Two big-money Santa Clara County tax measures intended to address the county’s transportation and housing needs have been approved by voters. Both required a two-thirds vote to win.
Measure A, the $950 million affordable housing bond measure, received 67.3 percent approval with all 1,063 precincts reporting as of Wednesday morning.
Measure A will provide funding to acquire or improve an estimated 5,000 affordable-housing units and give assistance to 1,000 first-time home buyers, according to the county. During the campaign, proponents called it groundbreaking for its inclusion of low- and moderate-income individuals and families who might not qualify for aid under other housing programs. Up to $150 million of the total funding may be used to provide housing for moderate-income families and individuals, with not more than $50 million for first-time home buyers.
Transportation tax Measure B won by a larger margin. It has garnered 71.2 percent of the vote as of Wednesday afternoon with all precincts reporting. It will impose a half-cent sales tax to fund an estimated $6.5 billion in transit upgrades through the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), which will administer the monies countywide. About $1.5 billion would be dedicated to a BART extension to San Jose; about $900 million would be spent by Caltrain for the “grade separation” of roads from the railway; $1.2 billion would go to expressway, bicycle and pedestrian improvements and local street upgrades.
The Mountain View City Council supported the tax measure despite early concerns that funding might favor the southern end of the county, which has usually received the lion’s share of transportation bond funds, most notably for BART. But this time around the North County is expected to receive a chunk of the funding through the “local streets and roads” portion by which local cities use the money for their own transportation needs.
The city would also benefit from the Caltrain grade separations, a long-wished-for project that would improve safety.
Carl Guardino, CEO of Silicon Valley Leadership Group, which helped spearhead the measure, was pleased with the results.
“A win of this magnitude truly reflects the vision of voters in Silicon Valley that we don’t whine about our traffic problems as much as we find winning solutions to tackle those problems,” he said.
Support for both county-wide measures was slightly higher in Mountain View than the county average, with 12,550 out of 17,829 city residents voting in favor of Measure A (70.3 percent) as of Wednesday morning. Castro City residents voted heavily in favor of Measure A, with 546 residents voting in favor of the measure and 147 voting against (78.8 percent). Other areas where voters were big supporters of the affordable housing bond include Shoreline West (78 percent), Santiago Villa residents (76.8 percent) and residents on the northeastern side of Old Mountain View (75.8 percent).
The weakest support came primarily from residents in the southern end of Mountain View. Among precincts in the Waverly Park neighborhood, 743 residents voted in favor of Measure A while 505 opposed the measure, adding up to just under 60 percent approval. Blossom Valley residents showed similar tepid support for the measure, with 576 voting in favor and 364 voting against the measure (61.3 percent).
Mirroring the results of Measure A, residents in Mountain View also showed stronger support for Measure B than the rest of the county. The vote count as of noon Wednesday shows that 13,399 out of 18,150 voters in Mountain View supported the sales tax, adding up to 73.8 percent of the vote.
Shoreline West residents again showed the strongest support for the county-wide measure. Precincts in the neighborhood show that 681 residents voted “Yes” on the Measure B, compared to 143 who opposed the measure (82.6 percent). Other major supporters include voters in Castro City (81.9 percent), Slater (77 percent), The Crossings (75.9 percent) and Old Mountain View residents abutting Central Expressway and Highway 85 (76.4 percent).
Like Measure A, Waverly Park residents showed the least support for the VTA tax, voting 784 to 441 on Measure B (64 percent). Other neighborhoods least in support of Measure B include Cuesta Park (68.3 percent) and Rex Manor (69.6 percent).
Email Kevin Forestieri at kforestieri@mv-voice.com and Sue Dremann at sdremann@mv-voice.com
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