What did Measure A, passed by the voters in Nov. 2000, really promise?
Measure A promised, in exchange for raising the sales tax in Santa Clara County for 30 years, that a list of rail transit projects would be constructed:
BART to San Jose and Santa Clara
Caltrain electrification, double tracking to Gilroy, and enhancements that would permit “baby bullet” trains to San Francisco.
People Mover linking San Jose Airport with BART and Light Rail.
Light Rail to East Valley from downtown San Jose
This list will be placed in jeopardy by Measure B by preventing state and federal money from being used on these projects. And because the sales tax revenue that pays for most of these projects dropped 24.3% the past year alone.
We urge you to vote NO on Measure B
Measure B puts transit projects at risk
- The Vasona light rail transit line to Campbell, now under construction, will have funding pulled from it by Measure B, by stopping State funding that is now being used.
- Both the BART-to-San Jose extension and the Downtown East Valley light rail line rely on potential federal New Starts funding. This is a highly competitive, extremely oversubscribed program and it is unlikely that VTA will receive all the money that it requests from this program. If VTA fails to receive the more than $1 BILLION in New Starts funding that it seeks, Measure B will prevent VTA from proceeding with these BART and light rail extensions using flexible state and federal funds.
- Sales tax has plummeted 24.3% in one year according to VTA’s most recent Revenue and Expenditure Plan. VTA projects that it will experience severe operating shortfalls for at least the next decade and will have to cut back on service. Measure B leaves transit with the most unreliable funding source, a sales tax, while giving freeways expansions the most stable funding. It prevents VTA from allocating significant flexible state and federal dollars toward bus, light rail, and Caltrain and ACE operations. If Measure B passes, transit will once again go begging while highways enjoy relatively stable funding.
- Measure B takes away the most reliable flexible state and federal funds that are spent on both transit and highways and locks them into highways only. It imposes these spending restrictions on $2 billion in state and federal funds for the next 34 years.
Why Measure B won't solve traffic congestion.
Propaganda words and phrases
of the highway lobby: Who's behind it?
word or phrase: | true | false interpretation: |
| repair existing structure that is worn out or damaged | brand new highway or freeway construction |
| completely stopped traffic due to blocked intersections |
|
|
| new land developments to take advantage of new lanes or roads |
More propaganda: Read why they mentioned bicycles and pedestrians.
Measure B would eliminate
pedestrian facilities when adding traffic lanes at many locations
Pedestrians must step from the sidewalk (left) into the traffic lane (right) in mid-block. The sidewalk ends where Caltrans’ jurisdiction ends and the roadway becomes County owned. County highway engineers eliminated the pedestrian facilities when adding more traffic lanes. Measure B would continue this unsafe practice. See details or more photo's.
Who are we
at keepchoice.org?
We are organizations opposed to Measure B, to keep choice in future VTA policies and budgets:
Measure B and recent court rulings
The inflexibility imposed by Measure B will create difficulties for future VTA Boards. Recent court rulings require transit ridership increase in the Bay Area to meet air quality requirements. The endless cycles of highway construction encourage use of highways instead of transit.
Two recent court rulings will effect future transportation funding: One requires regional transportation officials to permanently increase transit ridership. The other stops freeway and highway projects that increase pollution. People need transportation alternatives. Measure B eliminates the ability of future elected officials to respond to these court rulings.
For details, see the Mercury News article.
Contacts
Press contact: Margaret Okuzumi; (408) 732-8712; press@[no longer valid].org
Information: info@[no longer valid].org
Ballot arguments, ballot summary, ballot full text
