SANTA CLARA VTA RIDERS UNION P. O. Box 390069 Mountain View, CA 94039-0069 www.vtaridersunion.org NEWS RELEASE TO: Editor or News Assignment Desk or Transportation Reporter ? FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ? EXCLUSIVE – MUST CREDIT SCVTARU Press Contact: Eugene Bradley 24 hr. cell/pager (408)888-2208 BART TO SJ CRITIC BOUNCED FROM PANEL Greg Perry Removed From Discussion Panel by Rod Diridon Sr. For No Reason MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA (April 15, 2005) – The Santa Clara VTA Riders Union (SCVTARU – http://www.vtaridersunion.org/), a transit advocacy and watchdog group in the South Bay, has just learned that Greg Perry was removed for undisclosed reasons from a forum panel that will discuss the San Jose BART extension and cheaper alternatives to it next Thursday in San Jose. Greg Perry, a vocal critic of the San Jose BART extension, sits on the Mountain View City Council. He also sits on the Policy Advisory Board (PAB) of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA – http://www.vta.org/). Like Santa Clara County Supervisor Liz Kniss, Councilmember Perry has vocally criticized the San Jose BART extension. The extension was the cornerstone of a 30-year sales tax measure for transportation projects approved by voters in November 2000. The sales tax takes effect on April 1, 2006. Given the denial of federal funding for the San Jose BART extension for the second straight year, the Commonwealth Club (http://www.commonwealthclub.org/sv.html) has set up a four-member panel to discuss the San Jose BART extension, as well as cheaper alternatives to it at a public forum: WHEN: Thursday, April 22, at 1:00pm WHERE: Santa Clara County Sheriff's Auditorium, 55 W. Younger St., San Jose Admission to the forum is free but registration is required. To register for the public forum, visit http://www.commonwealthclub.org/sv.html then scroll down to the April 21 “BART to SAN JOSE” event. Current members of the forum's panel are Carl Guardino, President and CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group (SVLG – http://www.svlg.net); San Jose Vice Mayor Cindy Chavez; and Morgan Hill Mayor Dennis Kennedy. Rod Diridon Sr., Executive Director of the Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI – http://transweb.sjsu.edu/) and a co-sponsor of the forum, has replaced Mr. Perry with Sunnyvale City Councilmember Ron Swegles on the forum's panel for undisclosed reasons. Councilmember Swegles also sits on the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Policy Advisory Committee (PAC). SCVTARU founder Eugene Bradley had the chance to speak with the ousted Greg Perry yesterday via email about being removed from the forum panel. According to Mr. Perry, Rod Diridon Sr. gave him no reason as to why he was removed from next Thursday's panel. Mr. Perry was "rather angry" about the snub. "The snub means forum attendees will not get a fair and balanced discussion of the BART extension, its costs, and alternatives," said Mr. Bradley. "It appears Mr. Diridon Sr. does not want the public to know the truth on how much the BART extension will really cost." Recently the Gilroy Dispatch (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN/message/23723) reported the VTA requested that the Federal Transportation Administration (FTA – http://www.dot.gov/) evaluate a 10-mile section of the BART extension from Warm Springs to Berryessa. If the evaluation is approved by the FTA next year, that segment would be eligible for up to $900 million in federal funding. The rest of the extension (Berryessa to Santa Clara) would be paid for by local sales taxes and state funding. According to the February 9 story on BART to San Jose funding in the San Francisco Chronicle (http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/02/09/BAGS3B86ET1.DTL), the FTA estimates the total current cost of BART to San Jose at $6.2 BILLION – not the $4.2 billion typically quoted by the VTA and supporters of the extension. According to Mr. Perry, the additional costs of this deal for local taxpayers would be between $300 million and $600 million. This means that VTA's latest sales tax proposal, which they will discuss at their April 22 workshop and vote on at the May 5 Board meeting, will not be enough. Looking at the timing of the public forum and the VTA workshop to discuss the latest sales tax nearly 24 hours later, the snub is clearly an attempt by Rod Diridon Sr. to silence one of the louder critics of the San Jose BART extension. With little or no public debate of the true costs of BART to San Jose, it simplifies the VTA Board's task of approving the sales tax proposal for the November 2006 ballot. Worse, it converts what was supposed to be a public forum to discuss BART to San Jose with its growing costs and alternatives into a public relations event to promote VTA's latest sales tax proposal for the BART extension. SCVTARU has details on its web site (http://www.vtaridersunion.org/keepperry.html) on how concerned citizens can reinstate Mr. Perry to the forum panel, and thus get the truth out to the public on the real costs of BART to San Jose. In addition, the Caltrain advocacy group BayRail Alliance (http://www.bayrailalliance.org/) and the local chapter of the Sierra Club will protest at the forum next Thursday against Mr. Perry's exclusion from the panel. While we are officially neutral on BART to San Jose, SCVTARU is gravely concerned that the audience for next week's forum – and thus the public – are being misinformed on the project's true costs, impact, and alternatives. ### About the Santa Clara VTA Riders Union ======================================= Based in Mountain View, CA and founded in October 2000 by Eugene Bradley, the Santa Clara VTA Riders Union (SCVTARU) is a grassroots 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. Our organization has 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 http://www.vtaridersunion.org/accomplishments.html