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VTA Board of Directors Meeting
June 7, 2001

• Item 21 (litigation things) was scratched from the agenda until the August board meeting.  
  
  
• Blanca Alvarado was absent from the meeting
  
  
• During the public comments period, Glen(n) Dickey, Karen(?) Farmer, and Rex Adler from the Hamilton Avenue neighborhood in San Jose spoke out against VTA wanting to build grade separation (a bridge) over Hamilton Avenue and Highway 17 per objections of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) over an at-grade crossing VTA was going to build for the Vasona LRT project.  Ms. Farmer expressed concerns over what the bridge would do to property values in the neighborhood and the fact that it would attract "a game of grafitti tag" amongst vandals.  Mr. Adler expressed concern that there was little public notice of this action, and asked the VTA Board to approve the overcrossing.  [Editor's Note: an aerial map of the area in question]
  
  
• Item 20 (Authorize the GM to execute at $42 million contract with Desilva Gates-Harris Construction for construction of the I-880 Widening contract) passes.  Don Gage stated that a biological survey needs to be done before construction can proceed.  The team performing the biological survey, he stated, meets weekly.  After obtaining permission of the Department of Game and Wildlife, roadside advertising of the I-880 widening project can begin.
  
  
• Item 22 (adopt resolution for "competitive negotiation" of computer software purchases and upgrades, and upgrades to the internal Helpdesk Voicemail system) passes.  Jane Kennedy screws up the reading of the agenda item by saying "Web Connect Management Software" instead of Web Content Management Software.  She gives the Administration and Finance Committee report and is the head of this committee.
  
  
• Item 23 Adopt a resolution approving the FY 2001-2002 budget) passes.  [Editor's Note: I tried to speak out about a zero-based budget but was told by the board secretary that I should have brought it up during the public comments session and had it taken off the agenda.  Blah.]  Budget for VTA's contribution to ACE will be increased by $5.1 million, up 38% from last fiscal year.  Budget for VTA's contribution to Caltrain is increased by $14.6 million (up 3.6% from last fiscal year) to handle increased ridership and increasing fuel costs.  [Editor's Note: Ron Gonzales "kicked back" while various budget increases for Fiscal Year 2001-2002 were mentioned.]
  
  
• Things get interesting while item 26 (report about VTA's Energy Convervation Status) occurs.  VTA wants to use solar energy on as many buildings possible to save energy.  The roofs on all VTA-owned buildings total 440,000 square feet.  All roofing must be examined for conditioning for solar panel installation, and to calculate rebates.  Over 17,500 megawatts are curently needed to power all VTA-owned buildings.  With solar energy, VTA can save $1 million per year on peak-usage energy alone.  This would amount to 1/3 of what VTA pays for energy.  [Editor's Note: Ron Gonzales looks extremely bored at this point.  He looks like he is reading a pamphlet about astronomy with a Mars photo on the back.  Perhaps he got the pamphlet from Mount Hamilton Observatory?  The way he recently broke the public trust of residents in the Santa Teresa section of San Jose with his reversal of stance regarding the proposed Metcalf Energy Center in Coyote Valley, he may be making more trips to Mount Hamilton to isolate himself from all the citizens he has angered during his term in office.]  
  
  It is mentioned that the usage of a "Cool Roof" (using more energy-efficient roofing material) would cut cooling power in VTA buildings by 20%.  The five-year payback period in savings is the same as a standard roof, only with a higher savings.  With VTA facilities at River Oaks/Guadalupe, North Yard, and Chaboya Yard due for roof renovation, a "Cool Roof" will likely be what the facilities' roofs will be renovated with.  
  
  VTA wants to build its own 49.9 megawatt plant, to be fired up only during peak hours.  The plant would require 1/2 acre of land, as well as natural gas and electrical grid access.  Land use would also be a factor in where it is constructed and how it will be constructed.  [Editor's Note: Gonzales leaves at this point - possibly out of boredom?]  Dennis Kennedy, the head of the Transit Planning and Operations Committee, gave the report.
  
  
• Item 25 (the Transit Shelter Advertising Program Update) is given by Peter Cipolla.  Palo Alto and Los Gatos did not want ads at their bus stops when first offered.  [Editor's Note: Gonzales returns.]  100 new shelters are coming.  564 bus shelters are now part of this program.  In East San Jose, bus shelters are cleaned four times a week; while in downtown San Jose, bus shelters are cleaned on a daily basis.  (The increased frequency in bus shelter cleaning in East San Jose started 2 weeks ago.)  Solar panels may soon be placed on the roofs of LRT shelters.  One bus stop along Monterrey Highway in San Jose (unmentioned as to which cross street) has solar panels mounted on its roof.  
  
  
• Item 27 (redirect nearly $1.7 million in federal Surface Transportation Program (STP) funding from Sunnyvale's El Camino/Wolf intersection widening program to Central Expressway's HOV Lane project passes.  According to Michael Evanhoe (VTA highway administrator) the City of Sunnyvale rejected the project and the money needs to be committed by September 30.  [Editor's Note: I noticed that Gonzales and Valerio were laughing.]  Evanhoe tells us that these are "exempted funds" because Sunnyvale used a similar amount of funding to complete a long-overdue 1984 Measure A project (which was not mentioned).  
  
  
• Item 28 (where VTA Board members express their concerns) is interesting.  VTA Board member Sandy Eakins (also the mayor of Palo Alto) wants staff to look into traffic impact at a shopping center on Ravenswood/101 on the border between Palo Alto and East Palo Alto.  An IKEA store is coming to the shopping center in the area, which she feels will affect traffic adversely.  
  
  
• From the various regional transit reports (Caltrain, ACE, Capitol Corridor, South Bay, Vasona LRT, etc.) we learn that San Francisco supervisor Sophie Maxwell replaces a departing San Francisco representative on the Caltrain Joint Powers Board.  We also learn that Bret Ives is the Chairman of the ACE Board of Directors, and that VTA Board member Sandy Eakins (the mayor of Palo Alto) is now the ACE Board of Directors Vice Chair.  The next ACE meeting will be on June 18 in Livermore.  This board meeting will feature the proposed ACE fare increase.
  
  
• VTA Board Chair Manuel Valerio reminds us that the next meeting of the VTA Board of Directors will be a special one - June 21 at noon at the San Jose City Hall's City Council Chambers.  He also mentioned the celebration of the grand opening of the Tasman East LRT extension.  Peter Cipolla, the General Manager, also mentioned the recent grand opening of the West Valley College Transit Center as well as the opening of the Gilroy Transit Center.  He mentioned that VTA will host the 2002 APTA heavy rail conference and the 2004 International Light Rail conference.
  
  
• Meeting adjourns at 7:30pm.

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