Helping Build a Stronger Community – Quality of Life Coalition
The San Diego Chapter supports and participates in a number of local coalitions and strives to develop new relations with allies to further
our conservation, equity, environmental justice, democracy, labor and other goals. One of these is the Quality of Life Coalition.
The Quality of Life Coalition (QoLC) is a coalition of over two dozen non-profit organizations including environmental, environmental justice, and labor groups throughout the county. The QoLC was founded in 2016 to influence the direction of a SANDAG ballot measure then called the Quality of Life measure. Our attempts to influence the measure were not successful, so the focus shifted to the defeat of Measure A, which would have irresponsibly diverted funding toward highway expansion projects detrimental to public health and the environment. After playing a pivotal role in Measure A’s defeat, the coalition helped with the development and passage of AB805 in 2017, which reforms the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) and requires SANDAG’s Regional Transportation Plan (a regional blueprint for the future of
transportation throughout the county) to comply with a number of environmental requirements that decrease pollution and greenhouse gas
emissions in an equitable fashion.
Over the next few months, the QoLC will be advocating to ensure SANDAG adopts a 2019 Regional Transportation Plan that provides our region with a cleaner, healthier, more equitable transportation future. In addition, the QoLC is working on habitat preservation at Mission Bay’s De Anza Cove, supporting the development of affordable housing throughout the county, managing stormwater runoff and water quality, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions through climate action plans and other measures. Working together has empowered the Sierra Club and our allies to enact major positive change that would have been impossible to do individually. We look forward to keeping you updated on future efforts at the Quality of Life Coalition as the coalition continues its incredible work on a wide variety of environmental and social issues.
