Assemblyman Marc Levine seeks to block Golden Gate Bridge toll for pedestrians, cyclists (w/video)

SAN FRANCISCO - With the Golden Gate Bridge as a colorful backdrop, Assemblyman Marc Levine, D-San Rafael, and a San Francisco colleague Tuesday announced legislation to prohibit charging a toll for pedestrians and cyclists to cross the iconic span.

The bill, if approved, would block the Golden Gate Bridge District from assessing the tolls as part of a plan to offset a projected $32.9 million deficit over the next five years.

Levine, standing on a windswept grassy knoll at Crissy Field, said the potential toll on walking across the bridge is “antithetical to what the Golden Gate Bridge represents and what California means.”

Levine and the bill’s co-author, Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, said the measure conforms with California’s effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“Where we can, we want to encourage people to walk and bike,” Levine said. “We do not need a sign across the Golden Gate Bridge that says no one walks for free.”

But Sonoma County Supervisor David Rabbitt labeled the open-air press conference “political theater” and faulted Levine for trampling on the principle of local control, which Levine endorsed three weeks ago in regard to another disputed issue - genetically modified organisms.

“I think Marc has done wonderful things for us,” Rabbitt said. “On this one he’s off base.”

Rabbitt was one of 10 bridge district board members who voted last month to press forward with a controversial study of charging a “sidewalk access fee” or toll for pedestrians and cyclists. Sonoma County’s other two board members - Petaluma political consultant Brian Sobel and Rohnert Park City Councilwoman Gina Belforte - also voted for the study, which gave district staff until 2017 to research the idea.

All but one of the nine votes against the tax study came from the bridge district’s San Francisco representatives. There has been no discussion of how much to charge pedestrians and cyclists nor how much the district would aim to bring in with any such toll.

In an interview, Levine reiterated his support for local control but said it is the “longstanding state policy” to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “This isn’t a local control issue, it’s a climate change issue,” he said. “It’s imperative that people get out of their cars.”

Ting and Levine plan to introduce the bill in Sacramento on Monday, and Ting said he thinks it has “a very good chance of passing.”

Rabbitt said he thinks local governments in Sonoma and Marin counties are “leading the way” in responding to climate change. But the bridge district’s fiscal crisis is another pressing issue, he said.

The supervisor said he voted for the pedestrian and bike toll study simply to keep it on a list of 45 options on the bridge board’s longterm financial plan for dealing with the deficit. Rabbitt said he’s not sure he would vote to implement the tolls and doubts they will ever be enacted, but hoped to use them as “leverage” in an effort to obtain bridge funding from San Francisco’s tax on hotel rooms.

Hotels in the city send droves of tourists to the bridge, resulting in maintenance costs for pedestrian facilities, Rabbitt said. Meanwhile, North Bay commuters who drive across the bridge and ride Golden Gate buses and ferries are “paying the freight for the bridge,” he said.

Ting said he wants the bridge district to drop the two toll options from the financial plan and “focus on the other 43.”

Dave Snyder, executive director of the California Bicycle Coalition, and Natalie Burdick of Walk San Francisco endorsed the bill during the brief press conference. Charging people to walk or bike on a public facility “runs counter to our goal,” Snyder said.

Only four bridges in the country charge sidewalk-use fees, and all of them serve as border crossings into Mexico or Canada.

When the bridge opened in 1937, pedestrians were charged 5 cents to cross and two years later the toll was raised to 10 cents, until it was eliminated in 1970. Adjusted for inflation, the dime toll would be the equivalent of 61 cents today.

The bridge district received 16 letters supporting the tolls and 4,205 letters in opposition, including 4,170 comments from an online petition submitted by the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, according to district records.

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 521-5457 ?or guy.kovner@?pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @guykovner.