City avoids strong stance on BART tax City avoids strong stance on BART tax (March 25, 2005)

Council cautious in questioning VTA financial forecast

By Jon Wiener

Mountain View became the second North County city Tuesday night to formally criticize a plan to secure a new 0.5 percent sales-tax increase to pay for a BART extension to San Jose.

But council members were reluctant to go as far as the Palo Alto council did the night before in opposing the proposed tax. Without taking a firm stance on the tax itself, Mountain View leaders voted unanimously to oppose the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) expenditure plan that relies on it.

Though only Mike Kasperzak has come out in favor of putting a new countywide tax measure on the ballot, his colleagues said they were not ready to take a position.

Matt Pear, a BART opponent, cautioned against using overly harsh language.

"Whatever we do needs to be done in a politically correct way," Pear said. His main concerns are that VTA helps fund a grade-separated railroad crossing at Rengstorff Avenue and a parking deck at the downtown transit center.

Council members repeated their concerns about the legitimacy of VTA's projections of cost and ridership on the proposed BART line, as well as revenue from the sales tax. A growing chorus of North County officials has warned that if any of these numbers are inaccurate, the San Jose-controlled agency could wind up gutting bus and light rail service as well as other projects throughout the county.

"The original Measure A called for 350 more buses, when in fact VTA is pulling buses," said Council member Laura Macias, referring to the so-called 'BART tax' county voters passed in 2000. Macias said she supported the measure despite her early opposition to BART.

Mayor Matt Neely will send a letter to the agency, which is collecting public input from every city in the county. The VTA board will meet on April 22 to discuss whether to press forward with the BART project.

E-mail Jon Wiener at jwiener@mv-voice.com

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