Our road system in Santa Clara County is pitiful. There are so
many projects screaming for dollars and simply not enough
funds.
Our road system in Santa Clara County is pitiful. There are so many projects screaming for dollars and simply not enough funds.
Santa Clara County Measures A and B on the Nov. 5 ballot won’t fix all those problems, but it will make sure the Valley Transportation Authority doesn’t blow all the transportation dollars it receives for the next 30-plus years on bloated public transit projects.
Measures A and B don’t raise taxes. The measures simply put the public’s stamp on the VTA’s 2020 plan and make it legally binding on future VTA boards to spend certain state and federal transportation dollars on road, bicycle and pedestrian projects.
That’s called balance.
In November of 2000, county voters approved a half percent addition to the county sales tax to finance transit projects like light rail expansions, increased CalTrain service and the BART connection to San Jose.
Since that time, the economy has faltered and sales tax revenues have taken a big hit. So guess what – the half percentage point tax money may not be enough for all those projects. The social engineers opposing these two measures want to be able to spend even more state and federal tax dollars sent to Santa Clara County for transit projects.
This pie-in-the-sky thinking from environmentalist groups is the same kind of foolish logic that kept U.S. 101 through Coyote Valley at two lanes when it was initially constructed. Just think about all the pollutants streaming into the air while people sat in their cars for hours on 101 over the last decade.
Voters should keep the balance the VTA envisions between transit and highway projects. These twin measures will do just that until 2036 when the sales tax sunsets.
Punch the “yes” slot for Measure A and Measure B and send a clear message: Don’t sacrifice road projects to spend huge additional sums on public transit.
