The Bay Area Metro Awards were presented today, June 6, 2019
at a ceremony in Oakland recognizing individuals and organizations advancing
solutions to ease the Bay Area’s housing crisis, improve the transportation
system or make the nine-county region more resilient. The Metro Awards were
created jointly by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and the
Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) to honor positive impacts on the Bay
Area’s mobility, affordability, community resilience; and recognize efforts
that make the region a better place to live, work and play.
Collaboration and effective partnerships stood out as a key
theme among this year's award recipients. The Grand Award was bestowed upon
Santa Rosa CityBus, Sonoma County Transit, Napa Vine Transit and Sonoma Clean
Power for their work to save lives, protect communities and aid in rebuilding
in response to the October 2017 North Bay fires.
Transit operators are not typically thought of as first
responders to wildfires, but they can play a critical role when vulnerable
populations are in the path of danger, as evidenced by the efforts of these
three North Bay public transit operators during the October 2017 fires in
Sonoma and Napa counties.
When calls for help came during the North Bay fires, Santa
Rosa CityBus, Sonoma County Transit and Napa Vine quickly evacuated hundreds of
people, including many older adults and people with disabilities, from the path
of danger. Transit buses moved vulnerable people out of residential
neighborhoods and numerous facilities – including Sutter Hospital, Kaiser
Hospital, Sonoma State University residence halls, Summerfield Health Care
Center, Spring Lake Village, the Youth Detention Center, and the Sonoma
Development Center. Santa Rosa CityBus alone counted 370 evacuations in the
first 12 hours of the fires. In Napa County, The Vine was called on for
large-scale evacuations of the Veteran’s Home of Yountville and the State
Hospital, before the fire shifted and orders were lifted. The Vine also was
called to help evacuate the entire City of Calistoga.
As the fires continued, all three operators strove to
continue regular service but eventually limited their schedules and/or stopped
service entirely to ensure employees and resources were available for emergency
response. Employees from all three systems worked determinedly to provide
service. Staffing at transit operations became a 24-hour enterprise and extra
customer service resources were deployed to assist riders. Administrative staff
were dedicated full-time to Emergency Operation Center teams, or stepped in to
support customer service and logistics.
Joining in the Grand Award recognition is Sonoma Clean
Power’s Advanced Energy Rebuild Program, which is supporting North Bay
residents as they face the daunting process of rebuilding their homes and lives
in the wake of the wildfires. Local architects, fire survivors, environmental
activists and politicians asked for help in rebuilding better homes and
structures, with recommendations for zero carbon, electric vehicle
infrastructure, heat pump technology, avoidance of natural gas in whole
neighborhoods, and coordination with other related efforts to promote better
vegetation management and water conservation. These conversations culminated in
Sonoma Clean Power’s Advanced Energy Rebuild Program. This innovative,
collaborative effort is achieving the ultimate resilience goal of rebuilding
stronger, smarter and greener homes.