SANTA CLARA VTA RIDERS UNION
P. O. Box 390069
Mountain View, CA  94039-0069
http://www.vtaridersunion.org/

NEWS RELEASE

TO: Editor, News Assignment Desk, Transportation Reporter

* FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE *

Press Contacts (in alphabetical order):	

Eugene Bradley	24 hr. cell/pager (408)888-2208 email: eegenebradley@yahoo.com

SCVTARU: WRONG TIME TO BOND AGAINST 2000 MEASURE A FOR CAPITAL PROJECTS

Bonding Proposal Will Increase Final Cost of BART Extension At Expense of 
South Bay Transit Services

SUNNYVALE, CA (August 7, 2003) – The Santa Clara VTA Riders Union (SCVTARU – http://www.vtaridersunion.org/) expresses its concern over a proposal the 
Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Board of Directors will 
vote on at this evening's Board meeting in San Jose at 70 W. Hedding Street 
at 6:00pm.  That proposal involves $550 million in bonding against 2000 
Measure A funding to be used for preliminary engineering for the San Jose 
BART extension, as well as to keep the South Bay's bus and light rail 
service running by deferring proposed service cuts until November 2004.

SCVTARU is gravely concerned, however, that the VTA is using this 
opportunity to continue to push for the San Jose BART extension at the 
expense of the South Bay's bus and light rail service.  Of the proposed 
$550 million bond against 2000 Measure A, $252 million will be used to 
purchase the BART extension's right-of-way and preliminary engineering, 
and $92 million will be used as interest costs.  However, $80 million will 
go towards deferring proposed bus and light rail service cuts until November 
2004. The bonding plan proposed by the VTA Board goes against the VTA's 
ad-hoc Financial Stability Committee recommendation that no Measure A 
funding is to be spent for capital projects until funding to operate and 
maintain such projects was identified – a position SCVTARU fully agrees 
with.  Worse, the bonding plan, if passed by the VTA Board of Directors as 
proposed, places VTA on a road where the only capital project is the San 
Jose BART extension while local bus and light rail services - and ridership 
- are reduced to zero.  

Overall, the $92 million in interest payments in the bond proposal, combined 
with $700 million in bond financing, as well as the need to find $48 million 
to $73 million in operating funds for the San Jose BART extension, raises the 
final cost of the extension to just over $5 billion – years before 
groundbreaking ceremonies for the BART extension are to take place!  

To that end, SCVTARU agrees with the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors 
that any and all bonding against 2000 Measure A must go only to preserving the 
VTA's bus and light rail service from further reductions.  We strongly urge 
the VTA's Board of Directors to use common sense this evening and bond 
against 2000 Measure A funding to preserve the county's bus and light rail 
service only, and wait until stable funding for the BART Extension to San 
Jose is identified first before issuing bonds for that project.

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About the Santa Clara VTA Riders Union
--------------------------------------
Founded in October 2000 by Eugene Bradley, 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.  Our web site is at www.vtaridersunion.org.  
We are based in Sunnyvale, CA.  Our organization has absolutely no affiliation 
with, nor is endorsed by, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 
(VTA) in any way whatsoever.

Note to Editors and News Desks:  More information on SCVTARU can be found at 
the following URLs:
http://www.vtaridersunion.org/whoarewe/who.html
http://www.vtaridersunion.org/PR