San Jose – The widely ru-mored ouster of Valley Transportation
Authority General Manager Pete Cipolla didn
’t occur during the VTA board’s closed session Thu-rsday, but
the rift between the five San Jose representatives and other
members of the board was obvious during a public hearing.
n By Matt king
Staff Writer
San Jose – The widely ru-mored ouster of Valley Transportation Authority General Manager Pete Cipolla didn’t occur during the VTA board’s closed session Thu-rsday, but the rift between the five San Jose representatives and other members of the board was obvious during a public hearing.
San Jose officials are resisting calls to study alternatives to a planned BART extension through downtown San Jose to Santa Clara.
As it stands, that project has at least a $2 billion funding shortfall, and on Tuesday, county supervisors voted to ask the VTA to study the economic impacts of a less ambitious BART project.
That proposal was greeted passionately by San Jose Councilman and VTA Director Forrest Williams.
“I know it’s easier to do less, and I know times are hard, but, my God, we have the ability to do what we said we would do,” Williams said. “Let’s work as a team. Let’s pull our shoulders together, hook up the harness and pull this wagon.”
San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales used a procedural maneuver to delay the proposal. In the end, the board voted 11 to 1 – with Williams dissenting – to compel VTA staff to study the feasibility of studying alternate BART projects.
The full BART project was nudged forward with the acceptance of an environmental impact report by a vote of 11 to 1. The lone dissenter was Los Altos Mayor David Casas, who said that the VTA’s EIR is based on “dubious” projections.
“We need to have more due diligence around modeling,” Casas said after the meeting. “The projections need to be revised to a great extent. The environmental justice benefit is misguided.”
According to the EIR, a San Jose BART line will be used by 84,000 riders daily, attract a large number of minority passengers and draw from a substantial pool of riders from below the poverty line who live in the proposed BART corridor.
“I don’t think people living below the poverty level are going to use BART,” Casas said. “Cost is an issue.”
The EIR allows the VTA to move forward, but doesn’t hold the agency to any particular project. If the VTA eventually decides to scale back the BART project, it will conduct another EIR.
The VTA board also voted to postpone until February accepting a draft of the agency’s Valley Transportation Plan 2030, a master transit plan for the entire region which it must submit to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
In South Valley news, the long-awaited traffic light project in front of Gilroy Foods got a final blessing from the Valley Transportation Authority Thursday, clearing the way for road work to begin next May.
The VTA will award a bid for the project within the next 30 days, said Santa Clara County Supervisor Don Gage, who is also chairman of the VTA Board of Directors.
Route 152 will be widened from just west of Gilroy Foods to Llagas Creek. The bridge crossing the creek will be widened to accommodate the road, but the centerpiece of the project is a much-needed signal in front of Gilroy’s largest employer.
The east entrance will be aligned with the Westside Transport Inc. entrance across the highway. Turn lanes will be added for both businesses.
Work should be complete by the end of 2006.
Matt King covers Santa Clara County for The Dispatch. He can be reached at 847-7240 or mki
**@gi************.com
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