Scott Peters – The perfect candidate to represent the 52nd congressional district
After meeting with congressional representatives in March as part of the National Bike Summit’s advocacy day, the San Diego delegation was very disappointed to witness the partisanship evident when discussing transportation options with San Diego’s Republican congressional representatives. A sensible transportation system is something everyone should sign up to support without hesitation.
After the recent redistricting, House Representative Brian Bilbray (R-CA) is the current incumbent for the 52nd district. After meeting with Bilbray’s Chief of Staff in March and learning that Rep. Bilbray wouldn’t be supporting the Petri amendment nor a clean extension of the existing transportation bill, it was clear that perhaps San Diegans needed someone with a bit more foresight to represent the 52nd district (formerly the 50th district).
Most of the attention in the election, to date, has been on Lori Saldaña and Scott Peters. I prepared a list of questions that I sent out to all candidates (except Rep. Bilbray) and received responses from “Tea Party stalwart” John Stahl who didn’t believe that the Federal Government ought to invest in providing alternative transportation choices to residents, and, current Port Commissioner Scott Peters. A staffer from Lori Saldaña’s office described himself being a fan of both BikeSD.org and an avid cyclist and promised to have Saldaña’s communications team respond to the questions – but I received no response. Despite my personal bias toward Commissioner Peters, I hoped that former Assembly member Saldaña would respond to the list of questions sent in. As the co-author of AB-32, California’s landmark act to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, I imagined the former Assembly member would have some points to articulate, that weren’t readily available on her campaign website nor stated in a recent televised debate, on how she would vote to increase existing funding to support bicycling as a mode of transportation.
Greenhouse gas emissions has been increasing and is primarily caused by human activities and particularly by fossil fuel use – a subject that was driven home when the California Attorney General [pdf] joined other local organizations in a lawsuit against SANDAG over the 2050 Regional Transportation Plan. Despite being the co-author of AB-32, I have yet to see Saldaña take a lead in demonstrating how she will offer her constituents real transportation choices that will actually meet the goals articulated in AB-32 which is not simply a state issue, but an issue with…well, global repercussions.
Scott Peters has been a strong supporter of livable streets and in offering his constituents real transportation choices [pdf] during his term as City Councilman. Peters has championed Bird Rock’s transformation which has been lauded around the country. It is for this reason and his responses to the questions I sent in, I’m pleased to endorse Scott Peters for the 52nd Congressional District. To read Peters’ responses to the questions I sent in, click this link (.doc).
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To view the map of the new 52nd congressional district, click this link [pdf]