December 8 (Thursday) at 8:30am the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) will have its last Board of Directors meeting for 2011. Here’s a roster of who sat on the VTA Board of Directors in 2011.
The meeting will be held at the County Supervisors’ Chambers at the County Government Center at 70 West Hedding Street in San Jose. The Government Center is 1 block north of Civic Center light rail station. Also, VTA’s 61, 62, 66, and 181 express bus lines stop nearby at the Civic Center light rail station on N. First Street. Also, there’s a VTA bus stop for the 61 or the 62 bus line service to Sierra & Piedmont in eastern San Jose, only 50 yards from the Government Center’s main front entrance.
More on the last VTA Board Meeting of 2011 after the jump…
Amongst the key issues the VTA Board will vote on at this early morning meeting:
- Appointing a new VTA Board Chair and Vice Chair for 2012
- A request for $900 million from the Federal Transportation Administration (FTA) for starting construction of the BART extension to Berryessa – including enabling the 1/8-cent sales tax voters approved in 2008, starting in July 2012.
- A $772 million contract for construction of BART to Berryessa to a joint partnership firm.
This will focus on two of the issues mentioned above.
Who Will Chair the VTA Board in 2012?
Historically, the VTA Board Chair selected was the Vice Chair the previous year. While current Board Chair Margaret Abe-Koga of Mountain View mentioned wanting something different at the November meeting, it may turn out the be the same old, same old. The two applicants for 2012 VTA Board Chair are County Supervisor Ken Yeager and Los Gatos Mayor Joe Pirzynski.
In addition to his experience on VTA Policy Advisory Boards in 2011, Ken Yeager also served on the VTA Board of Directors in 2011. Also, Joe Pirzynski served as VTA Board Chair in 2005.
VTA Now Wants $900 Million From the Feds For BART
Later at Thursday’s Board Meeting, the VTA Board will vote whether or not to request the FTA for $900 to start construction of the BART extension to the Berryessa area of San Jose.
I wrote the VTA Board and General Manager Michael Burns last week with questions regarding the $900 million request to the Federal Government and the VTA’s “design-build” strategy for BART to Berryessa. My first question involved VTA now requesting $900 million from the Federal government for building BART to Berryessa – a $50 million increase from the $850 million funding request from 2009. ($850 million figure from page 13 of VTA’s 2009 BART public meeting in Milpitas.) This is also a 20% increase from the $750 million basement figure cited in VTA’s successful 2008 Measure A 1/8-cent sales tax effort. This is Michael Burns’ response to that question:
The amount of our request reflects a 61 percent local/state share and 39 percent federal share, which led the FTA to assign the project a medium-high New Starts Funding Share rating and an overall medium New Starts rating. Both the rating and the ratio of local and state to federal funding are significant factors considered in the funding of New Starts projects. To the extent we are able to increase our federal share of funding, more local funding can be used to deliver Phase II, Berryessa to Santa Clara.
As for my concerns about the “design-build” strategy VTA is undertaking for constructing BART to Berryessa, this is what Burns had to say:
The Design-Build methodology also reduces the likelihood of construction claims and change orders that normally result from problems with the final plans and specifications produced by the owner. Because the final plans and specifications are produced by the design builder, the responsibility for the completeness and accuracy of final designs remains with the Design Builder and not with VTA. Therefore, the Design-Build methodology typically results in fewer claims and change orders than would normally be encountered when using traditional Design-Bid-Build approach.
Read the rest of VTA General Manager Burns’ response to my questions in our Documents area.
Speaking as myself, I think the real reason for the Federal funding request increase by VTA between 2009 and now: they are (already) accounting for potential cost overruns with extending BART to Berryessa. Something you won’t hear from VTA, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, or the Silicon Valley Leadership Group: every BART project ever built (so far) has ended up nearly double its original costs.
Clearly this is something that will be closely monitored. To help out in this task is a revised “Silicon Valley BART” area of our web site. All viewpoints and news on the project will go in to this area. Enjoy.
Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Transit Users