SANTA CLARA VTA RIDERS UNION
P. O. Box 390069
Mountain View, CA  94039-0069

PRESS RELEASE

TO: Editor/News Assignment Desk/Transportation Reporter

* FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE *

Press Contact:	
Eugene Bradley	24 hr. cell/pager (408)888-2208

SOUTH BAY TRANSIT RIDERS GROUP OPPOSES PROPOSITION 51 ON NOVEMBER 5 BALLOT

Says Prop. 51 Backers Only Care For Contributors' Interests and Not
Those Of the Public

SUNNYVALE, CA  (October 9, 2002) - The Santa Clara VTA Riders Union 
(SCVTARU – www.vtaridersunion.org), a transit advocacy and watchdog group 
for Santa Clara County, today announces its opposition to Proposition 51 on 
the November 5 ballot.  Please note that SCVTARU shares absolutely no 
affiliation with the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA).

There are three reasons why SCVTARU is opposed to Proposition 51.  The 
first of those reasons is the absence of public input in the proposition's 
creation.  While the proposition's creators, the Planning and Conservation 
League (PCL) claim it is a "people's initiative," SCVTARU has not heard of 
one meeting where the general public was invited to give input on this 
measure.  The web site of the proposition's supporters 
(www.voteyesonprop51.org) does not mention how citizens for its "citizen 
panel" to oversee its funding are selected.  The same web site also does 
not mention how the firm that will perform audits on Proposition 51 
funding will be selected.  SCVTARU believes that a proposition with no 
public input on its creation nor its implementation should not promote 
itself as a "people's initiative."

This leads to the second reason why SCVTARU is opposed to Proposition 51.  
SCVTARU is disturbed by the number of "pork barrel" projects that are in 
the proposition - projects the PCL placed in the proposition in exchange 
for campaign contributions.  One example of this is the way the Hillwood 
Development Group, headed by Ross Perot, Jr., gave $150,000 to the 
campaign in exchange for funding for new railroad crossings at a cargo 
hub planned for the former Norton Air Force Base outside San Bernadino.  
Even Gerald Meral, executive director of the Planning and Conservation 
League (PCL), admitted in the Sacramento Bee on October 7, "If the 
project brought us political support, if it brought us financial support, 
if it brought us polling support, we were more inclined to put it in, 
definitely."  SCVTARU feels that such "pay to play" tactics prove the PCL 
is no better than the very state legislators they criticize for not 
adequately addressing transportation issues.  

Finally, SCVTARU questions what is truly meant by safe school buses 
implied in the "Traffic Congestion Relief and Safe School Bus Act" that 
Proposition 51 is known as.  According to the proposition's backers, 
replacement of 217 school buses - some of which are 25 years old - in
Santa Clara County are needed.  While Proposition 51, if it passes, would 
provide at least $1.3 billion in traffic congestion relief to Santa Clara 
County over the life of the measure, only 8% of the measure's total funding 
would truly go to purchase new school buses.  Some SCVTARU members felt 
that it would be better and cheaper in the long term to simply replace the 
polluting engines in the school buses with non-polluting engines, while 
keeping the bus frame intact.  Given the unethical means by which projects 
got listed onto Proposition 51, SCVTARU suspects that these “safe school 
buses” were placed in the measure solely to get votes.

Overall, SCVTARU feels Proposition 51 is a good example of how ballot-box 
budgeting has helped to contribute to California's $24 billion budget 
deficit.  Motor vehicle sales tax revenue lost from the passage of 
Proposition 51 would need to be made up in the form of higher sales taxes 
and/or cuts funding for health care, education, and affordable housing.  
"As much as I think we could use the transit funding, I think the state 
budget should be set as a whole by the Legislature,” said Robert Carvalho 
on the SCVTARU mailing list (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vtaridersunion/). 
As citizens of California, SCVTARU believes that transportation funding 
should never come at the expense of funding for health care, affordable 
housing, and our children's education.  SCVTARU firmly believes that the  
"pay to play" means Proposition 51 was conceived from compromise the spirit 
of the California voter initiative process.  Hence, we encourage all voters 
throughout California to vote NO on Proposition 51 on November 5.

About the Santa Clara VTA Riders Union
--------------------------------------
Founded in October 2000, the Santa Clara VTA Riders Union is a grassroots-
based organization dedicated to ensuring that elected officials improve and 
implement cost-effective, frequent, and reliable mass transit in Santa Clara 
County.  You can find more information on the Santa Clara VTA Riders Union 
at http://www.vtaridersunion.org/.  Our organization shares absolutely no 
affiliation with, nor is endorsed by, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation 
Authority (VTA) in any way whatsoever.

###