Publication Date: Friday, March 12, 2004
Inequity decried in VTA's plans
Inequity decried in VTA's plans
(March 12, 2004) Local transit programs could be shelved; Council could ask for changes on Monday night
by Bill D'Agostino
When county voters approved the Valley Transportation Authority's request for a half-cent sales tax increase in 2000, Palo Alto residents were promised it would provide money for local projects, including a new high-class downtown transit center.
More than three years later, an economic downturn has radically changed the guarantee. According to a draft of the VTA's future plans, expanding BART to San Jose and Santa Clara is projected to use up nearly all of the Measure A funds during the next 25 years. That would leave next to no money for projects directly affecting Palo Alto, and other northern Santa Clara County communities.
Although BART advocates call the change regrettable but necessary, Palo Alto officials are condemning the draft plan's unfairness.
"Everything was promised and now they're projecting much less," Councilwoman Yoriko Kishimoto said.
On Monday night, Kishimoto will ask the council to approve a letter that asks the VTA's board to strengthen support for local projects in its future Measure A funding plans.
"Though BART is, on the face of it, a fine idea, it does not address the needs of all the communities in Santa Clara County," Councilwoman Dena Mossar said.
Although she agreed with Kishimoto's arguments, Mossar held out little hope the agency could be swayed from its current direction. As a VTA board member for two years, Mossar said she often expressed similar arguments, to no avail.
"I was so excited to be a board member of the VTA because I care so passionately about transportation issues," Mossar said. "I found it was not an opportunity to be creative. There's a lot of political baggage already in place."
The VTA is currently in the process of creating its long-range plan, known as the Valley Transportation Plan 2030. A draft of that plan, presented to the VTA board in February, gives highest priority to BART, and a new light rail line in San Jose.
Forecasts in the same plan, Kishimoto pointed out, show the largest increase in travel demand in the northwest area of the county, including Palo Alto.
Measure A takes effect in 2006, and there is a great demand for its dollars. It is projected to raise $3.9 billion in 25 years, although there is $8 billion in projects waiting for funding.
Bringing BART to San Jose and Santa Clara would cost $4 billion, with more than half coming from Measure A. Projects directly affecting Palo Alto are currently much lower on the list, fighting with 10 others for only $97 million of Measure A funds. Other local projects that would be competing for those funds include: the "Palo Alto Intermodal Center" and improving bus line 22, the heaviest used line in the VTA's system which runs along El Camino Real in Palo Alto.
VTA spokesperson Brandi Hall said the draft plan was based on criteria set by the board, and is subject to change based on public input, which the transit agency is currently accepting.
Those criteria were developed in 2001, Kishimoto noted, and does not address today's fiscal realities. (Over the past two years, the VTA -- facing rapidly declining riders and revenue -- has dramatically cut bus service.)
For instance, Kishimoto said, out of 100 priority points, only five are assigned for projects that have a "reasonable assurance of funding."
The VTA board will next discuss the plan at a March 19 workshop.
Not all local transit advocates agree with Kishimoto's and Mossar's assessments.
Palo Alto resident and housing advocate Sally Probst said BART should be the highest priority for the VTA, since it is a regional project that will benefit the local economy.
"My hope is that eventually BART will go all around the Bay, as was planned," she said.
Recent polls conducted by the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group, which lobbied for Measure A and for BART, show that the majority of the county agrees, according to Anthony Marek, the group's director of communications.
"I think most people saw Measure A as bringing BART to Silicon Valley," Marek said. "We understand the concerns" of northern county officials. "We hope that all projects will be fully-funded."
Local officials shouldn't be too surprised by the seeming inequity. In 2000, then-county Supervisor Joe Simitian (and current assemblyman) tried unsuccessfully to expand the measure to bring more funds to northern communities like Palo Alto.
The Peninsula, Simitian said at the time, "has been an afterthought in transportation planning."
To learn more about the VTA's future plans, and to take a survey about what should be prioritized, visit www.vtp2030.org. To request a hard copy of the VTP 2030 Survey, call the VTA at (408) 321-7575.
Bill D'Agostino can be e-mailed at bdagostino@paweekly.com
E-mail a friend a link to this story. | 
