When I worked for Ron Gonzales I had to defend him frequently from critics who said I could not prove he had “the vision thing.” I would invariably win the bet with a four-letter word: BART. This is why I own Tom McEnery’s hockey stick collection.
Many Gonzales critics could effectively argue - and they frequently did—that he lacked charisma or leadership. But no one could argue that, as the first politician to champion BART to Silicon Valley, he was afraid to reach for the stars. Afterall, once upon a time, getting BART here was an unachievable goal.
The BART project is big, bold and says a lot about our aspirations as a community. If we truly want to be a major metropolitan area—not simply the self-proclaimed Capital of Silicon Valley—we have to think big and bring BART to downtown San Jose, then Santa Clara. If we don’t, then we should just admit that we are comfortable being Fresno with better weather.
To terminate in Milpitas, as some suggest, would doom the BART project to transit purgatory. If you stop short, you can’t win a campaign later to extend BART for a few additional miles—especially if we violate the voters trust by so visibly shortchanging Measure A’s most popular project. Will the voters trust the decisions of leaders who choose to prioritize less popular, less effective options?
Visionary leaders will work to give our commuters the full complement of transit options that includes bus, light rail, CalTrain, and BART. It’s the only real hope we have to get people out of their cars.
BART is the fastest and biggest transit system in the Bay Area. It carries approximately 317,000 riders daily. Imagine Bay Area traffic without BART. Or worse—imagine explaining to future generations why we decided the biggest city in the Bay Area should not connect to BART. They would wonder about our vision thing.
NOTE: Jude Barry co-directed the 2000 Measure A campaign and has advised BART on transportation financing.
Hockey? What’s hockey?
Vision? What vision?
Has Gonzales had a good idea since BART?
Excellent articulation of the need for BART.
All of us agree with the goal. I would like to see Bart all the way to the SJ Airport. I would like to see it circle the bay, utilizing the Cal Train right of way.
The problem is cost. Measure A funds are not enough to get the job done. Now, some are calling for a new tax. Our sales tax is already higher than most other parts of California.
We need to think out of the box. Simply shutting down all other forms of public transportation while we build BART doesn’t seem like a viable alternative, either.
There are other ways of cutting budgets, generating revenue and achieving our goal.
Has anybody looked into privatizing the BART stations, allowing retail, commercial and housing developers to build them to help fund the project, instead of taxpayers? Any chance we could eliminate the myriad of wasteful transportation agencies that currently exist and combine our transportation systems.
Before we ask for another tax or cut services to poor people, don’t we need to show the public we have looked at some alternative solutions to the problem?
We have the best and brightest minds in the world, surely we can think of other ways to provide additional revenue without completely gutting the rest of the transportation system or over-burdening the taxpayer.
Ron’s vision, with your help, created a dream that must move forward. But let’s do it with the same creative spirit that built this valley.
We can’t rely soley on traditional goverment entities like the MTC, VTA, the bankrupt State Government and the fiscally irresponsible Federal Government—all of which come from the same deep pocket—the taxpayer.
Let’s be creative and utilize private resources, new technilogical innovations, and our brightest minds to achieve your vision.
It seems like a worthy endeavor.
Jude, the vision for BART and the ballot measure was your baby. Ron has not had an original idea since you left City Hall.
Yeah, it’s a real “vision” to come up with a project that most people agree in concept is a good idea. The vision stops, though, when you push a project that does not have sufficient funding and continue to push it regardless of thefainancial shortfall.
You really can’t put Gonzales and vision in the same sentence without giggling. Any of us could try to jam through something with vague promises and then telling people we need more money to pay for it. It would be a great way to run a househould wouldn’t it. Promise the kids the moon, even get them to agree to pay for part of it, then when they get in so deep they can’t get out, tell them they have to pay more if they really want to see the moon.
In fact, why stop BART in downtown, why not keep going to the moon. It has about as much chance as happening.
OhYeah is right. You should return the hockey sticks to McHenry.
Privitization of the Bart stations is key in bringing the train to downtown. Let buisness step in where the burecracy of the government has failed.
Who’s vision was it to stop BART in downtown San Jose, short of the airport? Some downtown “visionary”? That’s where the voters got short-changed, not with the concept of building BART in stages from Milpitas.
Let’s see, SJ has a population of over 900,000 and this web site receives 6-8 comments a day. I think the founders of this blog have failed to locate the vein of discontent that runs through this city (becasue, there isn’t one).
And, by all means, bring BART to San Jose and then Santa Clara.
Dear The Truth,
You continue to dip into that Kool “Aide”.
The 900,000 are too busy working to pay taxes to City Hall and other levels of government. Most typical residents rely on term limits to clean out the system. Ron’s termed out in 22 months, three weeks and two days.
BART should circle the Bay. It should connect to light rail at key points in the South Bay, hit the SJ airport, and run up the middle of El Camino Real on elevated tracks with elevated stations all the way to Daly City. The project would reinvent our urban environment and the resulting tax increment on new development and redevelopment in areas adjacent to the route of the completed project would generate income to help pay for it. What’s a few billion here and there for an asset that’ll pay dividends forever?
Nobody is saying that BART should end in Milpitas or East San Jose. Certainly not the Board of Supervisors who are totally supportive of BART to downtown and Santa Clara. However, resources have declined, along with ridership numbers, and the Federal Transit Administration has said they will not fund the BART plan as currently proposed and would like to see it segmented. The Board of Supervisors asked VTA to study how the full BART project could be built in segments but were turned down by the VTA Board. What’s the risk in looking at how this project can realistically be funded in phases without piling huge new taxes on the public?