The Santa Clara VTA Riders Union is somewhat content that $80
million of the $550 million bond against 2000 Measure A funding
would go toward deferring proposed service cuts until November
2004
EDITOR:
The Santa Clara VTA Riders Union is somewhat content that $80 million of the $550 million bond against 2000 Measure A funding would go toward deferring proposed service cuts until November 2004, we are gravely concerned that $252 million of the requested bond will go towards the BART extension to San Jose – a capital project that still lacks stable operating revenue.
Approximately $92 million of the bond request for the BART extension would go toward interest payments – ultimately raising the final cost of the BART extension above the $3.8 billion originally budgeted for the extension on the Measure A ballot. Overall, the $92 million in interest payments in the bond, combined with $700 million in bond financing, as well as the need to find $48 million to $73 million in operating funds for the San Jose BART extension, raises the final cost of the extension to just over $5 billion – years before groundbreaking ceremonies for the BART extension are to take place.
Interestingly enough, the cost of the BART extension, after the cost overruns are figured in, is close to the amount of the VTA’s long term deficit – $6 billion – over the next 20 to 25 years.
The VTA Board by a 7-5 margin last week approved seeking Superior Court permission to bond $550 million against 2000 Measure A funding. Those who approved the bonding were San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales; Campbell City Councilmember Jane Kennedy (who chairs the VTA Board this calendar year); San Jose City Councilmembers Cindy Chavez, David Cortese, Pat Dando, and Forrest Williams; and Sunnyvale City Councilmember Manuel Valerio.
Those who voted against the bonding were Santa Clara County Supervisors Blanca Alvarado and Don Gage; Santa Clara City Councilman John McLemore; Palo Alto Mayor Dena Mossar; and Gilroy Mayor Tom Springer.
VTA’s approval of the bonding goes against the advice of the Santa Clara County supervisors, who days ago passed a resolution stating that bonding against Measure A should be used only to prevent further bus and light rail service cuts in the South Bay. TA’s approval of the bonding also goes against the advice of its ad-hoc Financial Stability Committee, which stated that no Measure A funding is to be spent for capital projects until funding to operate and maintain such projects was identified – advice SCVTARU fully agrees with.
Worse, VTA’s approval of the bonding ignored several taxpayers such as Margaret Okuzumi, who warned the VTA board members before the vote that VTA should “stop digging its own hole” in terms of its current fiscal crisis. SCVTARU wonders at this point as to whether or not the VTA has become so broke, it can no longer afford to pay attention to anyone.
We anticipate a decision any day now from Santa Clara County Superior Court on whether or not bonding against 2000 Measure A can be obtained. While San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales and proponents of the BART extension claim another victory for the cause of bringing BART into the South Bay, SCVTARU is concerned that it is another milestone in VTA’s road to insolvency and its race to zero bus and light rail service in the South Bay.
To that end, SCVTARU calls upon the Santa Clara County Superior Court to do what seven VTA Board members failed to do: uphold the public trust of taxpayers, the Santa Clara County Supervisors, and transit riders in the entire Valley, and approve only the $80 million in bonding that defers proposed service cuts until November 2004.
Eugene Bradley,
Founder, Santa Clara VTA Riders Union
http://www.vtaridersunion.org
