Grassroots Effort To Save Caltrain Rolls Forward
Friends of Caltrain aims to save the transit agency by finding new sources of funding.
With catastrophic service reductions looming on Caltrain's horizon, a concerned group of residents and civic leaders, including former Palo Alto Mayor Yoriko Kishimito, has formed a grassroots group to try save the beleagured transit agency.
In their first public meeting Tuesday night, members of Friends of Caltrain introduced themselves to the public and offered informational speeches from various officials.
About five-dozen Bay Area residents attended the forum at the Menlo Park Library hosted by Friends of Caltrain, an organization trying to get independent funding for Caltrain, including Palo Alto Mayor Pat Burt, former Menlo Park Mayor Steve Schmidt and Caltrain director Arthur Lloyd.
The public was given a few opportunities to ask questions and pose their concerns, some of which included opposing the high-speed rail plan, opting for financial independence for Caltrain and keeping the system viable.
"As all this drama continues about high-speed rail, Caltrain is in trouble and needs every friend it can get," said Kishimoto.
The group plans to hold a summit, open to the public, Jan. 29.
"We see this as an actual kickoff to get Caltrain on the right footing," said Kishimoto.
Todd McIntyre, community relations manager for Caltrain, reviewed the $30 million deficit the organization faces for the next fiscal year.
Trains are already set to be cut in January, as well as fees increased.
Weekend and South County service suspension will be reconsidered next summer, according to Caltrain spokeswoman Christine Dunn.
Right now, Caltrain relies on discretionary funding from the three counties of San Francisco, Santa Clara and San Mateo. But Friends of Caltrain, as well as the board of directors, wants to work toward a permanent source of dedicated funding, according to Arthur Lloyd.
Kishimoto said one way to work toward the goals is to campaign for a ballot measure for the 2012 election.
Kishimoto said the group will need the support of the community for something like that to pass, but that the many people who showed up Tuesday for the forum was a good start.
Palo Alto resident Tatiana Van Houten said, "I think public transportation is great. I think it's the only way to go, and I want to keep Caltrain going."
Caltrain has definitely shown itself to be part of the community, as Lloyd and several others expressed, but it needs serious financial help.
"I think last week definitely shows how important Caltrain is to this area," Andy Chow, with Bay Rail Alliance and one of the leaders of Friends of Caltrain, said. Chow was referring to the thousands of passengers who took Caltrain to San Francisco for the World Series victory parade.
"If Caltrain doesn't exist, who knows how people will get by … unlike other transit agencies, the users of Caltrain like to get involved. So we use [forums and the summit] as opportunities," said Chow.
Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Palo Alto) is one speaker expected to appear at the Jan. 29 summit. For more information or to volunteer skills to the new organization, stay tuned at greencaltrain.com.
Irvin Dawid
10:42 am on Thursday, November 11, 2010
there were far more than 60 attendees - I counted just shy of 100, with some 'heavy hitters':
Pat Burt, Sally Lieber, Sue Lempert. However, there were folks who made it clear they did not have Caltrain's best interests in mind - by opposing electrification and grade separations.....
Steve Ly
11:06 am on Friday, November 12, 2010
This online report indicates that FoC is working on a ballot measure to put before voters in 2012 that would institute a tax to provide a steady source of revenue for Caltrain.
An a taxpayer suffering under an already too-high tax burden in Santa Clara County, let me be the first one to vote “no” on such a proposal. In Santa Clara County we already pay a 30-year half cent sales tax devoted to specified public transit capital improvement projects and operations. This tax was approved by the voters in 2000 and contained the following Caltrain-related items:
1. Improving Caltrain by double-tracking to Gilroy and electrifying from Palo Alto to Gilroy.
2. Increasing the level of Caltrain service.
3. Funding operating and maintenance costs for increased bus, rail and paratransit services.
Unfortunately, the VTA board has decided to spend all of the proceeds from this tax on the expensive BART-to-SJ extension, despite the fact that we don’t have enough cash to keep our existing transit services, such as Caltrain, running. I suggest that FoC eliminate talk of more taxes and pressure the VTA Board to fund Caltrain using the existing tax to pay for the above projects that were promised to the voters as part of the 2000 measure A.