GILROY
– Gilroy’s City Council joined many key South County civic
leaders Monday night by unanimously voting to support a measure
urging voters to commit $2 billion in state and federal
transportation funds to improve roadways though the year 2036.
GILROY – Gilroy’s City Council joined many key South County civic leaders Monday night by unanimously voting to support a measure urging voters to commit $2 billion in state and federal transportation funds to improve roadways though the year 2036.
But the initiative, which will go to voters Nov. 5 as Measure B, is opposed by some transit advocacy groups, who say it will remove important flexibility for transportation decision-makers and could hurt mass transit service.
“The bottom line is that this leaves no flexibility for our future elected officials, and it handcuffs our ability to adapt to changing transportation needs,” said Margaret Okuzumi, executive director of the Bay Rail Alliance, a public transportation advocacy group based in Palo Alto. “This is a sneaky way to commit all the transportation money for the next 34 years to roads. I think it’s quite arrogant for these officials to think they can forecast the future.”
Supporters of Measure B, which was placed on the ballot earlier this summer by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, say it would not directly raise taxes like other transportation ballot measures county voters have seen in recent years.
The Gilroy City Council, District 1 County Supervisor Don Gage and The Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group all support the measure.
Springer said by ensuring earmarking the money now it guarantees South County taxes do not continue to be siphoned for North County mass transit projects.
“My view is (Measure B) will ensure BART cannot suck up this money, the communities are protected and the roadways will be built,” said Springer at the City Council meeting Monday night.
If passed, the measure would lock into law a nonbinding resolution issued by VTA directors in 2000 at the time the Measure A half-cent transit sales tax was before voters. The resolution said if Measure A passed, leaders would dedicate future state and federal funds to the Valley Transportation Plan 2020 – the Santa Clara Valley’s 20-year transportation plan dominated by road and highway projects.
South County projects included in that list range from $10 million in safety improvements on Highway 152 to new interchanges on Buena Vista Avenue in north Gilroy. Funds would also go to local road maintenance projects, such as resurfacing work. In addition, the possible construction of a “fly-over” road to Saint Louise Hospital is already being discussed local officials.
Because higher-government transportation funding is usually split between roads and transit, adding some of it to the transit-only Measure A money would have created a “tremendous imbalance,” Gage said.
“Measure B will ensure a balance between public transportation and roadways,” he said. “The important thing is this is not another tax.”
Okuzumi said the wording of the measure on the ballot is very vague and fears that many South County residents will not understand the significant impact this measure will have on the future of public transportation in the area.
For instance, if already appropriated construction costs of the San Jose BART extension, additions to Caltrain or local VTA bus routes run over projected costs, there will be no “flexible” money to complete the projects, Okuzumi said.
“I know South County voters favor road expansion, but we also believe there are many who are in favor of improved Caltrain service in the Gilroy area,” she said. “Right now there are four round trip Caltrain trips a day from Gilroy, and this could ensure that doesn’t increase.
“Lets face it, South County keeps getting the shaft. This puts a fire wall between Measure A and Measure B, and Measure A never got the funding expected because of the down economy.”
