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Tonight is a very big board meeting. The VTA Board, at this meeting, will vote on whether or not to reduce transit service in the South Bay even more, due to the ongoing recession. As a result, about 75 members of the general public are in attendance, along with VTA staff members and management. Public attendance was even amongst VTA transit operators, mechanics, and passengers.
Originally, on January 9, VTA Staff proposed a 3% service cut, effective April 2003, with the other 6% deferred until later. At the last minute, however, VTA General Manager Peter Cipolla recommends the full 9% service cuts instead. A memo detailing this recommendation is made available for public viewing at the meeting. This catches the audience by surprise.
Peter Cipolla makes his presentation his proposal. He says that VTA is currently consuming between $5 million and $10 million per month in their reserves. He also mentions the possibility of another fare increase this summer. He mentions that every 1% in service reduction saves $1.7 million.
A VTA senior manager mentions that the proposed service cuts will revert transit service in the South Bay to 1997 levels.
VTA Board member Dena Mossar (Mayor of Palo Alto) expresses concern over the new proposal. She mentions that no one knew about the revised proposal until this morning's article in the San Jose Mercury News mentioned the Board meeting and the proposed 9% service cuts. She mentions how not even her own staff realized that the vote on the service cuts was today, with the revised proposal, and wants to see bus service returned to normal "as soon as possible." The public audience applauds, and Jane Kennedy ends up telling the audience to hold their applause "until the end" - a theme that will be common for the rest of the evening. Ms. Mossar mentions how the northern portions of the county are currently underserved by transit, and how the proposed service cuts will unfairly affect commuters there.
Peter Cipolla then mentions the rethinking of the proposal based on lack of revenue from state and federal sources, and the near exhaustion of one-time revenue generation such as selling vacant land VTA owns to developers. He mentions that up to 20% more service cuts may be necessary soon, if the local economy does not fully recover. This draws more gasps from the public in attendance.
VTA Board member John McLemore (Santa Clara City Council member) mentions that Cipolla's presentation is akin to U.S. Secretary of Defense Colin Powell in front of the U.N. Security Council. He also mentions that the sudden change to 9% proposed service cuts violates the public trust, where VTA told the public it was proposing 3% with the other 6% deferred until later this year. As a result, he could not support the proposal.
VTA Board member Ron Gonzales (Mayor of San Jose) expresses his support of the proposed 9% service cuts.
VTA Board member Tom Springer (Mayor of Gilroy) expressed concern over how there are minimal reductions in light rail service, while the county's bus service - "the backbone of the agency" - takes the gist of the fiscal hits. He also expressed concern that there is no operating revenue for light rail, despite two new extensions (Tasman East and Vasona) due to open in 2004. He states that he will support the new proposal, despite his concerns.
VTA Board member Manuel Valerio (Sunnyvale City Councilmember) states that we can no longer "nickel and dime" our way of the fiscal mess with the original 3% cutbacks, and thus supports the 9% service cutbacks.
After comment from Cindy Chavez and Tom Springer is made, the item is opened up to public comment. However, Jane Kennedy reduces public comment time to one minute each. This draws shock and then boos from the public audience.
About 20 people - transit operators, mechanics, and passengers - speak out and inform the VTA Board to vote against the proposal. One public comment made was from the head of the San Jose Downtown Association requesting that planning for the San Jose BART extension continue despite the financial crisis. Those who spoke against the service cuts mentioned a loss of faith in VTA management, and the broken public trust that would result if the new plan was approved.
VTA Board member Cindy Chavez (San Jose City Councilmember) will support the revised proposal if and only if a friendly amendment to the proposal is added. That amendment is a monthly financial report on how much money is being saved (or lost) due to the service cuts. Manuel Valerio tries unsuccessfully to block this friendly amendment.
A roll call vote on the issue is taken. Here is how the VTA Board voted, in the order they were called:
The final vote passes by a 9-2 margin. The public audience boos and hisses to the vote, then leaves. Many in the audience, having heard enough as it is now 9pm, leave for home.
No formal mention of CEQA and the meeting held in January to address those questions is made. Not a good precedent at all...
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