I was rechecking an article I posted to make sure I had save it correctly and guess who I found you old buddy Brian Peoples.

[www.marinij.com]

You don't need to read the whole thing as they are a lot of repeats.

Jim Elias is the executive director of the Marin County Bicycle

Coalition.

Brian Peoples
TRAILNOW.ORG is fighting the same battle in Santa Cruz County.

TrainPeople have an ideology that ends up costing the community

millions.

Roger Snelling Brian Peoples
No. Trail Now is a group of developers trying to privatize public
property for personal profit. Nobody supports them, they are
obstructionists and they are going to make things more expensive. They
need to let it go and move on.

Brian Peoples Roger Snelling
Roger Snelling - it is difficult for people to trust commenters. What

you state is not true. Therefore, I would suggest people go to the

TRAILNOW.ORG website and upcoming neighborhood meetings. Here are the

meetings:

Tuesday, November 17, 2015 at 7 pm
Best Western Seacliff
7500 Old Dominican Court, Aptos

Tuesday, December 1, 2015 at 7 pm
Garfield Park Community Church (Circle Church)
111 Errett Circle, Santa Cruz

Wednesday, December 2, 2015 at 7 pm
Inn at Pasatiempo
555 Highway 17, Santa Cruz

Thursday, December 10, 2015 at 7 pm*
Simpkins Community Center
979 17th Avenue, Santa Cruz

Thursday, December 17, 2015 at 7 pm
Capitola Community Center
4400 Jade Street, Capitola

Marin Voter
Face it, you were lied to by the promoters of the Gravy Train.

SMARTIsntEvil
Just be glad that the SMART group has deigned to tell you lies about

something it promised. I have yet to hear any promises and certainly

no lies about the plans for a wine train service to run out of

Larkspur east to Napa through the beautiful Carneros region or else

north to Healdsburg to create tourist Mecca in that area. Not a word,

not a promise, not a lie. I am waiting...I don't mind being

disappointed I just want to see the ball rolling on this issue.

Marin Voter SMARTIsntEvil
What about connecting up with the Trans Siberian Express? Think of the

ridership! Russians could shop at the Village and take a cab to the

nearby Smart stop and go home. We'll let you wear your Lionel

engineers hat and blow the horn on the first train. Good Job!

Richard Hall SMARTIsntEvil • 4 months ago
Are you the guy who suggested the wine train at a 2014 SMART board

meeting? (I just watched some of those cheerleading sessions).

Are you saying they should lay on a wine train, at taxpayers expense,

so that:

- this will help the train break even (if so, then lets see the

numbers / contribution)

- taxpayers should be subsidizing tourists to visit Sonoma county to

go drinking and have a good time (when we have unfunded acute traffic

congestion in Greenbrae, Novato Narrows, SFD... but hey your wine

train plans trump that?)

...or is this a personal whim - like "one day I'd like to be an

astronaut", "it would be nice to take an airship ride across the

Atlantic ocean", "I would love it if taxpayers would fund additional

weekend trains (and shuttles to wineries) that could take me to Sonoma

so I can get inebriated and take the train home. I might use it as

much as twice a year"?

RegulatorJohnson
Karma. The lies and delusions just keep multiplying. Still, it's a

shame, the path would be a real and lasting asset for Marin and

Sonoma. Actually better than SMART itself.

Eleanor Sluis
Smart Train funding:

My concern and question is about the funding for the train using tax

payer’s property and income taxes to match the hundreds of millions

spent on the train in addition to the ¼ cent tax voted for as Measure

Q in 2008. In other words is the public aware that the all the funds

come from taxpayers and is not free from the county, state, and

federal government matching funds?

For example: $ 28 million tax dollars were spent on the train tunnel

in Larkspur, to the best of my knowledge, of which $ 14 million tax

dollars from residents’ property taxes have been spent to match the

other half or $ 14 million dollars of the ¼ cent SMART train measure Q

funds for the tunnel.

Matching federal, state, and county funds implies that all county

residents including City of Novato residents are paying more for the

train tunnel than originally thought- as many are not aware of having

their property and income taxes spent for matching local county,

state, and federal funding grants using taxpayers’ middle and low

income tax dollars until 2029 when the tax is voided.

[en.wikipedia.org]...
[ballotpedia.org]-...
[www.marincounty.org]...

In the background findings last paragraph of the pdf file:
“...SMART requires this measure in order to provide matching
revenues to existing state and federal transportation
grants, to bond for the construction of the project, and to
provide funding for the on-going operation and maintenance
of the project...” Thanks for the article. Eleanor Sluis

Brian Peoples Eleanor Sluis
Eleanor Sluis - it is bummer that Marin County is going through this

costly experience. If it helps you feel better, the results is great

education for our Santa
Cruz County leaders – and helping us KILL THE TRAIN.

Roger Eleanor Sluis
Eleanor: In Novato are we now not going to get SMART's promised path

along the tracks from the San Marin station south? It is important to

get that path under the San Marin overpass. Otherwise, train users

from the town area that want to walk or bike to the station will have

to hassle with the hill to San Marin and then the safety of crossing

that busy intersection of Redwood and San Marin. Novato citizens

pushed hard for that path, and a broken SMART promise there will upset

many citizens.

Jimmy Fishbob Geraghty
Maybe Assemblyman Marc Levine can propose legislation to hasten the

opening of the Multi Use Path (MUP) along SMART...

John Parnell Jimmy Fishbob Geraghty • 4 months ago
More importantly, Assemblyman Levine should be proposing legislation

to make the SMART board directly-electable, just like he recently did

with MTC. In fact, he made the promise in his campaign to do it to

SMART, not MTC. He should keep that campaign promise, and then maybe

we will get the path.

Toni Huffines Jimmy Fishbob Geraghty
Is there any issue where you don't defend government?

Jimmy Fishbob Geraghty Toni Huffines
You think that is defending government... bashing and mocking Levine.

You need to get a life girl.

Novato Joe
What a shock. A government managed project going way way over budget.

The Contractor is laughing all the way to the bank. I am sure that we

will soon be looking at Measure STT (Save The Train). But it will all

be worth it for those 2 or 3 people who live in Santa Rosa, work in

San Rafael and do not need a car at work. How are people supposed to

get from the train station to work? Taxi? I am pretty certain that

this concept can only be successful if the drop-off point is near a

downtown area where thousands of people work in high rises like the

Financial District.

arthouser
Marin Bike Coalition to County:
"Why don't you ever call me?"

Richard Hall
I support the Marin County Bike Coalition and Jim Elias on this issue.

A bike path was promised to be funded as part of Measure Q. Put

simply, yet again, what was promised is not being delivered.

Not only that - this pathway is a matter of rider safety. My kids

cycle daily to school, we have them walk the segments that are not

bike paths due to the danger of the proximity of traffic. We need to

build bike paths like this, that were promised - if not for ourselves,

for the safety of our children.

I've signed the petition and encourage others to do the same:
[www.surveymonkey.com]...

SMARTIsntEvil Richard Hall
Richard we have been involved in acrimonious, pasimonious bitter

arguments in the past over the wine train excrusion service plans.

Many unpleasant and nasty words have been exchanged from you to me.

But about this issue I must agree with you. The bike path will provide

safe routes to school for our children, as well as ourselves and

actually take cars off our overcrowded freeways.

John Parulis Richard Hall
I urge those of you inclined to sign this petition to examine the EIR

and bike path routes once again. A significant portion of pathway cuts

right through one of California's prime clapper rail breeding areas at

Gallinas Creek. The clapper rail is on the endangered species list.

There are only about 2000 left in this world. This is a good time to

re-examine the pathway's impacts and consider filing a supplemental

EIR based on changing conditions.

John Parnell • 4 months ago
I'm so sorry this has happened. I really wanted the path built more

than the train (like most of us). When we did our petition to repeal

SMART, we first tried to do it so as to keep the path and only stop

the train. We couldn't legally do it though, as SMART could have had

our petition thrown out in court. Val Brown agreed. We had to go after

the tax and repeal the whole thing. It was the only way.

I really don't enjoy saying "I told you so", but the writing has been

on the wall for years. I remember telling Deb about 3 or 4 years ago

to look at the numbers, because there was no way SMART was going to

build it. They couldn't. She didn't believe me. How could she, after

working so hard to get it passed?

Now that SMART has been getting its board members to pay for parts of

the path in their towns, SMART will take the credit for it. Meanwhile,

they aren't going to build a damn foot of it themselves.

You put so much work into it. SMART wouldn't have passed without you

guys. I'm truly sorry that they suckered you like the rest of us. They

are dishonoring all the work done for them by Deb, Andy & the entire

MCBC.

I hope you will think twice before supporting them the next time they

come back to increase/extend the tax. Maybe we will be standing

together next time.

Also, now that you've seen SMART's true colors, I hope you will stop

advocating for the SMART T.O.D. policy. That has tarnished the Bike

Coalition's reputation. Marin doesn't need or want this high-density

housing, and it wouldn't increase bike path funding or usage like you

think. It will only ruin Marin.

scojo
I want my money back.

John Parulis
Surprise surprise Jim Elias. You too have been lied to by SMART. No

big surprise. Members of your organization not only actively supported

the train, but some allegedly took to ripping down No on Q posters

spread around the county. You were duped just like thousands of voters

were. This wasn't pushed by Marin btw, but by a large enough margin of

Sonoma voters. Had the special Marin Sonoma tax district not been set

up, there would still be money in the kitty for more effective bus

transportation, less a threat from freeway TOD vulture developers and

safety for endangered species living near sections of the track. Your

bad karma just came and bit you in the rear tire.