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Pelosi: Statement at Opening
of City Car Share at SF City Hall
November
10, 2004
San Francisco - House Democratic Leader Nancy
Pelosi issued the following statement today at a press conference
announcing the opening of the new City CarShare pod at City Hall:
"Thank you to Larry Magid and to the board,
staff and members of City CarShare for inviting me to join you at
the opening of your newest car-sharing pod here at City Hall. Thank
you also to Mayor Newsom for your strong support of this program.
Once again, San Francisco is leading the way in creating livable
communities through innovative approaches such as car-sharing.
"A few years ago when City CarShare was just
beginning, founding executive director Elizabeth Sullivan joined me
for a town hall meeting on livable communities with Congressman Earl
Blumenauer of Oregon, a leader on the issue. In the few short years
that have passed, City CarShare has grown from a small pilot program
to a highly successful organization.
"The results are impressive: studies show
that six of every 25 households that join City CarShare give up a
car, saving money by avoiding the fixed costs of owning an
automobile. They drive less often and use public transit more often,
reducing traffic congestion and air pollution.
"But thanks to City CarShare, when their
members need a car they can get one. And not just any car, but one
of the distinctive green beetles or other vehicles that are more
efficient and less polluting than the cars they displace.
"City CarShare can also help government
agencies and businesses cut costs by reducing or even eliminating
their fleets of city or corporate cars. Car-sharing allows a
company, or a taxpayer, to pay for a car only when it is in use, not
when the car is sitting idle in a parking lot.
"I am proud to have secured $500,000 in the
2004 transportation appropriations bill for the regional expansion
of City CarShare. By placing cars at BART stations and other
locations in and around San Francisco, City CarShare is improving
mobility for residents of San Francisco and the entire Bay Area.
"I am also pleased to be working toward
obtaining additional funding in the highway-transit authorization
bill now pending before Congress for City CarShare to expand the
benefits of car-sharing to low and moderate-income neighborhoods in
San Francisco. These funds would provide car-sharing services to San
Francisco residents whose daily lives are made more difficult and
complicated because they lack access to cars.
"It is unlikely that Congress will finish the
highway-transit legislation this year, but you can be sure I will
work to include this funding for City CarShare in the new version of
the bill that will be introduced next year.
"Thank you again to Larry Magid and Mayor
Newsom for your leadership, and to everyone gathered here to
celebrate the success of City CarShare."
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