{"id":92,"date":"2020-05-12T19:08:18","date_gmt":"2020-05-13T02:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/laselva.us\/?p=92"},"modified":"2020-05-21T00:02:23","modified_gmt":"2020-05-21T07:02:23","slug":"if-you-have-the-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/laselva.us\/?p=92","title":{"rendered":"If you have the time…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you have the time, bandwidth, an interest in transportation, and a sense of humor, the \u201cTransit Corridor Alternatives Analysis\u201d survey may be just the ticket! It\u2019s online until May 11 at\u00a0https:\/\/www.surveymonkey.com\/r\/TCAA_Virtual_Meeting<\/a>\u00a0and is sponsored by the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission. [Unfortunately the only saved version of the survey after the RTC May 11 2020 deletion is this un-formatted version: https:\/\/laselva.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/TCAA-Virtual-Open-House-Input-Questions-3.pdf<\/a> ]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The survey largely deals with proposed uses of the rail branch line, the 32 miles of right of way that wends through the county, and would make a perfect active transportation corridor.  Instead, you will see no reference to walking or biking or running or skating in the survey, but you will be offered the choice of gondolas or hyperloop and other transit alternatives.  Even the Regional Transportation Commission\u2019s straw man, the so-called \u201cRail Trail\u201d, has been thrown under the bus or maybe into the hyperloop.  Nary a mention of the Rail Trail, much less a real trail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, over a year ago, on March 13 2019, RTC Executive Director Guy Preston appeared before the California Transportation Commission to explain his bureau\u2019s approach to the rail branch line.  The Commissioners were not gentle with Preston.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commissioner Jim Ghielmetti: \u201cI guess I\u2019m the only one up here that\u2019s here long enough for the start of this project in August of \u201803.  I applaud you for trying to get this thing back on track.  My concern is I don\u2019t see a business plan in front of us nor a schedule for passenger rail. Have you developed that yet?\u201d
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preston replies: \u201cWe don\u2019t have a business plan for passenger rail commuter service at this time\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commissioner Ghielmetti: \u201cWell let\u2019s see, 2003 to 2019, we can\u2019t wait much longer; is there any way to expedite this?\u201d \u2026 \u201cCan you give the Commission a timetable or schedule of when we\u2019re going to see something?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commission Chair Fran Inman: \u201cI don\u2019t know, if it\u2019s not operational it sounds like the short line really isn\u2019t able to fulfill their agreements.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commissioner Ghielmetti: \u201cWell I guess my question is ah it\u2019s really a community decision, you know.  Proposition 116 was to provide rail service and that\u2019s why the money went to the community. Now if the community wants to get together and reimburse the state for that acquisition, that\u2019s really a community issue, not an issue before this commission, so they need to figure that out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right. In lieu of a business plan from Executive Director Guy Preston or RTC Commission Chair John Leopold here are some ideas.  In RTC-speak they might be called preferred local alternative analysis alternatives. Let\u2019s take a shot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alternative A: Allocate the eight percent Measure D money devoted to the rail corridor to a fund to repay the state its $11 million.  It would take four or five years on layaway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alternative B: Seek relief from the legislature in a bill recognizing the three failed good faith attempts to meet the proposition 116 requirements and to forgive the debt.  Many legislators would recognize that Prop 116 was a poorly drafted one-size-fits-all solution and that Santa Cruz County is held hostage to this \u201csolution\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alternative C: Engage counsel to explore whether or not the county has satisfied the requirements of Proposition 116.   As Commissioner Paul Van Konynenburg suggested: \u201cMaybe at some point in the future we can get an opinion as to what requirements have been met and what haven\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has taken wallowing leadership to get us to the place of gondolas and hyperloops as solutions.  An additional alternative that deserves analysis:  It is time for RTC Executive Director Guy Preston and RTC Chairman John Leopold to go. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

##<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Excerpted and published in Good Times Santa Cruz, May 6, 2020. https:\/\/goodtimes.sc\/santa-cruz-news\/opinion\/opinion-may-6-2020\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you have the time, bandwidth, an interest in transportation, and a sense of humor, the \u201cTransit Corridor Alternatives Analysis\u201d survey may be just the ticket! It\u2019s online until May 11 at\u00a0https:\/\/www.surveymonkey.com\/r\/TCAA_Virtual_Meeting\u00a0and is sponsored by the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission. [Unfortunately the only saved version of the survey after the RTC May 11 … Continue reading “If you have the time…”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/laselva.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/laselva.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/laselva.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laselva.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laselva.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=92"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/laselva.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":119,"href":"https:\/\/laselva.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92\/revisions\/119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/laselva.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=92"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laselva.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=92"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laselva.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=92"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}