Three Scenarios Created for RT’s Transit Master Plan
 The Sacramento Regional Transit District (RT) is undertaking a comprehensive update of its Transit Master Plan. As part of this visioning process, RT has developed three future transit scenarios which are currently being vetted to the public through community forums. One such forum was our Brown Bag Lunch Lecture Series, which was held on May 31 st. RT’s General Manager, Mike Wiley, discussed the need to update the 1993 RT plan to meet today’s challenges of increasing population, air pollution, road congestion and longer travel commutes.
Because of budget constraints, RT developed 3 scenarios for consideration. Scenario A is financially constrained to existing sources and will not include increased level of service. Scenario B integrates the Blueprint and MTP2035 principles into the plan, providing more service to areas of dense infill. Scenario C, which is the most expensive plan, but also the most comprehensive, would provide integrated transit solutions and mobility choices for all.
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Meet Breathe’s New Board Members
We are happy to introduce our 2008-2009 Board President and three new Board Members;
08-09 Board President, John Lindow, is a pharmacist who has been an active member of our Board of Directors for 6 years. He is a member of the ETBT Steering Committee, has ridden the Trek 12 times and is a 9-time member of the Winners Circle. His wife Susan is also a veteran Trekker and 10-time Winners Circle member. John is also part of our Asthma Collaborative.
Joyce Kelly-Reif is an Environmental Research Chemist. She and her husband have been involved with Breathe through the Emigrant Trails Bike Trek, as well as through their daughter Kaitlin, who was an outstanding TUTD Member and Youth Advisory Board President. The Kelly-Reif Family has also been a dedicated sponsor of the Hackademy Awards for the last two years.
John Scambray is the Vice President and Senior Regional Sales Manager of Wells Fargo. He has a keen interest in youth programs and is committed to helping raise money within Wells Fargo.
Sue Schooley is Transportation Systems Management Coordinator with the City of Roseville. She has been an active member of the ETBT Steering Committee for 4 years, ridden the Trek 5 times and is a 5-time Winners Circle member. She is also a Clean Air Award recipient, asthma spokesperson and outstanding volunteer.
We would like to thank our 2007-2008 Board of Directors for their hard work and dedication throughout the past year. A special thank you goes to our 07-08 officers: President Roni Abacherli, President Elect John Lindow, Treasurer Ralph Propper, and Immediate Past President Arif Seyal, MD.
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Air Quality Assessment Project Received Molina Award
 Our High School Based Air Quality Assessment Project received the 2008 Students and Youth Award from Molina Health Care for being a community champion of change. The schools represented in the 2007-2008 AQ Project were El Camino High School, Folsom High School, Wood Creek High School, Winters High School, Rio Vista High School, Will C. Wood High School, and Country High School. We would like to congratulate the students who participated and thank them for their clean air efforts.
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Are Movie Ratings Protecting Really Protecting Audiences?
 Thumbs Up! Thumbs Down! participated in the Smoke Free Movies Press Conference on May 28, 2008 at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. Our contribution was to present our most recent study in conjunction with UCSF on smoking in films. Our research found that in the twelve months since the MPAA made its announcement that “all smoking will [now] be considered” in movie ratings, the MPAA has not elevated the rating of a single motion picture released to theaters because of its tobacco content. The MPAA has also failed to apply “tobacco descriptors” — the explanatory labels associated with each MPAA rating — to most youth-rated movies with smoking released to theaters nationwide. We did find a modest 29 percent decline in the number of PG-13 tobacco incidents. Because of the MPAA’s failure to label most PG-13 films from major studios with smoking, its tobacco rating policy cannot be directly linked to this decline. Instead, this drop appears to be the result of individual efforts by some studios to reduce tobacco incidents in some films. As we saw in 1998-1999, this decline may prove temporary. Only an industry-wide set of uniform policies, including an R-rating for future on-screen tobacco, can make this modest advance more substantial — and permanent. Meanwhile, the decline in PG-13 incidents demonstrates that film industry changes beneficial to public health are feasible and do not reduce admissions. The press conference put on by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health also presented findings from a statewide survey of youth on the impact of seeing smoking in films, provided an update on the progress that has been made by national and international partners, released a new 15-second Anti-Smoking PSA that will run in theaters during the summer, and called on the entertainment industry to implement a meaningful ratings policy that will substantially reduce children’s exposure to smoking in films. Twenty-six media outlets were in attendance.
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