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SMART train tax heads to ballot
Author: DAVID L
Date: 07-16-2008 - 19:38
SMART train tax heads to ballot MARIN IJ TO NIGHT
By Mark Prado
Article Launched: 07/16/2008 05:19:32 PM PDT
Voters in Marin and Sonoma will get another crack this November at voting on a tax to fund a commuter train.
On Wednesday, the Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit district voted 10 to 1 to put a quarter-cent sales tax on the Nov. 4 ballot to fund the $1.6 billion project over 20 years.
The tax will need two-thirds approval to pass.
"Lets get on with it," said Hamilton resident Marla Fields, who spoke before the vote. "People need choices."
The proposal calls for a 70-mile rail line from Cloverdale to Larkspur, with 14 stops along the way, in addition to the construction of an adjacent bike path.
In addition to 14 round trips during commute hours during the week, SMART could have four trips on Saturdays and Sundays. There would be one trip in the morning, two in the midday and one in late afternoon.
If approved by voters in November, it would be six years before the train would be operational, SMART officials said. That bothered former Tiburon council member Karen Nygren.
"The people would be paying 20 years of taxes, but get only 14 years service," she said. "That doesn't seem right."
This is the second time residents will vote on the proposal. In 2006, the rail tax needed a 66.6 percent vote to pass, but it fell short with 65 percent. Sonoma voters gave 69 percent approval, Marin voters 57 percent.
Marin County Supervisor Hal Brown was the only member of the SMART board to vote against putting it on the ballot, saying it was too expensive for what it
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would provide and could cause traffic jams along its route, in particular in San Rafael.
But SMART board member and San Rafael Mayor Al Boro said it will be effective. He and others said rail would help ease traffic along Highway 101 during the morning commute, which last year ranked as the third-worst bottleneck in the Bay Area, according to a study by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the California Department of Transportation.
"It will work, it will do the job," he said. "We are all trying to reduce our carbon footprint and reduce global warming. This will help."
Since rail disappeared from Marin in the mid-20th century, it has had a tough time coming back. Marin voters have rejected rail measures in 1990, 1998 and then 2006.
And the price tag to build a Marin-to-Sonoma commuter train is now $200 million more than when voters rejected it in 2006. Higher construction costs, including materials and labor, have resulted in the higher price.
By Mark Prado
Article Launched: 07/16/2008 05:19:32 PM PDT
Voters in Marin and Sonoma will get another crack this November at voting on a tax to fund a commuter train.
On Wednesday, the Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit district voted 10 to 1 to put a quarter-cent sales tax on the Nov. 4 ballot to fund the $1.6 billion project over 20 years.
The tax will need two-thirds approval to pass.
"Lets get on with it," said Hamilton resident Marla Fields, who spoke before the vote. "People need choices."
The proposal calls for a 70-mile rail line from Cloverdale to Larkspur, with 14 stops along the way, in addition to the construction of an adjacent bike path.
In addition to 14 round trips during commute hours during the week, SMART could have four trips on Saturdays and Sundays. There would be one trip in the morning, two in the midday and one in late afternoon.
If approved by voters in November, it would be six years before the train would be operational, SMART officials said. That bothered former Tiburon council member Karen Nygren.
"The people would be paying 20 years of taxes, but get only 14 years service," she said. "That doesn't seem right."
This is the second time residents will vote on the proposal. In 2006, the rail tax needed a 66.6 percent vote to pass, but it fell short with 65 percent. Sonoma voters gave 69 percent approval, Marin voters 57 percent.
Marin County Supervisor Hal Brown was the only member of the SMART board to vote against putting it on the ballot, saying it was too expensive for what it
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Advertisement
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
would provide and could cause traffic jams along its route, in particular in San Rafael.
But SMART board member and San Rafael Mayor Al Boro said it will be effective. He and others said rail would help ease traffic along Highway 101 during the morning commute, which last year ranked as the third-worst bottleneck in the Bay Area, according to a study by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the California Department of Transportation.
"It will work, it will do the job," he said. "We are all trying to reduce our carbon footprint and reduce global warming. This will help."
Since rail disappeared from Marin in the mid-20th century, it has had a tough time coming back. Marin voters have rejected rail measures in 1990, 1998 and then 2006.
And the price tag to build a Marin-to-Sonoma commuter train is now $200 million more than when voters rejected it in 2006. Higher construction costs, including materials and labor, have resulted in the higher price.
SMART train tax heads to ballot