Uploaded: Tuesday, October 24, 2000
Will it really relieve traffic?
Measure A sales tax proposes to cure gridlock
by bringing BART to San Jose
by Marc Igler
I This election year, Santa Clara County voters get to decide whether to
approve Measure A, which would raise $6 billion in sales tax revenue for
just about every mass transit project imaginable--including a 21-mile
BART extension to downtown San Jose. What's unusual, however, is that
those who usually back mass transit--environmental and alternative transportation
organizations--universally scorn Measure A.
The measure's backers--mostly big business and some South Bay government
leaders-- throw up their hands, wondering what it takes to satisfy everyone
on the always sticky issue of how to spend our transportation dollars.
Measure A, no doubt, stands as one of the most controversial tax measures
to come along in a while for Santa Clara County voters, and its road to
the ballot has been bumpy.
In mid-August, the Board of Supervisors refused to be the measure's authorizing
government agency, rejecting the pleas of a powerful mix of politicians
and big businesses, most based in the south part of the county. Undeterred,
the same group of backers approached the Santa Clara Valley Transportation
Authority, which eagerly stepped in, voting 11-1 to place it on the ballot
and serve as the administrator. Measure A's most important feature is
that it would authorize the extension of BART from Fremont to downtown
San Jose.
The measure, dubbed "Traffic Relief Now" by supporters, would also pay
for a wide assortment of light rail, train, and bus projects. None of
the money would go toward roadway improvements.
At a cost of $6 billion, the measure would pay for all this by extending
the county's half-cent sales tax, which expires in April 2006, for another
30 years, locking in place an 8.25 percent sales tax rate for at least
another generation.
Measure A's backers, led by San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales and the Silicon
Valley Manufacturing Group, agree that the measure represents a bold foray
into mass transit. They argue that traffic problems are beginning to seriously
erode the county's economic might. The solution, they say, lies in mass
transit and must be anchored by BART.
"BART is, simply, the best and most cost-efficient transit system in
the Bay Area. It's the backbone of any comprehensive mass transit system,
and it's time residents of Silicon Valley started benefiting from it,"
said Jude Barry, co-chairman of the Measure A campaign and Gonzales' chief
of staff. "Yes, it's expensive, but it's worth every penny."
Opponents, meanwhile, blast the measure as a poorly reasoned, hastily
assembled plan that will lead to financial disaster. Further, they say
the main thrust of the measure will benefit the south part of the county,
shortchanging most cities north of San Jose. They add that it's doubtful
the measure can keep all its promises. Many of the projects, they say,
will likely never happen because BART--a huge financial vacuum--will suck
away billions of dollars slated for rail and bus.
"No one is arguing that we don't need traffic relief. The real issue
is that Measure A is not the way to go about it. It's simply not well
thought-out," said Kimberly Strickland, Silicon Valley coordinator for
Bay Area Transportation and Land Use Coalition, one of the alternative
transportation groups fighting the measure.
Besides the opposition from organizations that typically rally to the
mass transit cause, Measure A's biggest obstacle may be more rudimentary.
To pass, it needs a two-thirds vote, a level of support that transportation
taxes only rarely achieve. In fact, only two of 34 previous sales tax
measures for transportation statewide have passed with that threshold.
The measure, however, has attracted considerable support.
Besides Gonzales and the manufacturing group, backers include the California
State Automobile Association and the state chapter of the American Association
of Retired Persons. Fourteen of the 15 city mayors in the county favor
it, including Palo Alto's Liz Kniss, now running for a supervisorial seat
that includes Palo Alto. Her opponent, Dolly Sandoval, also supports it.
So far, the measure's organizers have raised more than $1.1 million,
which they will soon begin spending on radio and television ads as well
as direct mail brochures. Chief among its corporate backers are Intel
and Applied Materials ($100,000 each) and Kaufman and Broad developers
($50,000). Forest City Commercial Management Inc., owners of the Pavilion
in downtown San Jose, also kicked in $100,000.
Measure A's Barry said the plan marks one of the most comprehensive strategies
for alternative transportation that any county in California has ever
considered. Contrary to critics who say it is based on a quickly slapped
together list of projects, he said the measure is rooted in the VTA's
so-called 2020 plan, a carefully considered list of proposals that the
system would like to see implemented in the next 20 years.
Further, he said because Measure A will be funded locally, it will free
up state and federal money that can be used for road and highway improvements.
He says the time to move forward is now, when the economy is booming and
voter confidence in government is strong.
"The opposition has been talking about this sort of thing for many years,
but the fact is they've never brought anything to the ballot," Barry said.
"People want action, and that's what this measure does."
Although the current half-cent sales tax doesn't expire for nearly six
years, Barry said the extension should be approved now so transportation
experts can begin planning the various projects that it will fund.
Clearly, the biggest element of Measure A is BART. Supporters say any
long-range planning for Santa Clara County has to include BART. They say
BART has a fine record in the East Bay and can play a unifying role in
transportation strategy if it is extended to the South Bay.
"We believe BART is an extremely important component to the future of
this region's transportation strategy, not only in mass transit matters
but quality of life issues, too," said VTA spokeswoman Anne-Catherine
Vinickas. "With BART, Measure A becomes a very well-balanced transportation
plan, one that provides for everyone's mobility for years to come."
Opponents, meanwhile, have zeroed in on BART as the focal point of their
criticism, going so far as to dub the measure "The BART tax." They say
Santa Clara County should think long and hard before allowing the extension
of BART, which they say has an abysmal record of cost-overruns, a heavy
reliance on government subsidies, and requires "buy-in" payments from
counties that authorize it. None of those costs, they say, are reflected
in Measure A.
"BART will be a financial fiasco for Santa Clara County. It's not the
sort of transportation planning we should be looking at," said Sylvia
Gallegos, chief of staff for County Supervisor Blanca Alvarado, who is
spearheading the opposition. Alvarado contends that Measure A contains
no provision capping the amount of money that BART gets from the measure.
She fears that the VTA will have to spend far more than the $2 billion
called for in the measure, and that other projects promised to voters
will be abandoned.
Critics say BART's hidden overhead could make the cost of completing
the 21-mile leg between $5.3 and $7.3 billion, according to the Bay Area
Transportation and Land Use Coalition.
In bolstering their claim, opponents point to an Aug. 7 memo by VTA General
Manager Peter M. Cipolla in which he said an additional 1/2-cent sales
tax may be necessary to cover BART overruns and other costs associated
with a measure as broad as Measure A.
Further, critics of the measure say backers have grossly exaggerated
daily rider projections--78,000 passengers--for the proposed BART leg
into downtown San Jose. They say that figure is based on predictions that
downtown's employment base will rise to 176,000 people in coming decades.
Current employment is about 30,000 people. Critics say ridership would
hover at about 16,000 a day.
Opponents of the measure, so far, have raised little money for the cause.
They have, however, offered up an alternative tax plan that would strike
a balance between road and transit projects and likely leave BART out
of the mix. They say their plan, proposed for a special election next
November, would incorporate transportation projects with site-oriented
housing. That aspect, they say, addresses a fundamental reality about
traffic problems in the Bay Area--that transportation and growth issues
are inextricably tied.
Besides Alvarado, opponents of Measure A include Supervisors Jim Beall
and Donald Gage, the Sierra Club, and three prominent alternative transportation
organizations--Palo Alto-based Peninsula Rail 2000, the Bay Area Transportation
and Land Use Coalition, and the Train Riders Association of California.
Supervisor Joe Simitian, who represents Palo Alto and is now running
for an Assembly seat, has taken no position on Measure A, though he has
blasted similar plans in the past as shortchanging the north part of the
county. In a recent position paper, Simitian said, "Current proposals
would leave North County residents and commuters with little to show for
almost 30 years (1997-2026) of sales tax payments."
Supporters say such criticism isn't valid, that all Santa Clara County
residents will benefit from an improved mass transit system. "It doesn't
matter whether you start your commute in Palo Alto or Gilroy--there are
always cars in front of you. The point of the whole thing is to get those
cars off the road," Barry said.
Following
are some of the major projects that Measure A would fund, either fully
or in part:
