Our COG’s Directors voted last week to spend $325,000 of SBC’s
taxpayers to send $2,954.545.00 to Sacramento so that we could get
the $325,000 back, on a bike path from COG’S offices on Southside
Road to Ladd Lane.
Dear Editor:
Our COG’s Directors voted last week to spend $325,000 of SBC’s taxpayers to send $2,954.545.00 to Sacramento so that we could get the $325,000 back, on a bike path from COG’S offices on Southside Road to Ladd Lane. Testimony by a few bicyclists generally supported the expenditure. COG’s staff reported their study found that in the peak commute hour of 7-8 a.m., four bicyclist were counted on that route.
When ag does not have a team track for loading and unloading rail cars in SBC, the nearest one is located in Watsonville, I believe that COG’s Directors are wrong in placing the “unmet needs” of bicyclists above our No. 1 industry and employer.
The congestion management and air quality funds can be used for freight projects, according to Tom Messer, chief of freight planning for Caltrans. Since it takes 9,000 cars to make as much air pollution as we get from one big rig, and since axle weight is the single largest factor in road surface deterioration, I think COG’s decision is unsound. Even worse is their acceptance of county transit. COG’s latest report shows that only 92 people per day use it, while it cost SBC’s taxpayers approximately $9 million annually for operating expenses alone. To cap off a thoroughly disgusting evening, COG Directors even decided to buy more equipment, knowing that it sits unused or moves empty most of the time.
The tax payers have better use for their money that what our COG Directors are doing with it. Caveat viator
Joseph P. Thompson,
Tres Pinos
