Officials in South County seem to be a little out of touch with
the importance of public transportation here. I guess that
’s to be expected.
Officials in South County seem to be a little out of touch with the importance of public transportation here. I guess that’s to be expected. When we have a system with options that are basically crap, one would think we never cared about it enough in the first place to make any changes. But now we see we have to.
I appreciated Gilroy Mayor Pinheiro’s answer to the question of why he doesn’t represent Gilroy on a countywide body that makes decisions about VTA policies. To paraphrase, he’s very busy, and he hasn’t received enough input from the public to put transportation higher on his priority list. At least he was honest. Members of the South County Collaborative, a coalition of human services agencies, certainly empathize with the hassle of finding the time to go to San Jose for meetings.
The challenge of distance and time has led many of us over the years to focus just on what’s in front of us right here.
However, that has hurt us deeply and shortchanged our community, so the Collaborative has been strategizing on how to get our faces at the tables that make decisions about policies, practices and funding so that we don’t get left out and so that needs of the people we serve are heard.
Mayor Pinheiro and the council need to do the same. If alternate Paul Correa, whose area of expertise is planning, can’t go to meetings, find an alternate who will at least be responsible enough to send someone in his place, rather than simply not attend. We need a voice that will counter Mayor Kennedy’s “go along to get along” support for the new tax that doesn’t have any discernible benefit for South County residents.
This issue is particularly important to the Collaborative. Since June, we have worked to conduct outreach to inform the VTA about those in Gilroy who most depend on public transportation.
Many people in our community rely on public transportation. It is critical to their ability to access education and employment, health services and other amenities that keep them connected to the community. Given what we have seen and heard, I implore city representatives to get up to speed on the REAL needs of our community, ignore the Silicon Valley Leadership Group’s press release on the sales tax and pay attention to this important public resource.
In contrast to what the SVLG proposes, the tax will affect us. We need the following right now, but they will also benefit us in the long term:
n Restored and expanded bus service, including numerous express routes, that actually takes people to where they need to go (work, mostly).
n Community shuttles that provide dial-a-ride service, shorter trips that aren’t on fixed routes, but can provide some door-to-door delivery.
n A shuttle from the Valley Health Clinic at San Martin to Valley Medical Center.
n A shuttle that takes people to the civic and justice centers, the locations of some of the most needed county services.
n The return of the transfer ticket to get onto another bus within two hours and other options that make public transportation more affordable.
n Improved eligibility determination and services for Outreach (paratransit).
n Expanded CalTrain service. People argue against any more resources or projects for VTA. I understand completely. VTA is in the situation it is as much because of its history of arrogance and mismanagement as the drop in the economy. For example, they fought a Campbell neighborhood’s insistence on an EIR for a project. When the neighborhood prevailed, the EIR cost more than $1 million rather than a few hundred thousand.
South County has the highest needs, but the fewest resources. Public transportation is in a shambles now, partly because our silence – or acquiescence – let it get that way. We can’t afford to not show up and not to speak up.
As workers in the community, Collaborative members commit to speaking up in the forums available to us and will even create a few. But to this particular table, we cannot go. Ron Gonzales and company have shown time and again that they do not represent us. Therefore, Mayor Kennedy and Mayor Pinheiro, you must.
