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In November, Santa Clara County voters will decide whether to adopt a one-eighth-cent sales tax for the next 30 years to help fund a BART extension down to San Jose and Santa Clara.
That’s more than the City Council did Monday, when members were divided on whether the rail tax would help or hurt the region. After two votes, the council neither endorsed nor opposed the measure, making Palo Alto’s official position on the BART extension a stalemate.
Mayor Larry Klein and council Member Yoriko Kishimoto argued that BART has already sucked funding away from valuable transit projects such as the Dumbarton rail corridor. They predicted the proposed tax would further divert money from Caltrain electrification and other public transit. Rising BART cost estimates paint a picture of continued money diversion, the two wrote in a memo to colleagues.
Yet Council member Jack Morton said officials should look at the greater environmental picture. The BART extension could take thousands of cars off the road, he said.
“If we’re really serious about the carbon footprint, this is expensive but it’s the right thing to do,” Morton said, urging colleagues to adopt a resolution in favor of the measure.
Council member Sid Espinosa said the green considerations rang true with him.
The irony of the evening was that all speakers were essentially on the same side, a speaker during the feisty and lengthy public-comment period noted.
“In essence, we have public transit advocates fighting public transit advocates.”
The council voted 5-3 not to endorse Measure B, with Morton, John Barton and Sid Espinosa voting in favor of an endorsement.
Then, the council voted 4-4 to oppose the measure, with Klein, Kishimoto, Vice Mayor Peter Drekemeier and Greg Schmid voting to oppose it. The swing vote was member Pat Burt, who said he wasn’t convinced by either side to be comfortable officially endorsing or opposing the measure. That left the council with neither endorsement nor opposition.
Council member Yiaway Yeh was absent.
The state has already set aside funding for the extension, with the California Transportation Commission pledging $240 million in September.
Commission member and president/CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group Carl Guardino said the commission’s unanimous vote secured all necessary state funding — a total of $760 million — for the $6.1 billion, 16-mile project.
Using all the county’s public transit funds for BART is a bad idea. They should split the tax money equally between BART and Caltrain. Caltrain serves more people in Santa Clara county and is overloaded and badly in need of upgrades like electrification.
I’m not voting for this South Santa Clara project until the County is willing to contribute to the electrification of Caltrains.
I admit I haven’t seen much information on this topic, but I have yet to see any media coverage that clarifies whether this extension is intended to reach San Jose and Santa Clara from the East Bay BART or whether it is intended to extend down the peninsula.
Does anyone know?
The current tax proposal is only to extend BART from Fremont to San Jose. There are no plans extending BART down the peninsula.
Caltrain needs help, but extending Bart down the East Bay to San Jose would also cut down on Caltrain congestion.
… sort of like the BART to SFO extension cut down on Caltrain congestion. Not!
Kristen – how much would BART in Fremont reduce congestion on Caltrain in Palo Alto? 25% less passengers per day? 2.5%? 0.25%?
Greg K–why is always about selfish Palo Alto???? What about the region as a whole? Our council cannot see that far, with their heads filled with their own personal agendas
The region as a whole would be better off by improving both Caltrain and BART, not neglecting one for the other.
Did anyone notice how ALL of the photos in the slide presentation (at the council meeting), showed these bullet trains running through areas where there were NO HOMES. These trains were either out in the middle of no where, or looked like an entanglement of electrified wires similar to Japan’s eyesore.
Run it through the central valley and noy through here -please!
If Palo Alto’s do nothing Traffic dept would implement a few simple solutions to reduce idling vehicles:
1. Improve the computers that time traffic signals
2. Connect more intersections to coordinate traffic flows.
3. Try it on Lytton and Hamilton avenues first.
4. Look for intersections where there are unnecessary bottlenecks. Example: right turns from Charleston to Middlefield northbound.
5. Establish early morning childcare at schools to spread out the onslaught of mommyzillas.
Idling vehicles produce pollution and get ‘0’ miles per gallon.
Lets think locally before supporting another BART Boondoggle. Bart is the most expensive cost per mile solution.
The value of mass transit is as good as the number of people that use it. BART carries 110 million people a year, up to 400,000 people a day, 370,000 per day.
BART is relatively efficient once built with a very high fare box recovery ratio 55%-70%.
The construction funds are already allocated, no new bonds or debt its just either Santa Clara uses them or they build a road to nowhere with those state and federal funds.
I believe measure B is worth it cause it will cause the least guaranteed transfers and the most people will actually use the system.
I think all trains have a long and prosperous future beyond measure B. Its not an either or proposition. I am sure that all mass transit will get lots of funding in the future as we try to get off our petroleum addiction.
Its time we do our part with 400,000-500,000 people stuck in traffic every day between Alameda and Santa Clara, and BART will cleary be the most used solution to that problem.
I was caught in a traffic jam on El Camino at 6pm near Stanford Shopping Center and El Camino Park. It was gridlock. I usually bicycle, but I needed to go to Menlo Park for shopping. My riders and I noticed two large Sam Trans buses on El Camino during the gridlock. Both (going North and South) were empty – the North bound bus had one rider and a driver. This was rush hour! And they appear to be belching a lot of diesel or something.
People are not using buses. These are huge buses. A minivan would suffice! Even then, how many people are really using this polluting service?
Do we run buses to employ drivers?
Let’s get rid of them too!
Whatever is done, wherever money is spent, will only help if the Bay Area is treated as a provincial single transit area. We need to have one authority overseeing all transit, rail, bus and ferry with one pricing system, one ticketing system and one budgeting system. In this way whatever is planned for one area will ultimately benefit the whole because commuters will choose the most beneficial route not the cheapest route. We need to get timing so that buses reach stations before the trains arrive and leave after the passengers have left the train and entered the buses. We need to use the buses for the shorter haul routes and transfer passengers onto the faster trains and then back onto the buses for the short end to the journey and all this needs to be coordinated by one authority. Only then will any $$ spent make any sense.
If BART to San Jose was such a good idea some private commercial entity would be building it for profit. This isn’t happening because it is a money loser.
We have to encircle the entire bay with Bart and have more connections between VTA stations and the Bart stations. Get BART lines to connect to San Jose and to connect with VTA (thus giving access all along 237 through Mnt View) – you immediately allow all of East Bay easy access to the companies in South Bay, which will reduce the traffic on 880s, 237w and 680s. This will also be a lot more environmentally friendly.
As one of the high-tech hubs of the world, our mass transit is embarrassing, if not *pathetic*. Then again, Palo Alto is still sitting on the dark fiber that was laid in the mid 90s. Go Progress.
Oh, and Eric, please save the “private firehouses, roads, water and air” for some other time. There are some things that *are* a public good.
If alameda County wants to ship their workers to Santa Clara County, let them pay for it. Why should Santa Clara County taxpayers pay for the whole thing?
BART on the peninsula and the south bay is a good idea. Put another tube under the bay by the dumbarton bridge. Station it on land over by Sunmicrosystems. This is prime land that can be developed into a station for the peninsula. Build this system rising out of the ground making use of both the underground — will need support to bedrock anyways. Can run tube clear to Brisbane. There is an existing station for connection purposes across the bay in Newark/Fremont. Extend to san jose. Start thinking forward. Economy is bad, gas high, car corps are slow to develop a better alternative design.
Other transportation ideas:
1. A new bart tube that runs to mountain view first, and then Alviso second. Googletube anyone?
2. Ferry system around the south end of the bay with connection from SJ to MV to Peninsula.
BART to San Jose is just that.!! It does nothing for the rest of the county and dosen’t even go to the airport.
It serves the 100+ plus vacant Flea Market Site owned by Blum I believe per articles by San Jose Mercury.
He will make 100’s of millions $$ profits for super high density housing on this site and pays nothing, essentially, for BART.
All other supporters no doubt expect to make big money off of this boon doggle project. If San Jose wants it let them pay for it.
There is really no federal or state $$ dedicated for this $400,000,000 per mile project.
The state is billions short for schools, etc so are they going to give priority to this project.?
Same for the Federal Goverment. Are they going to borrow billions of $$ from China, etc so San Jose can have BART?
Think what $6,000,000.000 could do education in California or just the bay area.
VOTE NO on BART!!
BART to San Jose will go to the San Jose Airport, and just as the San Fran, and Oakland airports it will have a short people mover bart line from the main BART station to the airport terminals.
The BART San Jose line will go to the great mall light rail station, across street from San Jose State, downtown San Jose with all its high rises and convention centers, performing arts centers, exactly at the HP Pavillion (Sharks-SaberCats games), Santa Clara University, etc.
Measure A’s 4billion can’t be spent on anything but BART and mass transit according to the Santa Clara voters who approved it with 71.5% of the vote! We have to honor democracy as much as the anti-bart dictators hate it.
All the studies found BART will be used the most of any rapid transit
solution.
The actual total from Fremont to Santa Clara will be 22 miles or 180 million per mile (granted the Alameda portion is not included in measure A, and is already funded by other sources) or more importantly 5000 riders per mile, which is 10 times CalTrain 400 riders per mile.