1. h t t p ://s d cit yb eat .co m/art icle - 1531 - T R A NS POR T A T ION.h t ml
SEEN LOCAL
April 14 2004 12:00 AM
TRANSPORTATION
Critics: sales tax plan slights mass transit
BY DANA RAYMOND
Amid controversy and after much debate, the Board of Directors of the San
Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), San Diego County's regional
planning agency, voted unanimously Friday to approve a $14 billion
transportation plan, pending last-minute review by the county's city councils. A
final vote is scheduled for May 28, allowing for public comment until May 14.
The so-called TransNet Extension ordinance would put on the ballot a measure
asking voters to push forward an existing half-percent sales tax, which expires in
2008, another 40 years. It requires two-thirds voter approval in November for
passage.
The plan divides the tax revenues among highways, local roads and public
transit. But some critics charge that the TransNet funds are being siphoned away
from their original intent of funding regional transit, thereby allowing local
politicians to avoid raising taxes for road and highway projects.
The SANDAG board abruptly voted March 9 to change the plan from raising $9.5
billion over 30 years to $14 billion over 40 years. Dianne Jacob, chairwoman of
2. San Diego County Board of Supervisors, lobbied for the change because she
wanted more money for local road projects.
Former State Sen. James R. Mills, who led the campaign to create the half-
percent tax in 1987, said he thinks SANDAG needs to focus the funds in support
of regional public transit.
"It should be done for very many reasons, partly for all the people who are
dependent on transit, which includes people who don't have enough money to
own cars and people who are blind and can't drive, people who have epilepsy
and other disorders,"• he said. "We should make transit so attractive and
reasonable that people will leave their cars at home."•
A new group, San Diego Transit Riders United (SDTRU), announced its
formation last week in response to the TransNet proposal and what its members
believe are growing inadequacies in transit funding.
"Politicians like to cut ribbons,"• said Paul Blackburn, SDTRU's executive
director. "They don't get to cut ribbons when they make a bus better."•
Bus fare in San Diego is currently $2.25, which is high, said Blackburn. But seats
are gray with dirt, and the vehicles are packed with people, he said.
Blackburn is hoping to rally organizations with transit-dependent constituents, like
low-income citizens, the disabled and senior citizens, as well as student
advocacy groups, since school buses are increasingly being replaced by city
buses.
Since there's no telling which areas of transit the money will benefit, Blackburn
fears projects will be aimed at improvements for those able to contribute to
political campaigns rather than those who need it. North County Transit District
3. (NCTD) signed a contract last month committing more than $50 million for 12
sleek light rail vehicles to transport passengers through North County in style.
"There is a clear gap here,"• Blackburn said. He alluded to a bus riders' victory
over the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority in 2002 when the 9th Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that funding of new rail routes and neglect to urban
bus routes disproportionately benefited white people.
SANDAG board Chairman Ron Morrison countered that the TransNet plan is set
up much the same way as the 1987 original, which he said also allocated one-
third each to roads, highways and transit. This time, he said, it's one-third for
highways and the other two-thirds for congestion management. "All of the
projects in there, you could label transit projects or you could label them road
projects,"• he said. For instance, implementing the Bus Rapid Transit plan
requires good streets, he said. There will also be money for managed lanes that
change direction to adjust to the flow of traffic, he said. "First in the U.S. to do
this."•
And local money is restricted by a proposed competitive-funding plan, he said, so
the communities must first present a good smart-growth plan before receiving
funds.
At Friday's SANDAG meeting, Imperial Beach City Councilmember Patricia
McCoy said mass transit in 30 or 40 years is going to be key in maintaining San
Diego's status as a first-class community. "It's tainted money that t'aint
enough,"• she said. "We are not looking honestly at mass transit; it's not
attractive and we're not making it attractive."•
Lynne Baker of the Endangered Habitats League and Smart Growth committee
hopes to convince SANDAG to think ahead to projected population growth.
