League of Women Voters Transportation Forum — Full of Surprises!

The forum panel chosen by the League of Women Voters consisted of George Dondero, Regional Transportation Commission Executive Director, Supervisor Jan Beautz, speaking as chairperson of Santa Cruz Metro Transit District, and Fred Keeley, County Treasurer, charged with reporting on the Transportation Funding Task Force. Keeley was the convener of that Task Force, which held its final meeting on November 15, 2007, completing over 27 months of work.

Those in the audience who thought the forum would be tilted towards highway widening were happily mistaken.

Fred Keeley surprised us:

As the third panelist to address the group of fifty or so attendees, Keeley began by announcing that Supervisor Beautz recently told the Mid-County Post that she would not be seeking reelection. Fred reminded the audience that they both began serving on the County Board of Supervisors in 1988, and praised her for her service to the people in her district.

The surprises continued. Fred reviewed the ground rules that governed the operation of the Transportation Funding Task Force while under his leadership as convener, and noted his commitment to the RTC not to interject his personal opinion on transportation issues as long as the Task Force was operating. The work of the Task Force has now been completed and Keeley's role as convener of that group has ended. Hence he no longer feels obliged to suppress his opinions, and so he took the occasion of this forum to let the public to know his personal views on these issues.

Here are some highlights from Keeley's presentation:

Highway widening: A bad idea.

Fred compared building more freeway lanes to what happened when people went from horse and buggy transportation to early automobiles. Many said no thanks to the new concept of cars, and clung to their tried and true transit system—the horse and buggy. Highway widening is a similar outdated transportation system, one we should not be pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into.

Keeley is convinced that we must look ahead to the future, looking toward workable rail transit, bus rapid transit (“we could have a workable BRT system in 10 years”), and even Personal Rapid Transit (“no, PRT is NOT a crazy idea!”) as what we should be investing in.

Rail line purchase: A good idea.

Buy it ASAP; it's a great investment in future transportation, even if there is no specific plan to use it for public transit right away. The price ($19 million for a 32-mile long rail line, most of which is within sight of the ocean) is a bargain. Buy it now; figure out how to use it later. He also had some harsh words for the Task Force members who actually voted to reduce funding for rail.

County road infrastructure: Must be maintained.

We have 610 miles of county roads that are in constant need of repair. Any transportation plan must recognize the need to keep these roads in top condition.

Supervisor Jan Beautz also addressed the group:

Supervisor Beautz, speaking on behalf to the Metro Transit District, provided insight on the problems and successes of our bus system. Jan knows what she's talking about here, being associated with the Metro District as an elected official for 18 years. Problem one (of course): There is never enough money to do what needs to be done. Nevertheless, our Transit District is consistently highly rated nation-wide. One big success story involves the Highway 17 Express service. These buses that travel between Santa Cruz and San Jose are frequently standing room only, and more people would ride if more buses were available.

RTC Executive Director Dondero led off the presentations:

George Dondero presented about 20 power-point slides telling the audience what the Regional Transportation Commission was about, what projects they had planned and why. He highlighted the RTC's “number one priority”: widening Highway 1. This sad state of affairs will continue until the RTC majority changes this priority.

There were questions from the audience:

All questions were submitted in writing to panel members after all three finished their 20-minute presentations. Many wanted to know how widening the highway (HOV Lane Project) was addressing the need for reducing green house gas. Many were critical of adding more highway lanes. In fairness to moderator Ann Wise, the audience consisted of many who opposed highway widening. Ann and the LWV ran a superb meeting. I'm sending in my $20 for a subscription to their newsletter “Santa Cruz Voter”.

Some literature was distributed:

People Power activists passed out a flyer at the forum entitled “What Happened to Sensible Transportation in Santa Cruz County”. Others passed out copies of “Plan C”, the Campaign for Sensible Transportation's proposal for a transportation plan that addressed most of the things Fred Keeley spoke in favor of. You can see Plan C on the Campaign for Sensible Transportation's website, right here.

It was an excellent forum. Mr. Keeley, thank you so much for speaking on our behalf.

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