and that's why you acted much more decisively um so I want to start with a series of questions I think we're up to 35 questions and about a third of them are on uh these will probably be familiar but I think it's important to get your way of thinking about such things with this cost a lot of money where's the money going to come from don't you have restricted budgets at the state level COVID going on and so I'm not I'm sure you think about these each and every day so how would you respond to people say either it will cost you much it will be unfair to local businesses where they are shut down even more than COVID it'll be unfair to them it sounds like you spent a lot of time building up a broad coalition of stakeholders so as an outsider that would be one guest but how would you respond to that type those types of questions it's a really important question and it's totally fair and I would say that even before COVID-19 you know when we released this plan and we began our you know our implementation planning and thinking that was already you know part of the discussion is how are we you know making sure that that policies are not regressive that policies are not overly burdensome and there's a couple of different things one so much of the of the action has to do with really eliminating inefficiencies and so what's what's often lost is the cost savings that come with you know if we're talking taking building decarbonization for example building decarbonization you know on the face of it some folks think really expensive retrofits are very expensive you know there's high upfront cost but actually we need to be taking and we're looking to take a much more holistic approach where if you're looking at deep energy efficiency retrofits and deep energy efficiency savings and we're able to buy down the cost through things like rebates through our utility or bringing in other programs that can be underwritten by private finance you can get rid of some of those upfront costs and really just pay back investments through savings so one of the things that we really have focused on is private finance understanding that you know as some of the questions are suggesting these solutions do not have to be on the backs of taxpayers of residents alone that there is a lot of return to be made on investment and therefore it is it is an absolute imperative that we bring in the private finance sectors into all of this work we're doing that in a few different places we're certainly looking at that in building decarbonization there's a ton of interest where we could be you know leveraging a green bond or putting forward a an accelerator we can help aggregate buildings to improve pricing and improve in you know access to finance that then buys down those costs while we're also offering rebates for that type of equipment when it comes to you know for example the transition of heavy duty trucks at the port one of the things we just did last month was issue an RFI request for information after putting together a large finance forum a clean truck finance forum to say we really think that the private sector would want to be a part of this effort and there are folks who are in the business of managing assets like clean fleets clean vehicle fleets who should be able to pay for this and then you know work with drivers work with companies to lease out those those fleets at a cost that's competitive with their you know diesel conventional alternatives and you'd be able to monetize other other value streams that are created through our policies or state policies like the low carbon fuel standard or other types of policies and incentive monies that are available through state and local agencies and they all agree so we're expecting significant feedback and responses in january when the RFI closes for how actually we could create a much more public private partnership oriented system such that it's not just on the back of you know charging charging a fee and then figuring out how many trucks can you buy with you know however much we can collect from from a fee that we can really vastly expand that and then finally I'll just say one other thing is that we absolutely need federal help especially right now the mayor has has not minced words that states and cities need to be bailed out that we are in a situation where it is destructive not to think about how the federal government needs to be supporting the recovery of states and cities as a as part of the coronavirus recovery plan because we are able to more directly provide services and tailor services to the needs of our local businesses and our local residents and so absolutely it is going to be a compilation of different methods so that this is not regressive to the overall economy so going going back to the holistic approach we did have a number of questions regarding issues regarding the interactions between california and the federal government of course this is changing daily and i know your boss is talks to president elect biden i promised i wouldn't say that but i just did so are you optimistic about that do you care about that so one question is is it a big problem i may be on the covet side but even in your space pre-covid is that a big problem and if it is do you care i know other california leaders said of course it would be better to have the federal government in but if they're not we're going to go double down anyway which seems like the status quo ante at this point yeah i think that's right i think i would uh agree with those very apt comments from previous speakers that that absolutely um regardless of who is in the white house you know the state of california or a city like los angeles and a lot of our pure cities are determined to move very boldly on on climate policy and climate action and the development of a green economy of course there are ways to create more and more wind at our back through federal partnership there's a lot that the federal government can do through funding sources programs that are directed at state and cities through you know energy efficiency or grid modernization of course creating you know the the issues around the rollbacks for vehicle fuel economy standards you know those make it maybe like another sort of weight on the process and our progress where of course if there was a stronger signal nationally maybe technology could move faster but you know a state like california can command a lot of of market signal when it it makes a a pronouncement like even what governor newson did a couple of or a month ago with his executive order saying that you know all new vehicle sales must be zero mission by 2035 he also adopted the drage truck commitment that we put in in 20 third in 2017 we put that goal in for our port he adopted it for ports statewide of the zero mission drage trucks by 2035 a hundred percent of the fleet so i would say yes and yes i think a lot can happen faster with a federal partner but it's not that we then are going to sort of step back and say all right you take it from here you know president biden it's it's really going to be full steam ahead no matter what definitely definitely a jedi mentality if i could say such a thing so on this uh you've talked a lot about collaborations coordinations and so on so a lot of people want to know who are you collaborating with i will point out in previous talks this quarter we've had janea scott from the energy commission kathy zoey who i know you says she knows you well who's now down running ebgo and la and last wednesday we had a special seminar with amry levin's do you talk to those kind of people who else do you talk to who do you like who's been a good partner from your point of view uh yeah i mean all of them so i mean of course the state you know janea and her her colleagues at the commission at the california energy commission are wonderful in looking to understand you know what are the needs you know janea's focuses on transportation and they do you know they offer a lot of incentives for the development of vehicles or infrastructure electric vehicles or electric infrastructure particularly on the medium and heavy duty side and so as we put together specific projects and specific initiatives you know being able to compete for funding at the cec having them understand what our priorities are as they develop uh their priorities very important coordination and and information sharing ebgo you know when they knew that we were putting out this rfi for a port program you know they're very excited to be able to figure out how can they partner with other providers um in this space so that they can be the provider of choice for eb infrastructure for heavy duty eb infrastructure at the port and of course i mean we want to see as much competition and we want to see the right people you know putting the infrastructure in the ground and running these programs and rmi you know is an incredibly important analytical partner to us uh through a number of programs through the american cities climate challenge which is the bloomberg philanthropies program working with 25 of the largest cities in america to accelerate our work on transportation emission reductions and and buildings emission reductions and so rmi has been a thought leader and an analytical partner in many many ways and their their leaders across the renewable energy space and the building space um and so on but also other cities like i said i mean really working with our our counterparts across uh the state but but even more so you know globally nationally i mentioned the building's accelerator concept we're looking at what new york city is doing there you know on congestion pricing you know we're comparing notes with the city of seattle on their work when it comes to um clean construction and embedded emissions in our construction materials and building materials you know there's there's cities like oslo that are doing amazing things that we're learning from as well our our work on mobility and zero emission zones in the city we're taking a lot of learnings from the city of london there's so much we can pull from major innovative energy projects out of out of orlando florida or cincinati really incredible work that our strong networks ensure that you know we can pull from and and uh mega study likes to say good mayors borrow great mayors steal and so it's it's really important that we are stealing from as many sources as we can so he does have the yoda jeans doesn't he so one last question uh we did the very first question um that you got was we're now up to uh 44 questions is uh i've heard about the la council youth council for climate action what's up with that can i broaden out a bit and say i i know there are many students on the line now and you'll talk to some of them up in close and personal at the top of the hour who would really like to to be you uh when they get to be your age which isn't very old compared to me uh what advice would you give them so uh what's the deal with the la youth council for climate action and what advice would you give young people who want to be doing work like you're doing with the kind of objectives you have at this point so la's youth council for climate action is um really i think one of the first of its kind and it was a recognition by the mayor last year that you know young people when it comes to climate change are not just the leaders of tomorrow but they really are have become have stepped into a role of the leaders of today and that it is no longer something that we can say you know yeah yeah like come to us when you're a voter or something like that right that these these are really compelling and important messages and and my my little young one is making noises right now um but that these are extraordinarily important messages and um credible messengers about what we are what kind of games are we playing with our future um that they can be messengers to older generation that they can be messengers to elected officials about reminding us of what the art of the possible is when we're unrestricted by other forces and the mayor has really taken that to heart and so it's uh about a 15 person usually we're in our second year um uh council of of ages 15 to 21 and so a lot of people in um high school and a few in college try to get a little bit of a mix and a good mix of representation around the entire city all regions of the city really coming together and we both use the opportunities in our monthly meetings and an additional kind of off-sites if you will which is a little different in the zoom zuma sphere um to do to do learnings and development and professional development but also for them to start to develop with themselves what their priority topics and actions and accomplishments that they want over the course of that year so that that has included in the past advocacy at la usd for certain types of actions um developing kind of a student handbook and case studies around what you can do for leading climate action as a student in your community or in your schools and also helping underscore and push actions that we're trying to take in the city um and so that's what the last year was focused on and and we've only just had two meetings of this year so we're we're going to see really how that plays out in terms of your future I would say first follow what you're passionate about and and feel free to dabble and test um you know the use of of internships or Stanford programs Stanford funding to go out and do things over the summers um take unpaid internships because you can get funding or travel really use your time particularly as a student to test out things if you have a bad experience great cross it off the list and move on but but do think about exposing yourself to different types of opportunities different sectors and follow what you're passionate about because that will lead you you will stand out when you are passionate about a topic or passionate about an area that you're working on certainly stay in touch with mentors like John and like others that you are working with at Stanford or in other places you're you know an old boss at an internship or a previous job please stay in touch and develop those professional networks because they are so important to coming back to and offering advice and perspective providing recommendations and just broadening that network and so I would I would also say that every role I've had would have been a completely unforeseen role when I started the previous role so the job I had before this I would have never in a million years thought my next job would be working in local government in the city of Los Angeles and so on and so on back from there and so in some ways don't overpressure yourself but just stay open to opportunities be vigilant about meeting people that interest you and that you know companies or organizations that you admire I would stay you know well read and well informed in those respects and and you know try to just not close yourself off to opportunity because often they move into spheres that you would have never have expected and I can certainly say that that's that's I think how I got to where I am and I for me I think it's an incredibly rewarding and right place for me right now but I cannot ever say I would have expected it so quite appropriately I just got a note from Ralph Cavana who said NRBC is proud to have been the source of an early internship for Lauren so with thanks to a Stanford program no less hi Ralph yes indeed so Laura that was fabulous with those words of wisdoms at the end in particular so I'd like to thank you for an inspirational seminar and we wish you well and anything we can do to help just let us know and we'd like to be able to welcome you here to the Stanford campus before too long but I think smart COVID programs combined with smart Green New Deal programs might enable that so go to it. Thanks a lot. Agreed thank you so much. Bye everyone.


Hi Mike, this is Ashley with Alex Mortuoyota, I wanted to send you over a quick video greeting that way you can see who you are speaking with. Thank you for taking the time to speak with me about your daughter's interest in trading in her 2012 Camry for a new 2016 forerunner. I want to hit and send you over an email with our current inventory for her to look over at her convenience. If anything interests her, please let me know that way I can get more information. If you can give me a call, my number is<PHONE_NUMBER> or also email me back. Thank you so much. Bye.


, you know with the different methods of transportation here because the last thing we need is that there isn't interested in a bus And then we didn't go back and say but we have freight in watsonville We're never going to be able to get to the point of using the corridor for our our personal You know the transportation for us to get to the north end until you know aptos for example and so I just Can you explain to me where or how we're going to make sure that that kind of question Is going to get flushed out in this process Because the last thing we need is everybody's got this one ideal business model for using this corridor We have freight in watsonville and so that business model won't even exist for watsonville until we get to a certain end of the county I want to really make sure that that's part of Our discussion and an evaluation And how we can provide an answer to that if you'd like thank you So on the supports economy table there is a Evaluation metric called freight and other rail businesses What is the impact on freight rail? Operators shippers and other rail businesses It was discussed that there would be called warring camp would be called out specifically But there is that question already there On what is the impact on freight rail operators and shippers? Well, it doesn't clarify the pedestrian component to this it clarifies. Yes the business for freight Which I think that we've seen statistically That they're looking at a 75 increase over the course of you know the duration of time that we're Moving forward on this particular project the impact that I have is If the modality is different than than something that goes on the tracks and we have this freight We may not be able to see anything on the south end for our passengers until a certain point that they're still commuting to get to So I don't know how to to Formulate that in this when this this comes to the study and people are changing a to b to c on this because Again, if we're seeing bus on here Then our consumers in Watsonville may not even be able to use this corridor for the purpose of commuting to work Until they get past where the freight section would be if it's segmented where we have freight up to one point And then the modality from that freight forward is you know, not even in Watsonville anymore I just So we very much see the direction that we're looking at providing transit services is between Pajaro Watsonville and down to Santa Cruz With the consideration to all go all the way to the west side to Schaefer Road So if there's an alternative that's going to be evaluated that would Need some other type of surface besides tracks that would be compatible with freight in Watsonville Then that service still has to serve the Watsonville community as well as Pajaro to Connect with the regional rail service of Pajaro And so if it is a bus rapid transit then we would have to figure out where the route structure would be Where it would be off of the rail corridor We acquire some other right-of-way if it needed to be a dedicated facility So there's certainly the connection to what the Watsonville community is Fully understood in the analysis that we're going to be doing And that those that are you value, you know giving their surveys in on this understand that because They Watsonville segment on here if it's anything other than the rail is going to be very difficult for us to see those alternatives for This particular corridor because then we're not using the corridor for that purpose If if that were to be the case and then it's and if not that then how are we going to show it? How are we going to get that commutability? And the folks in Watsonville if there's nothing If that alternative is that the freight takes that part of it We can't widen the corridor for Watsonville. So I don't even know where to go to even look for how that would How we would factor that through this process when You know some of these questions may need a little bit more clarity for the layman that is going to be looking at this and circling abnc I maybe it's just the language part of it. I don't know, but I don't need the impact that we're not very clear that It could impact Watsonville with some of the alternatives When we screen down from this initial list of the universe of alternatives We will then we'd be doing a value engineering study to determine exactly what these different projects will look like for example If it's a bus rapid transit what the system would look like in order to connect the power of Watsonville to through to Santa Cruz and So that's very much a part of this study to evaluate all that and and to bring it to you for the information Thank you I Maybe just to help clarify It seems like on some level the question of freight and mass transit is not only included in the freight Under economy, but the notion that the transportation corridor Is continuous so the next criteria as well. So as you evaluate The universe big universe in the small universe that criteria there Will look at the spatial distribution of whatever choices we're looking at and so if we're only taking a portion Of freight for a portion of the corridor that would be a place that we're looking at that piece too So it's looked at in two different places. Is that a fair We have looking at that criteria I think you're referring to the one metric that has the freight and what is the other metric you're referring to the other metric Is transportation corridor utilization and preservation? And so it talks about what are the levels of risk at the corridor will not may remain continuous And so on some level it seems like that will be another criteria Where we evaluate whether or not the services we're providing over this entire network Are over the entire network or a portion of the services are provided over a portion of the network And you're going to be looking at that freight public transportation mass transit Conversation at that metric as well. Is that a fair correct? Yeah, so I just wanted to okay. Thank you Questions I think we have a query. I just want to say thank you. It's just it's been a long haul So to speak and I'm glad we have some it appears Some understanding of just exactly what we're going after and With the answers we're going to get in the next phase. So I appreciate All the input that everybody has had in this throughout the process. We do have a motion on the floor to accept this with the additional recommendations on the rurain camp the Criteria separate. Well, we you've heard it all so The motion's on the floor all those in favor Hi opposed so ordered unanimously all note unanimous support. Thank you very much. Good discussion Uh number item number 26 an addendum to the final environmental impact report for the north coast rail trail project Grace lakesley. Um, good morning commissioners grace blakesley of your staff Today I'm before you to request your approval of the addendum to the final environmental impact report for the north coast rail trail project As being compliant with sequa I'm also Before you to request that you authorize the executive director to amend the settlement agreement dated june 7th 2019 To incorporate revisions related to rail crossings to affect a revised request From the agreement signatories As background the north coast rail trail project includes construction of seven and a half miles of the monoray bay Sanctuary scenic trail between wilder ranch and Davenport The multi-use trail on the north coast could be located on the coast will be located on the coastal side of the existing Railroad tracks except for a short portion on the southern end where the trail connects to wilder ranch The project also includes parking Improvements and trail connections at three locations along the alignment including Davenport beach bonnie dune beach and panther yellow bank beach The rtc has previously approved two environmental impact reports that assess potential Environmental impacts to this area. The first was approval of the monoray bay sanctuary scenic trail Final environmental impact report that was adopted in 2013 and assess potential environmental impacts report to complete the entire Monoray bay sanctuary scenic trail network including 32 miles of the coastal rail trail and 15 miles of spurred trails The second was rtc's approval of the north coast rail trail final environmental impact report adopted in march 2019 This evaluated the potential environmental impact of the seven and a half mile north coast rail trail project Potentially feasible mitigation measures that would avoid minimize or reduce significant adverse environmental effects and four project alternatives The final eir concluded that the proposed project would have no environmental effects that could not be mitigated to levels that are less than significant with the exception of the cumulative traffic impact The rtc is now considering changes to its march 2019 approval of the north coast rail trail project Which occurred after certification of the associated final eir These changes are primarily being made pursuant to the june 2019 settlement agreement That the rtc entered into with parties engaged in agricultural activities along the trail corridor Other proposed changes provide clarification and address minor design details that were identified as the design has progressed to 70 percent and deemed appropriate for inclusion in the addendum The purpose of the addendum is to address the physical environmental effects associated with minor project clarifications and revisions contained in the settlement agreement The proposed changes to the project are described in attachment a exhibit a the addendum And do not trigger the need for either a subsequent eir a supplement to the existing final eir This is because the changes do not give rise to either a new significant environmental effect or substantial increase in the severity of a previously identified significant effect Although it's not required to circulate the addendum for public review. It is being provided to the public per this agenda item The addendum addresses each environmental topic from the final eir comparing the effects of the project changes to those found in the final eir The addendum establishes that the revisions to the project will not have any new significant effects Or cause a significant increase in the severity of the effects beyond those already analyzed in the previously certified final eir for the project The rtc has also been working in good faith to implement the june 2019 settlement agreement between rtc and parties engaged in farming Along the trail corridor in the project area In december 2019 rtc met with the farmers to discuss the portion of the settlement agreement related to keeping open the rail crossing Located at station 350 plus 00 and enclosing and closing another private crossing within the project area In december the certain parties engaged the party signed onto the settlement agreement requested that an alternative proposal be considered The new proposal includes a new crossing being opened approximately 400 feet north of the crossing referenced in the settlement agreement And that the crossing referenced in the settlement agreement be closed instead rtc proposed this option to the federal highway central federal lands team and they agreed to consider it The option is now included in the regional transportation commission's application to the california public utilities commission that oversees rail crossings The changes to the project description and mitigation measures language as agreed upon in the settlement settlement agreement And as it may be further amended and their proposed revisions are described on pages three to six of the addendum These include as already mentioned a new crossing between two existing crossings This change includes closure of the two existing crossings to the north and the south of the new crossing It also recludes removal of the statement that no good gates are proposed as part of the project in the project description For consistency with mitigation measure agricultural dash four and modification modification of mitigation Measure to in moda excuse me modification of this Mitigation measure to indicate that the rtc will install electric or solar gates for the life of the project Depended on consultation with the california coastal commission This also includes modification of general maintenance activities for the trail and the parking lots related to Trash and recycling containers to be emptied at least twice a week or more as needed Damage signs and fencing will be repaired within 30 days addressing homeless encampments in the project area prohibiting pets and horses And making an effort to limit trespassing onto property properties By way of trail manager enforcement authority in coordination with county sheriff state parks and other law enforcement entities Signage would also be required to meet at least minimum requirements for consistency with penal code section 6021 and 602.8a This is related to um, notifying trespassing requirements Provided um, this also provides that the signage would not Would be designed to minimize visual intrusion and that the content is also developed in collaboration with the california coastal commission and egg parties It also indicates that any signs removed or vandalized would be replaced by the rtc No more than 30 days after the rtc has received notice of removal or vandalism The addendum also addresses consideration of another type of unattrusive fencing made of non corrosive materials as long as Offensing limits trespassing onto contiguous properties and is also consistent with the project goals in the final eir It also Indicates that no benches or a press area will be placed at scurroni road And that the notice of the trail closure from sunrise to sunset or at least 12 a.m To 5 a.m would be put in place to allow for pesticide application And state that the pesticide application would not be limited in any way during the times when the trail is closed Provided the egg parties comply with the regulatory requirements relating to the application of pesticides I do want to note that today's staff is also recommending a correction to section page section 4.8 on page 10 of the addendum True mood reference to closing the trail during pesticide applications The revision to the project description described Includes language that states that pesticide application would not be limited in any way during the times when the trail is closed Provided the egg parties comply with the regulatory requirements relating to application of pesticides in the terms of existing future releases This correction to section 4.8 Which compares the effect of the project changes described above to those found in the final eir related to hazard Provides consistency with the project description and it does not change any of the findings The addendum also revises the project to indicate that farm roads to be replaced as a result of the project would accommodate vehicles of 19 feet wide And the egg parties would be permitted to use farm equipment Including those with metal tracks to cross the rail ride of way at cpc cpc california public utility commission approved crossings Provided that the equipment is used and operated in manner consistent with its manufacturing guides And our egg parties would not be held liable or responsible for normal wear and tear caused by Naglement use non-negligent use of farm equipment In addition to the changes to the project description and mitigation measures related To the addendum there's additional minor project design changes included in the addendum This includes not locating rest areas in agricultural areas Except at wilder ranch day park and an overall reduction in the rest areas It also indicates that rtc may not improve rail crossings crossings in the project area that are remaining open if it is not a new crossing It also identifies that the toilet at dabbin port would be a flush toilet and the bathroom would include a sink within rtc right of way It also includes refinement of the alignment that is nearby the wilder cultural complex to shift the alignment slightly more to the coast And on the coastal side of the utility existing utility poles, which date parks has indicated a preference for this new alignment it also changes the width of the trail to Change the unpaved shoulder width from six feet to two feet for a total width of 16 feet To provide a consistent trail with along the entire alignment And recognize that horses are not allowed north of wilder ranch on the coastal side of highway one as planned for in the Monterey base Sanctuary scenic trail master plan It also realigns the portion of the trail extending through dune habitat near bonnie dune parking lots What remains in the rail cut rather than above the rail cut on the coastal side The current alignment required mitigation measure by eight b construction of a boardwalk and coastal dune habitat It was determined that the proposed alignment and boardwalk were not desirable from an engineering standpoint And this also provides the option to potentially consolidate maintenance required due to sandriss on the trail and rail in this location It also clarifies discussion about improvements associated with the pedestrian crossing in dabbin port and indicate how information signage would direct pedestrians to the crosswalk and clarifies that the project would be Completed as early as 2021 to provide some flexibility to attain additional funding for phase two if needed If phase two funding has not been identified at that time The analysis in the addendum which is page 6 to 12 Examine whether or not the changes to the project create any new significant environmental impact compared to the analysis in the final EIR and a brief explanation of the decision not to prepare a subsequent EIR Pages 13 through 36 of the addendum provide the errata pages that reflect these changes in the addendum So today staff recommends that the rtc Approved the addendum to the final environmental impact report for the north coast rail trail project as being compliant with sequa And one correction as mentioned above and two minor edits The correction was related to deleting the text closing the trail during pesticide applications in section 4.8 as previously mentioned Also, the minor edits is to revise the last sentence in section 4.4 to reference the footprint of the realigned wilder ranch trail segment Right now it incorrectly references the bonnie dunam island, which is discussed in preceding paragraphs And then the last minor edit would be to delete to be located entirely on fill To minimize impacts on page 14 project characteristics under the trail heading trail proposed project This is clarified on the same paragraph, but this sentence should be removed for consistency rtc is also staff is also recommending That the rtc adopt changes to the mitigation monitoring and reporting program adopted in march 2019 In order to reflect the changes in the mitigation measures set forward in the adendum To approve a final file and notice of determination with the santa cruz county clerk and office of planning research within five working days of the approval of this resolution And authorize the director to amend the settlement agreement dated june 7 2019 to incorporate revisions related to trail Rail crossings to reflect a revised request request from the agreement signatories That concludes my report Thank you for that full report. Are there any grand new eyes mr. Schifrin Yes, thank you very much for the report Thank the consultants for their work on the addendum It should be clear to everybody on the commission just how complicated this project really is It's on the commission owned right away being funded by a federal agency. That's actually the lead agency for the project And is Essentially in charge of the projects and they're providing the money As a federal agency it will not need a coastal permit, but it will need a consistency determination by the coastal commission Not to mention the fact that part of the Right away goes over state parks land. So there needs to be agreements with state parks As well as approvals from the public utilities commission So the fact that this is taking quite a while Oh, I haven't even mentioned the important role that the farmers along the right of way have played In terms of their concerns about the impacts that the trail would have on them So in a sense the commission is trying to carry out its master plan in a context where we don't have final decision making authority over parts of it And we're trying to be good neighbors with our farmers recognizing that we can't promise things that we can't deliver Because we don't have the ability to so I think that the the eir that was approved by the commission Were have allowed us to go forward. There were concerns by the adjacent agricultural agriculturalists that led to a settlement agreement, which I think The commission staff and good faith has been trying to implement And led to the need for an addendum Which under sequel does not kick off a whole recirculation requirement But does allow us to a change the Change the eir as long as there aren't any new significant impacts And and I think that's what's before us today So I just wanted to give a little bit of a context before we hear from the public and other commissioners about just what Some of the complexities that That have been involved in knowing doing this project Which if if it continues to move forward could be constructed in 2021 and would be a major increase in the rail trail And carrying out the the master plan. So thank you. Thank you. I just had one question 262 it said there was a There's a four million dollar Shortfall in phase two You've applied for the funding and it wasn't awarded and then on 263 it says that won't have any fiscal impact on this at this point And I want to thank coastal conservancy and land trust of sanikers county to be involved in this as well, but For that form do we reapply for 68 funding? We just didn't Read the meet the criteria or do you just try again or what's What do we do with that? We're four million dollars short, I guess, but it's not going to have an impact on this Specifically, but what what's the future for that? Do we have a well the proposition 68 funding was one time an opera one time opportunity And they were overwhelmed with a number of competitive projects that applied So when we were not one of those that is being recommended for award We have been discussing internally other grant opportunities for to address that four million dollars shortfall Um, and we're looking at all the lpp funds as a possibility, but we haven't gotten too far along in that conversation Thank you. Could I add something here? You raise a good point the initial funding was only for phase one going from I think Wilder ranch to uh laguna creek Since the goal was to go to davinport the commission has done the environmental document to go as far as davinport We never had the money To go from laguna creek to davinport, but the feeling was That if we had the environmental document if we could get the money then we could do phase two So we've been pushing to get them to to be able to get the funding for that Either as part from the agency that's giving the funding for phase one or elsewhere And hopefully that will be successful in the not too distant future But at this point all we're really getting the permits for and approvals for and ultimately the final designs for Is fave is to implement phase one are we going to get we actually are We are actually going to have completed Preconstruction activities for both phase one and phase two and I think it's a theme you've been hearing from the director over your last Several meetings and looking at the highway one projects It's very important for us to have those activities complete to be competitive for the funding opportunities that come Forward at the state. I think we are very well positioned once we have the Preconstruction activities complete which we're working very hard towards completing this year to be competitive for other for funding sources For the construction of phase two So that was a very wise decision that the commission made to move forward In funding the preconstruction activities for both phase one and phase two You know the question any questions from the public Move the staff recommendation Second sorry for the public. I was too quick We withdraw my motion. Nice try My name is marty de mer. I'm a coast road resident Of quite nearby the proposed rail trail ride my bike on highway one a lot The addendum before you does not address the parking needs that will be generated by increased visitation to the chatoni coast dairy's national monument This trail is funded by a federal lands access program grant yet. No, where does the project provide access to federal lands? Proposed crosswalk and Davenport is badly needed, but only serves to bring visitors into Davenport There's no access to federal land through Davenport being proposed Last night we heard a presentation from the bureau of land management proposing a trailhead and parking at yellow bank The terminus of the funded trail as I understand it A pedestrian overpass has been suggested, but it is not discussed in this addendum Will the second flap grant being proposed include funds for a pedestrian overpass across highway one The feir proposes that overflow parking can be accommodated by having visitors park on the highway one's shoulder It then acknowledges the dangers to pedestrians who would have to run across the highway The addendum strikes through the hazards claiming that visitors will only park on the coast side of the highway There is no parking along yellow bank This isn't good Access planning given the greatly increased visitation that is expected With the opening of chatoni coast dairies Finally revised plans were supposed to be presented at the last bike advisory committee, but were pulled at the last minute I'm wondering if this addendum includes the changes that were made in those plans since we didn't get to see them Finally I ask that you hold off on approving this addendum until a more comprehensive regional analysis can be made about the increased visitation that is going to Be planned and expected on the north coast Thank you Hi, brian people's executive director of trail now We support this addendum we support working with the the farmers appreciate RTC staff working with the farmers grace. Um, they're a tough crew sometime Uh, so, uh, we support it billy and uh, so looking forward the the question that this raises is You know, what's the requirements from the puc on railroad crossings? So the question will be is are they going to put new railroad crossings in the middle of the farm? Um, because if you're adding a new, uh railroad crossing The requirement will be to put in new railroad cross guards. And so those type of Um costs You know are not good You know, hopefully by uh the time you move forward with implementation, you'll have decided on what are we doing with the The corridor are we keeping the tracks or are we not and so that'll help that decision can be, you know, understood but but I think this really illustrates how You're trying to build this trail and accommodate these tracks to Davenport that essentially There's no need for them. And this is what we've been pointing out the entire time is we're bending over backwards To accommodate these tracks Uh that are not used Um, so I want us to be sure to understand that and then the other thing I don't think we're addressing well is the The expiration or the cancellation of the funds that are available I don't think it's well understood. We're going to lose these funds. They they they expire Um, if you don't execute so one of the things I would we would suggest in the farmer's support is can we Begin the the trail and I know this isn't part of the equation here right Can we begin Davenport and come this way because you have a cleaner design and knowledge of that So lastly, I'll just make one more Comment about mass transit. It's we agree mass transit needs to be on the corridor That's not the debate. The debate is government operated transit And so when we talk about it when we talk about The difference between mass transit And government transit it's government operated. That's the key It's not the term mass transit mass transit is private Operated public operated all of the blend when we talk about public transit That's government operated and that's the difference. We agree. We're going to do mass transit But I do appreciate your comment. Thank you Schiffer Yes, um I'll make a motion to approve the staff recommendation. Um, let me just say the There is a national monument In the north coast That project is moving forward. Uh, it's um at the bureau of land management's pace It's a totally separate project. It's on the other side of the highway There has been as mr. Demer said a proposal to Provide an over crossing that's not part that's never been considered as part of this project It's not necessary for this project in terms of the rail trail running from Santa Cruz to Davenport So I think we uh, it's important to Move forward with this project To ultimately the puc is going to have to make the final decision on the railroad crossings and the Coastal commission is going to make the final decisions on you know, closures and signage and parking I think the commission has done the best they can to respond to the farmers to the public And to the needs to provide rail and to getting a rail trail up onto the north coast And this is just a step in that process an important one to move forward I can't resist saying that there are also private bus companies that are provide mass transit So mass transit is not necessarily public just public And I also must say that I I appreciate again, I appreciate the work that our consultants have done and getting this Before us it was a much more extensive effort than I thought was needed And as I as I read it it actually reduced environmental impacts From what was in the original what was in the original plan in the original eir So I think it's uh, it's really desirable to move forward at this time I'll second motion motion by shifrin seconded by and I appreciate having a chance to second a motion that's supported by trail now Hey mark that down put an asterisk on that way I didn't know if there was any other comments from the commission don't think so Uh, we've got a motion on the floor all those in favor. Aye. Oh, excuse me Sorry Oh Well, I was just gonna say the comment on the crossing and the danger I know that we took some action and to try to prioritize And address that crossing in Davenport. So I Yes, and I that comment was made and I just wanted to To mention that that it has been addressed and considered A safety Strong a priority safety concerns. So that is being addressed All right, thank you. Okay. We have the motion second all those in favor Aye opposed So ordered that completes our agenda for today our next meeting of the regional transportation commission Will be uh thursday april second at nine o'clock At the uh at this board of supervisors chamber 701 ocean street. This meeting is adjourned I tried didn't get


the way the world seems to be, and with all this talk about the ego and the unconscious mind and the shadow and so on and so forth, that people are fascinating, they're really curious and fascinated to hear a little bit about my journey, and what was it that worked for you? You know, this ego thing seems to be like a tough nut to crack for most people, even in mystics and saints that had dedicated their life to it. You know, we're talking about decades of their life, and they write down their journals, they talk about the dark night of the soul and how black, when they go deeper into their minds, it's very, very dark. And of course, I work with a tool called Course in Miracles, which was saying you have to go through the darkness to come to the light. You can't just affirm your way back into nirvana or the Kingdom of Heaven, you actually have to pass through the error and come out through the keyhole into the correction. And so, welcome, come on in, we've got plenty of floor space, you're welcome to come as close as you want, and there's pillows, whatever the question is, the forgiveness is the answer. But it's just that we have a lot of ideas in our mind and concepts, even about forgiveness, so that's why it seems so difficult to embrace or reach this point of release, because we have a lot of concepts. We have believed that we still need to forgive people for what they did to us, and we're starting to get much deeper than that now, getting to a point where we have to realize that we need to forgive ourselves and we need to forgive others for what they have not done to us, for what we have not done to ourselves. That could seem like a mind bender. How do you get your mind around the idea that you're going to forgive somebody for what they didn't do to you? It almost seems like you're pardoning them and getting them a free pass, even though they actually said these things, did these things. I've got this memory of what they did or said. I even have it on videotape. I've got a DVD out, and so I've got the evidence. How am I supposed to forgive the hard evidence? When you go much deeper into your mind, you start to realize that what you're really doing is you're releasing a misperception that what you thought was done to you and what you think you did to them was all part of the misperception that has absolutely nothing to do with reality, with Nirvana, with oneness, with love. It was an anomaly. It was a glitch. It was a mistake. It was an error. But it wasn't a reality. So in the pathway I used to come to self-realization or enlightenment, I remember reading one of these workbook lessons and it said, your one remaining problem is you still believe that you must forgive the truth. It's never the truth that we have to forgive. It's the illusion, the misperception of what we thought happened, what we thought was there. We have to learn to release that, to really be convinced by the spirit, by the intuition in us that we were completely, not really partially mistaken, but were completely mistaken about what we thought happened. So I want tonight to be a very practical mic. These are not so much necessarily public talks as I just show up and then I really say a few words and open up the floor and then we go at this in a very practical way. So feel free to ask any question, raise any topic, bring up anything that you want. And if we start talking about it and it doesn't seem to be registering or you still have a lot of doubt or confusion or curiosity about it, then just please ask for, can you give me a practical example from your life? Can you give me a metaphor? Can you show me a demonstration that will help provide some clarity and understanding? So feel free to do that because this isn't about just a bunch of high theological ideas or high metaphysical ideas. To me, if it's not practical and if you can't live it, then it's just another concept or another theology that is just more words. And for people who do live with me or follow me around, then they have some very interesting tales to tell. Not that it's all peaches and cream, we were just having a discussion. Some people would bite me into their home for a week and it turns into a tossed salad. They say, what did we do? Or we were talking about Lez and Tina and Sue and Greg were saying that sometimes before I come, it seems to be there's a storm. The ego is anticipating me arriving and so a storm will start brewing. And then it's good though because when we come together we have a chance to clear the storm or to reach the eye of the hurricane. That peaceful still point that really is untouched by the movement of the ego, the seeming movement of the ego. So I really encourage you to ask any questions because my life is really an open book and I'm very transparent. And one problem is everyone's problem. It seems like we have different problems as human beings that are on different levels, seemingly physical problems or psychological problems or mental psych problems. It can be a whole range of problems. But actually the answer is the same and the answer is an experience. But it takes a lot of open mind of this and persistence and really faith and trust to actually experience that answer and that's why we're here. We want the experience.  In the end of the day, you know, words aren't going to get you anywhere. They're just stepping stones or they're little signposting pointers and anybody who's had a mere meditation practice knows that you may use a mantra or you may use words to help start yourself to kind of send you in the right direction.  But we're going to use words tonight because that's very helpful. So another thing too is even though we've only got a couple hours tonight and we pretty much have a full day tomorrow, Greg brought his guitar. So I guarantee that tonight or tomorrow one way we'll work that in. And Helena has prepared some beautiful songs. She's been in school, a singing school, just letting these deep spiritual songs pour through her in such a state of transparency that it's really not a performance. It's just the core of her being radiating. So she's joined me and we've been doing quite a bit of singing here in Australia. And I think there's quite a bit more to come. So I've kind of been the talking mystic, but I think, catch me while you can. I'm going on tour. I'm going to do more singing than I've ever done before. It's part of where my heart's at. I just want to sing. You know, I just feel like I'm in a place of wanting to sing, sing out the joy and sing the celebration. So it's getting to be more like that. So it's more likely that I'll show up singing. And if somebody says, well, can you go into that? I say, it's on the internet. Just watch the DVD or listen to the CD. I can't be bothered too much with it. So I think just in terms of openness and receptivity, I think what I'd like to do is have Helena just play a song, a music meditation song for us to all just kind of really get comfortable and relax and just let the music just wash over you and open your mind to a place of receptivity because I think music is beautiful to listen to. I'm just still in my heart. So this will go in time sometime.