From: adrian@ntmtv.UUCP (Adrian Brandt)
Subject: SM County engaged to marry BART?
Followup-To: ba.transportation
Organization: Northern Telecom Inc, Mountain View, CA
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 20:07:48 GMT


From the front page of the Peninsula Times Tribune, Wednesday, July 22:

Note: text in [brackets] is (obviously) mine.


COUNTY, BART TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT EXTENSION--AND MONEY

Following a bitter debate, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors
agreed Tuesday to begin negotiating the costs of extending BART all the
way down the county.

At the suggestion of officials from the Bay Area Rapid Transit System
district, the board formed a liason team to talk money.  Supervisors
William Schumacher and Mary Griffin were appointed to the team.

Meanwhile, the board postponed a decision on placing a measure on the
November ballot asking county residents if they want to join the BART
district.  Supervisor Tom Nolan, co-author of the advisory ballot measure,
was at a conference in Salt Lake City.

Directors of the BART district suggested a liason team after receiving a
letter by the supervisors two weeks ago asking for detailed cost estimates
of a BART extension through the county.

"These are very complex issues that need to be worked through," said Joan
Kugler, manager of BART's south and East Bay extension projects.  "We
request opening an ongoing dialogue ... because there are no clear-cut
statements or clear-cut set of answers."

Although there was little opposition to creation of a liason team, the
supervisors argued about the advisory measure itself.

Favoring the measure were Supervisors Griffin and Tom Huening [a very
pro-BART, anti-CalTrain man] a co-author of the measure and a
congressional candidate.  Opposing it were Supervisors Schumacher and
Anna Eshoo, who is running for the same congressional seat as Huening.

Schumacher and Eshoo argued that voters should only be asked to consider
joining BART once a final proposal is negotiated and all of the costs are
known.

But Huening insisted that the proposed measure limits any contribution the
county makes to BART to sales taxes already being collected [and siphons
all money for, and hope of, relatively cheap CalTrain upgrades that could
bring BART-frequency rail service to the Peninsula within a few years], and
asks the voters to set priorities on the $80 million the county spends
annually on transportation.

A decision to join BART "has to be part of a comprehensive organization,"
Huening said.  "They all need to be tied together."

Huening said the board would also have to seek voter approval of any deal
reached with BART in a subsequent election.  [It sounds like Huening is
trying to get SM voters to buy-into BART step by step so as to mask the
true costs and impacts.  Once the voters are psychologically started down
the road of acceptance, it will be easier and easier to get them to agree
to vote yes and pay more later.  An old sales technique: set the hook,
and then you can jerk 'em around (like a fish on a line) all you want...]

Griffin said the board should "give people the opportunity to truly voice
their opinion.  [What a great way to make public transit policy: just do
an opinion poll!  That way the average Joe-Shmoe registered voter who knows
nothing about transit (because he/she never even rides or thinks about it
much)  Does the average voter realize that BART is very, very expensive
when compared to *other* rail options?  Luckily for BART supporters, the
answer is no!  They ought to hire a nice unbiased consultant, pay them
lots of money and give them some pure transit (not technology) goals that
the people agree on.  Then let the "experts" explain how best to achieve
those goals in a detailed report on the options and costs.]

"I know how agonizing the negotiations can be, and I am reluctant to
commit staff time and energy to negotiations unless the people want it,"
she said.

Although the vote on an advisory measure was split during Tuesday's
meeting, Nolan's crucial third vote should send it to the November ballot.

The San Mateo County Transit District has already paid $200 million toward
extending BART from Daly City to San Francisco International Airport, but
the project is not scheduled to be completed until 2003.  [Imagine, $200
million *toward* something we'll get in 11 years from now--if we're lucky,
while that same money $200 million could pay for electrifying the whole
CalTrain system--wires, locomotives, etc--and still have money left over!]

Extending BART 14 miles from Fremont across the Bay through San Mateo
County could cost as much as $3.5 billion.  [If we're lucky, it'll *only*
cost that much and we'll all be nearing retirement by the time it gets
built.  But, to make up for the long wait, its enormous expense will
preclude upgrading or improving much else while we're waiting and paying
and paying and paying for it!  Somehow Vaughn's term "PORKBART" inavoidably
comes to mind...]


-- 

Adrian Brandt (415) 940-2379
UUCP: ...!ames!ntmtv!adrian
ARPA: ntmtv!adrian@ames.arc.nasa.gov