Published Friday, July 12, 2002, in the San Jose Business Journal

$2 billion measure paves way for roads

By Andrew F. Hamm

How to ease growing South Bay traffic congestion that some fear will
eventually choke the life out of Silicon Valley's economy will be at
the heart of a $2 billion transportation measure awaiting an Aug. 6
vote by Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors.

At stake is state and federal transportation money the Santa Clara
Valley Transportation Authority is expected to receive over the next
34 years for transportation projects. That money is generally
available for anything from building new rail lines to filling
potholes.

The Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group, whose executive director Carl
Guardino essentially wrote the measure, wants to ensure road
improvements will not be ignored by future VTA boards. The measure is
opposed by several transit-riders groups who feel at least some of
the money would be better spent on mass transit. If approved by
county supervisors, the measure would be placed on the November
ballot.

The measure's main purpose is to put into law an August 2000 VTA
board resolution that pledged all flexible transportation money be
used for roads. That resolution was credited with calming the fears
of those worried that the $6 billion transportation Measure A -- that
was approved in November 2000 and, among other things, provides
partial funding for the BART extension into the South Bay -- would
hurt road-improvement programs.

"County commuters need road improvements as well as mass transit
options," says Mr. Guardino. "Commuters were told (during the 2000
campaign) that road improvements would not be hampered by voting for
Measure A."

The manufacturing group's 191 members have more than 275,000
employees, whose ability to get to work -- and to function
effectively once at work -- is hampered by clogged-up roads. And the
situation is only expected to get worse. Silicon Valley is expected
to add 231,000 jobs by 2020 and only about 130,000 more homes. That
requires more employees to travel longer distances to get to work.

While expanded transit systems, including BART, the Altamont Commuter
Express, Caltrain and the Capitol Corridor, are expected to take some
of that load, the vast majority will still travel by road in 2020. Of
the 329,700 commute trips expected each morning in 2020, only 89,400
will be by mass transit, according to the Valley Transportation Plan
2020 approved by the VTA board in 2000.

Mr. Guardino points out that all money in question will be tied
directly to road improvements spelled out in the 2020 plan, including
a bevy of projects designed to work with mass transit, as well as
pedestrian and bicycle transit.

Mass transit advocates say more money needs to be pumped into transit
to increase flexibility and make the various systems more appealing
to commuters.

"The reason they are doing this is that they are concerned that these
mass transit projects like BART and the light-rail extensions will
cost more than they said they would," says Margaret Okuzumi,
executive director of BayRail Alliance, a coalition of commuters from
throughout the area. "(The VTA board) has shown they are willing to
sacrifice their bus systems, light-rail frequency, even Caltrain
electrification for the sake of new and wider roads."

A June poll of likely Santa Clara County voters, taken by Moore
Methods Inc. and funded by SVMG, shows 69 percent in favor of the
proposed measure. A 50 percent plus one majority is needed for
approval in November.

SVMG will conduct a "low-cost, low intensity" campaign for the
measure, Mr. Guardino says, but nowhere near the $2.2 million it
spent on getting Measure A passed. A key selling point is that the
measure involves no new taxes, just the allocation of existing ones,
Mr. Guardino says.

The no new taxes part will be crucial to getting the measure passed,
says Jeffrey Adler, president of Adler Public Affairs, a Los Angeles
campaign consultant firm.

The electorate's mood has soured along with the economy since the
heady days of November 2000 when Measure A was passed, says Mr.
Adler.

"A 69 percent approval is right on the cusp of where they need to be
right now," Mr. Adler says. A light turnout that typically goes along
with off-year elections as well as an electorate skeptical of new
initiatives during a down economy will most likely shrink the "yes"
vote, Mr. Adler says.

"In general, people who oppose are more likely to vote than people
who approve," Mr. Adler says.

Measure A passed with 72 percent approval, Mr. Guardino says, because
voters understood that mass transit needs to play a bigger role in
getting people from one point to the next. This new measure is an
acknowledgment that roadways will play a major role for years to
come.

"While we want to build a transportation system where people will be
able to get into rail cars, they also need to be able to use their
cars," Mr. Guardino says.


Andrew F. Hamm covers sports management, energy issues and
transportation for the Business Journal.