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Student Action and Rail Advocacy: The Next Generation
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
This week, college students organized through California Student PIRG are traversing the state on a High Speed Rail Spring Break to heighten awareness and build support for California’s HSR plans. A $9 billion ballot initiative to fund initial construction is expected to be on the General Election ballot in November. These students are answering a higher sense of purpose through their efforts:
“I’m spending my spring break on a road trip, but not to Cabo,” said Jenn Engstrom, a second-year student at University of California at Berkeley.
Gambit Ramos, an organizer staff member from University of California, Irvine, came with his red bicycle, bearing a sticker reading, “I’d rather be riding high-speed rail.”
“This is a truly grassroots effort that will bring California into the 21st Century,” said city Supervisor Aaron Peskin.
But young people don’t have to wait until college to make a difference, as the students of Crawfordsville High School in Indiana demonstrated.
For any teenager who is interested in becoming a more informed and empowered advocate for trains and transit in general, here’s a wonderful opportunity that doesn’t come every day: The American Public Transportation Association is hosting Teening Up for a Greener World: A Youth Summit to Advance Public Transportation. The three-day summit will take place June 22-24 at Catholic University in Washington, DC, and will include seminars, tours, and a day on Capitol Hill. APTA will underwrite 100% of the travel, program, and living expenses for program participants. There are 50 spots available for high school juniors and seniors 18 years old and younger. We strongly encourage all interested teenagers to apply! Applications can be printed from the web site and are due by April 25.
Rail advocacy has been a personal journey for me. It started at the age of 9, when I wrote a letter to Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan asking him what he would do under public ownership of the abandoned Southern Pacific Burbank Branch (which is now the Metro Orange Line). To the mayor’s credit, he responded and personally signed the letter! My awareness of the importance of transportation issues grew, and at the age of 14 I joined NARP and a state organization.
If your interest in promoting trains started at a young age, how did you first get involved? Do you have any thoughts on how to build a rail advocacy movement that the next generation of the traveling public can sustain?
--Matthew Melzer
Posted by NARP
Tags: apta, california high-speed rail, crawfordsville, grassroots advocacy, student advocacy,Students Continue Push for California HSR
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Following up on my last post, momentum is building for California’s High Speed Rail plans, and students from the High Speed Rail Spring Break have proudly led the charge.
NARP At-Large Director Dennis Lytton caught up with them on the south steps of Los Angeles City Hall on March 27th where they were rallying with Los Angeles City Councilmember Tom LaBonge, the L.A. City Council’s leading supporter of passenger rail.
According to University of California, Davis freshman Jessica Lam, “A lot of people were skeptical about us spending our spring break this way,” she continued, “It’s been so much fun . . . we’re biking and carpooling. And we believe in High Speed Rail.”
Meanwhile in the past week, a poll demonstrated strong majority support—58%—for the November bond measure (passage requires a simple majority). Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) also softened his position on the measure as the State Assembly considers placing a measure on the ballot that would require aggressively seeking private financing. Perhaps he is beginning to realize that he could best realize his legacy as a “Green governor” by supporting the one project that would do more to radically shape California’s environmental future in a positive way than any other.
As for the students, here are photos from their tour (click here to see their album):
Here’s a short video from the first two days of the tour:
For background, here’s a promotional video commissioned by the HSR Authority:
Here’s a story from Quest on PBS affiliate KQED:
Finally, for a neat Google Map of the proposed route and stations, see this VentureBeat post.
For the latest developments, be sure to follow Robert Cruickshank’s California High Speed Rail Blog.
--Matthew Melzer
Posted by NARP
Tags: california high-speed rail, student advocacy,©2006 National Association of Railroad Passengers | » NARP website
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