Rep. Mike Levin Secures More Than $22 Million in House Appropriations Legislation for Projects in CA-49
Funding Would Help Secure Coastal Bluffs, Provide Oceanside Police with Dash Cameras, Develop New Homeless Shelter and More
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Mike Levin (D-CA) announced that he secured more than $22 million in House appropriations legislation for nine projects in North County San Diego and South Orange County. Funding for three projects would help secure coastal bluffs and prevent further erosion, including more than $9.3 million to begin construction on the San Clemente Shoreline Protection project.
The legislation provides funding for several other local infrastructure and transportation projects, including $5 million for the Barrio Street Lighting and Traffic Circles Project in Carlsbad, $1.87 million for the Doheny Village Connectivity Improvement Project in Dana Point, and $1.7 million for the North County Transit District to transition to hydrogen fuel cell electric buses. The bill also includes funding to purchase vehicle cameras for the Oceanside Police Department, develop a new 50-bed homeless shelter in Oceanside, and provide literacy programs for underserved children through the Oceanside Museum of Art.
“My top focus is delivering results on our local priorities, and I’m proud to secure this much-needed funding that will address some of the challenges facing North County San Diego and South Orange County,” said Rep. Levin. “With funding for three projects to address coastal erosion - including more than $9.3 million to begin construction on the San Clemente Shoreline Protection project - we are making critical progress to protect lives, property, and infrastructure from bluff collapses and erosion. I’m also proud to secure funding to ensure Oceanside police officers have vehicle cameras that improve transparency and accountability, provide a new shelter for homeless individuals in Oceanside, and help the North County Transit District transition to cleaner busses. All of these projects will strengthen communities in our district, and I will continue to fight for this funding throughout the appropriations process.”
The inclusion of this funding in the Appropriations subcommittee-approved bills is the first step in the funding process. Rep. Levin will continue to fight for this funding as the bill moves to the full Appropriations Committee, consideration on the House Floor, and negotiations with the Senate. See below for a description of each project.
City of Carlsbad
Carlsbad Barrio Street Lighting and Traffic Circles Project: The Barrio Street Lighting and Traffic Circles Project will enhance safety, walkability and aesthetics within the Barrio neighborhood. The street lighting portion of the project will install 24-foot to 26-foot streetlight poles along streets throughout the Barrio neighborhood to improve nighttime visibility for drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists. Additionally, 13-foot pedestrian lighting will be installed throughout the Barrio neighborhood in order to specifically facilitate neighborhood walkability. The second component of the Project will install 6 traffic circles located throughout the Barrio neighborhood for traffic calming and beautification purposes. Improving pedestrian walkability and safety is a priority for the community, and enhanced lighting from street lighting improvements will help achieve this goal. The City of Carlsbad would receive $5 million for this project.
City of Dana Point
Doheny Village Connectivity Improvements: The Doheny Village Connectivity Improvement Project will add bike lanes and beautification elements (landscaping, lighting, landscaped median), fill in a sidewalk gap on the inland side of Coast Highway, reconfigure the intersection of Doheny Park Road and Coast Highway to allow for better bicycle/pedestrian connectivity, add a second southbound thru lane as outlined in the OCTA Master Plan of Arterial Highways, and other improvements. The area has limited provisions today for bicycles and pedestrians which are of the utmost importance to the community. Further, by adding bicycle and pedestrian amenities, including sidewalks, lighting, bike lanes, landscaping, etc., the roadways will also be enhanced from a safety perspective. The City of Dana Point would receive $1.87 million for this project.
North County Transit District
Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Bus Transition: This project involves construction of a hydrogen fueling station with capacity for fueling up to 50 fuel cell electric buses. The hydrogen fueling station will be constructed at the North County Transit District's West Division Facility in the City of Oceanside. The project supports regional and state goals of reducing harmful emissions in the transportation sector. This project directly supports NCTD’s transition to zero-emission bus operations, and supports California’s Innovative Clean Transit ruling goals. The project also directly supports regional and statewide plans to reduce harmful emissions in the transportation sector, reduce energy consumption, increase transit ridership, and improve community health outcomes. The North County Transit District would receive $1.7 million for this project.
Oceanside Museum of Art
Literacy Through Art and ArtQuest: Oceanside is facing significant early childhood literacy and science education challenges. According to the California Department of Education, 15 of the 16 elementary schools in Oceanside Unified School District are Title I, meeting federal criteria for free and reduced school lunches. Seven of ten students are economically disadvantaged and for a large number of students English is a second language. This project would improve educational opportunities for these students by providing the Oceanside Museum of Art with $150,000 to promote and advance reading fluency and comprehension through active, purposeful engagement with real works of art, artmaking, and culturally responsive literature. The funding would also be used to promotes 21st century skills, including inquiry, critical thinking, collaboration, and visual literacy.
Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego
Mobile LiDAR System: Coastal monitoring is vital for improved understanding and modeling of coastal hazards and erosion, and LiDAR monitoring has rapidly emerged as the standard for mapping large stretches of coast. This project would provide the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego with $800,000 to purchase a new mobile LiDAR system, which will provide state-of-the-art monitoring of beach and bluff erosion across the project region on both short (individual storms) and long (multi-year trends) time scales.
City of Oceanside
Oceanside Homeless Shelter Development: This project involves development of a new homeless shelter at a former high school facility. The shelter would operate up to 50 beds. The project will provide a secure environment where homeless individuals and families are able to focus on healing and preparing for self-sufficiency. The City intends for the shelter to have day services to allow participants to remain on-site throughout the day. The resulting homeless shelter shall help individuals experiencing homelessness develop a pathway towards permanent housing, income, healthcare, and stability through continued care services. The development of the homeless shelter will address the needs of homeless, local residents, and local business owners, and will assist in reducing the overall homeless problem in the San Diego region. The City of Oceanside would receive $2.25 million for this project.
Oceanside Police Department
Oceanside In Car Camera System: This project enhances the existing Body Worn Camera (BWC) system utilized by the Oceanside Police Department, expanding the number of perspectives on an incident where police action occurs. The Oceanside Police Department would receive $587,000 for the In Car Camera system, which includes a Dash Cam facing out the front windshield of the police vehicle as well as a camera for monitoring the back seat of the vehicle. This system interacts with the existing BWC devices already deployed at the department, allowing the system to activate all BWC devices within a short proximity of the vehicle when certain actions by the operator of the vehicle take place. This capability can limit the impact of human error in times of stress and ensure activation of camera systems when dictated by policy or best practices. This increases transparency and accountability to the community.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and City of Oceanside
Oceanside Special Shoreline Study: The project involves efforts to mitigate for the erosion and other impacts resulting from the construction of Camp Pendleton Harbor as a wartime measure, and to restore beach conditions along the affected public and private shores to the conditions that existed before the construction of Camp Pendleton Harbor. The City of Oceanside has a long and well documented history of beach erosion resulting from the Marine Corps’ Camp Pendleton Harbor construction. This erosion has raised safety issues for beach goers, resulted in lost tourist revenues, reduced the value of affected properties by exposing them to storm damages, and complicated area redevelopment plans. It also has imperiled a variety of public facilities, including several roads, a police substation, lifeguard headquarters, multiple public restrooms and picnic areas, and a music amphitheater. These damages and impending threats cannot go unabated. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would receive $750,000 to complete the Oceanside Special Shoreline Study, a key step in the process to address the effects of the Camp Pendleton Harbor construction.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and City of San Clemente
San Clemente Shoreline Protection: The San Clemente Shoreline Project focuses on providing protection for the Los Angeles – San Diego – San Luis Obispo Rail Corridor (LOSSAN Corridor) tracks that run immediately adjacent to the San Clemente coast. The project is designed to protect this asset while also protecting roads, buildings, and other infrastructure, as well as maintain recreational use of San Clemente’s coastline. The project involves placing about 251,000 cubic yards of sand on the City beach from Linda Lane to T-street, a distance of about 3,400 feet. This will widen the beach about 50 feet to provide storm damage reduction, safety, recreational benefits for the public. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would receive $9,306,000 to being construction on the project.
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