back to vtaridersunion.org main page
| Riders Union |
[Editor's Note: The following letter was sent to us in September 2003 by Mark Brodsky, a former member of the Valley Transportation Authority's (VTA) Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) and current member of the Monte Sereno City Council.]
If you want to know why Silicon Valley has the worst transit system in America, read the attached summary of a meeting of the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group (SVMG) on August 29, 2003. Make up your own mind if "the will of the voters" is being served.
If you then want to "sit down, discuss the magnitude of the challenge, and begin a thorough process to identify solutions", write back and come work with those who believe problem solving begins with recognizing and defining the issue, not raising funds to throw good money after bad.
All the people who this has been sent to have spent time and energy learning the facts about transit. More importantly, all share a desire to create a world class system here. And from conversations with many, there seems to be a consensus that transit service can be vastly improved by enabling flexibility in VTA program rules, targeting key market segments, experimentation, and providing incentives for the free market to fill gaps in the system.
The valley needs its leadership to lay out the facts and honestly evaluate alternatives. Reworking our transit service is not a forum for placing blame. The Valley's economy forces us to reexamine the numbers and rethink past decisions. We must create a more rational, effective, "smart" transit system to serve our Valley.
Please help concerned members of the VTA's Policy Advisory Committee to refocus the VTA's mission toward a usable service by using basic problem solving tools. It is the voters will to make transit better and the responsibility of committee members to advise to improve VTA policy.
Many of the participants at the August 2003 SVMG meeting saw the problem only as a lack of funds. If you think differently, then you need to be a part of this group.
I cannot guarantee that together we can prevent a train wreck. But I feel certain we will be doing the voters will by making the effort.
Regards,
Mark Brodsky
Council Member, City of Monte Sereno
back to vtaridersunion.org main page