The draft COG Regional Transportation Plan for 2005, which was
distributed to the public at the Veterans Memorial Building on
Wednesday, Oct. 22, states that SBC has commuter rail. I don’t
think so, and unless we harness sufficient freight revenue to this
dream, we never will. The drafters of the RTP for 2005 wish that we
had commuter rail, but if wishes were horses…
The RTP for 2005 fails to reflect COG’s Directors’ decision to
reject extending Caltrain from Gilroy to Hollister.
The draft COG Regional Transportation Plan for 2005, which was distributed to the public at the Veterans Memorial Building on Wednesday, Oct. 22, states that SBC has commuter rail. I don’t think so, and unless we harness sufficient freight revenue to this dream, we never will. The drafters of the RTP for 2005 wish that we had commuter rail, but if wishes were horses…
The RTP for 2005 fails to reflect COG’s Directors’ decision to reject extending Caltrain from Gilroy to Hollister. While the concept of passenger rail service was not rejected by COG, the socialist funding formula (1 percent riders, 99 percent taxpayers) was rejected as unsuitable for a poor, rural, ag county like SBC. As a member of COG’s rail advisory committee, I recommended that COG resolve to restore passenger rail service to SBC the same way it was done the first time: Combining freight revenue with the losing passenger fares. But for the six years (1992-1998) of ISTEA, and the six years of TEA-21 (1998-2003), COG has failed to utilize the private-public partnership funding method. We let those opportunities pass us by. UP’s Industrial Development Department invited all Northern California local government to increase rail economic development at their Progress Through Partnerships forum in Pleasanton, Oct. 2002, but COG still has not accepted their offer. Meanwhile, the Central California Coast Region lacks an intermodal facility and SBC does not even have a team track where our No. 1 industry and job-maker, ag, can load products or unload raw materials (the closest one is in Watsonville). And if the cannery closes, UP probably will abandon the Hollister Branch Line because of insufficient freight revenue. If that happens, we will end up like Monterey County trying to raise enough taxes to buy the Monterey Branch Line, or Santa Cruz County with the Davenport Branch Line – socialist/communist nightmares for taxpayers.
President Clinton’s Executive Order No. 12893, Jan. 26, 1994, required local government to seek private sector participation in infrastructure investment and management, but our RTP reads like the private sector does not exist. I urge COG’s Directors to reject the draft RTP 2005 amendments until this policy error is corrected. Rail service for future SBC generations depends on what we do today to correctly utilize private sector transport solutions. Caveat Viator!
Joseph P. Thompson,
Tres Pinos
