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Golden Gate Bridge plates set to benefit Bay Area parks
CONSERVANCY GROUP HOPES TO RAISE $1 MILLION A YEAR
By Paul Rogers
Mercury News
Article Launched: 07/22/2008 01:31:30 AM PDT
Pictured is a mock-up of a proposed new special California license plate. If 7,500 people agree to buy the plate by next July, the Department of Motor Vehicles will begin pringitng it, and it will raise money for parks and open space iprojects in the Bay Are. 2008 (Courtesy of the California Coastal Conservancy) ( California Coastal Conservancy )
The Golden Gate Bridge was built in 1937 to connect motorists from San Francisco to Marin County. Now, open space lovers are hoping it can be used to connect motorists' wallets to preserving the Bay Area's environment.
Today, the California Coastal Conservancy will unveil a new California license plate featuring the iconic image of the Golden Gate Bridge and the phrase "Nature Within Reach."
The conservancy, a state agency based in Oakland, will begin taking orders immediately. It hopes sales of the plate will raise $1 million or more a year to build trails and buy new parks around the Bay Area. But before the plates can be printed, state law requires at least 7,500 people commit to buying one by next July. The price is $50.
"The tag line for the license plate is, 'Nature within reach,' " said Amy Hutzel, Bay Area program manager for the conservancy. "That's really what we want to provide. It's a large reason people live in the Bay Area. They can really get out into parks and open space.
"But the Bay Area is going to continue to grow," she added. "We need to continue to protect it."
The Bay Area's population, now about 7 million, is expected to grow by an additional 1.7 million in the next 25 years - the equivalent of adding a new San Francisco and San Jose. Parks lovers say the region is in a race to preserve its natural surroundings.
California already offers a dozen specialized license plates, ranging from ones that fund restoration work at Lake Tahoe to veterans programs. The best-selling is the "KIDS" plate, with 85,538 currently registered. Funds from it pay for state programs designed to prevent child abuse and childhood injuries.
The top-selling environmental plate is the "whale tail," with 62,510 on the road, raising money for the state's annual beach cleanup and other coastal programs.
The Bay Area plate costs $50 for initial registration with a $40 annual renewal fee. Personalized plates are $90 initially and $70 for renewal. Hutzel said the money raised will be distributed by the conservancy to projects such as completing the Bay Ridge Trail - a proposed 550-mile loop around the Bay Area; buying wildlife habitat; and building picnic areas, piers and other recreational facilities at parks in the nine-county Bay Area.
There are 27 million cars, trucks and motorcycles in California. Any of them can be registered with the Bay Area plate, even if their owners live outside the Bay Area, she added.
To generate $1 million a year for the Coastal Conservancy, the DMV would have to sell about 40,000 of the new Bay Area plates a year.
"A million dollars a year won't solve any problem by itself. But having many, many sources of funds is the solution," said Audrey Rust, president of the Peninsula Open Space Trust, a land-preservation group in Palo Alto.
"So this is an important source of money. It isn't the answer. But it is an answer.'
The conservancy had to overcome a skirmish with the Golden Gate Bridge District, which had hoped to one day generate its own fundraising license plate and made overtures that it had rights to the bridge's image. After bridge district leaders met with conservancy leaders, they agreed not to sue, Hutzel said.
And the conservancy will consider a $1 million application from the bridge district for new signs, visitor amenities and improved parking on the south end of the bridge, Hutzel said. If granted, that money would come from the roughly $20 million annually the Bay Area program has received in recent years from state parks bond funding.
IF YOU'RE INTERESTED
For more information or to sign up for a Bay Area license plate, go to www.bayarealicenseplate.org or call 1-877-4SF-BAY1.
The article is here.
CONSERVANCY GROUP HOPES TO RAISE $1 MILLION A YEAR
By Paul Rogers
Mercury News
Article Launched: 07/22/2008 01:31:30 AM PDT
Pictured is a mock-up of a proposed new special California license plate. If 7,500 people agree to buy the plate by next July, the Department of Motor Vehicles will begin pringitng it, and it will raise money for parks and open space iprojects in the Bay Are. 2008 (Courtesy of the California Coastal Conservancy) ( California Coastal Conservancy )
The Golden Gate Bridge was built in 1937 to connect motorists from San Francisco to Marin County. Now, open space lovers are hoping it can be used to connect motorists' wallets to preserving the Bay Area's environment.
Today, the California Coastal Conservancy will unveil a new California license plate featuring the iconic image of the Golden Gate Bridge and the phrase "Nature Within Reach."
The conservancy, a state agency based in Oakland, will begin taking orders immediately. It hopes sales of the plate will raise $1 million or more a year to build trails and buy new parks around the Bay Area. But before the plates can be printed, state law requires at least 7,500 people commit to buying one by next July. The price is $50.
"The tag line for the license plate is, 'Nature within reach,' " said Amy Hutzel, Bay Area program manager for the conservancy. "That's really what we want to provide. It's a large reason people live in the Bay Area. They can really get out into parks and open space.
"But the Bay Area is going to continue to grow," she added. "We need to continue to protect it."
The Bay Area's population, now about 7 million, is expected to grow by an additional 1.7 million in the next 25 years - the equivalent of adding a new San Francisco and San Jose. Parks lovers say the region is in a race to preserve its natural surroundings.
California already offers a dozen specialized license plates, ranging from ones that fund restoration work at Lake Tahoe to veterans programs. The best-selling is the "KIDS" plate, with 85,538 currently registered. Funds from it pay for state programs designed to prevent child abuse and childhood injuries.
The top-selling environmental plate is the "whale tail," with 62,510 on the road, raising money for the state's annual beach cleanup and other coastal programs.
The Bay Area plate costs $50 for initial registration with a $40 annual renewal fee. Personalized plates are $90 initially and $70 for renewal. Hutzel said the money raised will be distributed by the conservancy to projects such as completing the Bay Ridge Trail - a proposed 550-mile loop around the Bay Area; buying wildlife habitat; and building picnic areas, piers and other recreational facilities at parks in the nine-county Bay Area.
There are 27 million cars, trucks and motorcycles in California. Any of them can be registered with the Bay Area plate, even if their owners live outside the Bay Area, she added.
To generate $1 million a year for the Coastal Conservancy, the DMV would have to sell about 40,000 of the new Bay Area plates a year.
"A million dollars a year won't solve any problem by itself. But having many, many sources of funds is the solution," said Audrey Rust, president of the Peninsula Open Space Trust, a land-preservation group in Palo Alto.
"So this is an important source of money. It isn't the answer. But it is an answer.'
The conservancy had to overcome a skirmish with the Golden Gate Bridge District, which had hoped to one day generate its own fundraising license plate and made overtures that it had rights to the bridge's image. After bridge district leaders met with conservancy leaders, they agreed not to sue, Hutzel said.
And the conservancy will consider a $1 million application from the bridge district for new signs, visitor amenities and improved parking on the south end of the bridge, Hutzel said. If granted, that money would come from the roughly $20 million annually the Bay Area program has received in recent years from state parks bond funding.
IF YOU'RE INTERESTED
For more information or to sign up for a Bay Area license plate, go to www.bayarealicenseplate.org or call 1-877-4SF-BAY1.
The article is here.
