Published Saturday, September 22, 2001, in the San Mateo Daily Journal

Dumbarton rail still on track, despite criticisms

By Devona Walker
Daily Journal Staff

Proponents of a plan to provide rail service over the Dumbarton
Bridge to connect Alameda, Santa Clara and San Mateo counties appear
undaunted by recent criticisms and are at present working toward
extending the service up to San Francisco.

"Three counties have authorized the funding for rebuilding," said
Howard Goode of the Transportation Authority, the group authorized to
build the rail service. "We are now working together to update the
estimated cost to rebuild the rail line, and we are re-evaluating the
service that would be provided on it.

"One of the ideas brought up was extending service to San Francisco,
so we are looking into that right now."

According to Goode, the amount that surrounding counties would pay
into the project is contingent on this phase of the project -- the TA
will go into negotiations with Alameda, Santa Clara and possibly San
Francisco after they upgrade rail services.

The Dumbarton Rail Project has been a few years at least in the works
and has not come without its detractors. Last year the San Mateo
County civil grand jury released a report urging SamTrans and San
Mateo in general that the feasibility of the Dumbarton Rail Project
has not been properly evaluated and that proposed buy-in of $60
million -- 49 percent of the project total -- is disproportionate to
the estimated 20 percent of the estimated San Mateo County ridership.

In addition, the Transportation Authority has received another
assault from Menlo Park resident James Dei Rossi, who says that the
TA is illegitimately soliciting funds for the project and that $50
million has been put away by the TA without any legal authorization.

"The Transportation Authority has decided they are just going to make
Dumbarton happen no matter what," Dei Rossi said. "The TA has failed
its two basic responsibilities. They did not do a real feasibility
study. And they've refused to do any real environmental assessment --
if it happens it is going to affect hundred houses, it would have to
go through the wetlands and they might even need a grade separation.

"But they refuse to deal with these issues and instead they are going
to the JPB with misleading information."

At the crux of Dei Rossi's current issue with the Transportation
Authority is its appropriation of Caltrain funds for the project.
According to Dei Rossi a decision to use Caltrain funds for the rail
project must get voter approval.

"[The Joint Powers Board] has given no indication that it is willing
to program Caltrain funds for Dumbarton. It has only agreed in
principle to operate Dumbarton if other local agencies fund all
capital and operating costs," Dei Rossi said. "Further, when it
agreed in principal to operate Dumbarton, the JPB explicitly stated
it would not support any diversion of Caltrain funds to Dumbarton
rail."

According to Dei Rossi the TA is currently funneling $50 million of
Caltrain funds into the Dumbarton Rail Project.

"Without San Mateo's $50 million, neither Santa Clara nor Alameda
counties are currently committed to fund Dumbarton. Therefore, unless
and until JPB includes Dumbarton in its capital budget plan, current
local funding for Dumbarton is only $10 million, not the $115 million
reported in the Draft 2001 RTP," according to Dei Rossi.

A written letter to Dei Rossi attorney Joan Cassman, who has
reportedly been mediating some of the legal wrangling between the TA
and Dei Rossi, stated that Dei Rossi was right in assuming that such
an act such undergo voter approval.

Cassman was unavailable for comment Friday.

The TA still has to request approval from the Joint Powers Board
before the next funding cycle of the project is met. At that time
there will be a public comment period and Dei Rossi says he plans to
be there to continue his fight against the project.

"When the JPB originally agreed to operate Dumbarton, in was in
theory," Dei Rossi said. "And they were very specific about not
providing economic funding.

"Because they realized that this was just the kind of innocuous
request that has a way of growing in ways you never anticipate. I
plan to remind them that there are still a lot of unanswered
questions."

But the Dumbarton Rail Project appears to be gaining in popularity.

Recently the Metropolitan Transit Commission authorized support of
the project. It has not yet detailed whether revenue to support the
project will come from increased toll fees or other resource pools
but there has been unilateral support for the project from that group.

In addition, the project has gotten nearly unanimous approval from
the City County Association of Governments and some enthusiastic
local support from San Mateo Deputy Mayor Sue Lempert.

In a previous article Lempert lashed out at the grand jury for
criticizing the project and dismissed criticism that San Mateo County
was being asked to fork over too much money.

"Sure maybe, we are paying more for it. But San Mateo is a `drive-
through' county," Lempert said. "We will be benefiting from this
project in many ways -- the cut-down on traffic and air pollution
alone makes this a worthwhile project to support."

The popularity of the project is expected to grow if upgraded
services include an expansion to San Francisco. This would give the
TA another potential county buy-in as a fair number of the
anticipated ridership would be San Francisco County residents.