While my spouse and I were recently walking around a frigid Sacramento, I momentarily thought back to Governor Arnold — specifically how Schwarzenegger insisted on smoking cigars. To get around the ban on smoking indoors in the state capitol, he had a semi-permanent tent erected in a courtyard. During his two terms in office, Arnold was apparently known for conducting his most important negotiations in that tent.
What a bygone era — when a Republican would pursue their own brand "personality liberty" (smoking, in this case) in such a way that still followed all the relevant laws (no smoking in the California State Capitol).
Speaking of Governor Schwarzenegger, we can now thank him — and one of those negotiations, likely in the cigar-smoking tent — for a $44.5 million grant.
The City of Alameda just announced that:
The California Strategic Growth Council (SGC) has awarded a $44.5 million grant through its highly competitive Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC) program to MidPen Housing Corporation and the City of Alameda.
This significant funding is a major step forward in addressing homelessness and will launch the first phase of a visionary, mixed-use campus at Alameda Point, providing new affordable housing, transportation improvements, and critical resident services.
[...]
Grant funding will also support the installation of electric ferry charging capabilities at Alameda’s Seaplane Lagoon ferry terminal for the San Francisco Bay Ferry’s new, innovative electric fleet, as well as enhance local bike and pedestrian infrastructure, including high-priority initiatives such as the Willie Stargell Complete Streets Project.
What does this have to do with Arnold? The source of that $44.5mm grant is funded by California's Cap-and-Trade program. And it's Arnold who we can thank for that entire program.
While only a single Republican legislator voted for the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, Governor Schwarzenegger signed the bill into law, establishing state powers to set up these market mechanisms and pair them with strong targets for reduced carbon emissions.
When Cap-and-Trade was renewed in 2017, eight Republican legislators voted in favor of the program — a sign of its success and its bipartisan acceptance. Schwarzenegger joined then-governor Jerry Brown for the signing ceremony of the renewal legislation. As reported by Governing magazine at the time:
"It's a message that we have a functional government here in California where Democrats and Republicans work together," Schwarzenegger said at the signing ceremony. "It's a message for Washington, where they cannot work together. So I hope they learn from this."
Schwarzenegger accused conservative Republicans, with whom he often sparred as governor, of "lying to the people" on global warming. And following President Trump's move to withdraw the United States from the global climate agreement forged in Paris in late 2015, Schwarzenegger said the vote demonstrated that many Americans remain committed to fighting climate change.
"It shows the rest of the world that America did not drop out of the Paris agreement," Schwarzenegger said. "There's only one man that dropped out, but America did not drop out."
This September, Governor Newsom signed the third major extension of Cap-and-Trade — the program will now run to 2045 — and renamed it to Cap-and-Invest.
The new name isn't just about jazzing up the marketing. The word "invest" is also a clearer acknowledgement of the program's mechanisms: In addition to capping the amount of potential emissions, the revenues collected for allowed emissions are directed toward climate-positive investments.
That's why the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities program, which is described as "mak[ing] it easier for Californians to drive less by making sure housing, jobs, and key destinations are accessible by walking, biking, and transit," is funded by the Cap-and-Invest program.
But apparently someone else was watching it more closely, and they decided, for whatever reason, to file a Public Records Act request for the entire grant application — their PRA request was what caught my eye.
I do recall being pissed off by the recall of Gray Davis and then the election of a weightlifter-turned-actor. But Schwarzenegger turned into a surprise. Even if he was crass with his smoking tent and he was an overly pro-business Republican in some of his decisions, he was also a committed and effective politician overall. He continues to be a living reminder of the now extinct breed of socially progressive and pro-environment Republicans — a decent politician.
Congratulations to city staff, the Alameda Point Collaborative, MidPen Housing, and the Water Emergency Transport Authority on collaborating on such a successful application. Their application was ranking highest of all submissions across the entire state for this round of the AHSC program. When it's time to cut the ribbon at this new housing complex, the electrified ferry facility, and the Stargell Ave improvements (which are also being supported by one regional grant from MTC and one state grant), they could also invite Arnold (and Jerry) to help cut the ribbon.