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A Violation of Public Trust: Sunnyvale's City Council Approves a Parking Garage Next To its Caltrain Station - Using Your 1996 Measure A/B Tax Dollars That Must Be Used For Transit Improvements!

[Editor's Note: The following is a report from Margaret Okuzumi, Executive Director of Peninsula Rail 2000, an advocacy group for Caltrain riders. -editor]

Sadly, automobile culture beat out mass transit riders, pedestrians, and cyclist comfort and safety 5-2 at Sunnyvale's City Council meeting on Tuesday, April 12, 2001.

Thanks to all who sent emails and faxes to the Sunnyvale City Council. Although we did not have as many people speaking out in person as last time when the design was first approved last year, some councilmembers reported receiving an unusually large amount of emailed correspondence on this item. Unfortunately, the short time we had to organize hurt us.

Sunnyvale City Councilmembers Julia Miller and Tim Risch voted against the garage project, and deserve our thanks.

Sunnyvale City Councilmembers Manuel Valerio (who is also chair of the Santa Clara County Valley Transportation Authority and is a member of Caltrain's Joint Powers Board), Jack Walker (mayor of Sunnyvale), Fred Fowler (vice-mayor of Sunnyvale, who is up for re-election), Jim Roberts, and Pat Vorreiter voted to move the project forward, ignoring the safety risks and diminished functionality that the design imposes.

What Happened?

Early in the discussion of the agenda item, various safety issues for pedestrians and bicyclists was discussed. This was quickly forgotten as the discussion honed in on money. The parking garage design is illustrated below:

1. Mass confusion and gridlock in the parking lot will create a 7-way traffic circulation pattern. Dangerous for motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists.
2. Transit 1oop doesn’t accommodate buses or taxis, only shuttle vans. Thirteen million dollars later, inconvenient connections for bus riders will continue, and the taxi queuing problem currently at the station will get worse
3. Four-story parking garage instead of station services or amenities. Net gain of only 217 parking spaces = $45,000 per new rider. For that kind of money Sunnyvale could give away 9000 electric bikes to commuters, or fund bus service throughout Sunnyvale midday, and on nights and weekends.
4. Bus stop improvements on Frances Street have been eliminated due to cost overruns on the parking garage!

Pat Vorreiter said, "Sunnyvale is only paying $6,000 per new downtown parking space" (the rest coming from other transit monies--Tim Risch calculated that the total cost to taxpayers was more like $60,000 per parking space!) Other councilmembers showed a terrible lack of understanding of pedestrian-friendly design.

The Scandal Gets Worse

The council refused to seriously consider alternatives to the design to make it safer and provide just as much Caltrain station parking. Adding insult to injury:

• The last-minute revelation that all of the bus stop improvement monies had been transferred to garage cost overruns
• Council discussion revealed that other sites could accommodate the parking
• Adding spaces to the huge Mozart office underground parking across the street would have cost less per space and allowed for a safer design
• The council refused to entertain the possibility of implementing a parking "cash-out" program at Mozart to meet parking demand without building more spaces
• It was confirmed that the new design has even poorer accommodations for taxis than the current design
• The garage/station project eats up more than 10% of the 1996 Measure B monies allocated for all Caltrain projects. Many other projects needed to improve safety and access to stations have been placed at the bottom of the list.

What Next?

The Santa Clara County 1996 Measure B Citizens' Watchdog Committee is likely to investigate the matter as an abuse of the public trust, since 1996 Measure B monies which had been allocated to bus stop improvements are now being diverted. The chances of the matter being investigated are improved if members of the public attend the next committee meeting to voice concerns:

The Measure B Citizens' Watchdog Committee
Tuesday, August 14, 2001
County Government Center
West Wing, 11th Floor
70 West Hedding St., San Jose
(1/2 block from Civic Center LRT)

[Editor's Note: the agenda for this meeting will be posted as soon as we receive it from Margaret.]

Can't Make the Meeting? Contact the County Supervisors!!!

Short of a lawsuit, the best chance we have to get Sunnyvale to stop or alter the project is to get the Santa Clara County Supervisors to revoke the extra $3 million they allocated to the project at a June 8 Joint Workshop with the Valley Transportation Authority's Board of Directors.

Voice your protest to Jim Beall, Pete McHugh, Don Gage, and Liz Kniss who approved another $3 million in county Caltrain/1996 Measure B funds for the project, as well as Blanca Alvarado, who was absent from the joint workshop on June 8. Tell them that you believe the public trust is being abused, especially thanks to these new revelations (see "The Scandal Gets Worse" above), and that the extra $3 million should be revoked.

Email addresses and phone numbers for the County Board of Supervisors are as follows:

• Pete McHugh (pete.mchugh@bos.co.santa-clara.ca.us) covers North San Jose, Milpitas, and Sunnyvale. (408)293-2443 by phone, (408)293-6637 by fax.
• Don Gage (don.gage@bos.co.santa-clara.ca.us) covers South San Jose, Morgan Hill, Gilroy, Los Gatos, and Monte Sereno. (408)299-3273 by phone, (408)298-8460 by fax
• Blanca Alvarado (blanca.alvarado@bos.co.santa-clara.ca.us) serves central San Jose. (408)299-2040 by phone, (408)295-8642 by fax.
• Jim Beall (jim.beall@bos.co.santa-clara.ca.us) serves Santa Clara, west San Jose, and Campbell. (408)299-3924 by phone, (408)299-2038 by fax.
• Liz Kniss (liz.kniss@bos.co.santa-clara.ca.us) serves Cupertino, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Stanford University, and eastern Sunnyvale. (408)299-3540 by phone, (408)280-0418 by fax.

If you are still not sure who represents you in Santa Clara County, please call the Board of Supervisors' general number at (408)299-2323.

[Editor's Note: the VTA Riders Union is working in conjunction with Peninsula Rail 2000 to identify other options to ensure that this misuse of your 1996 Measure B transit tax dollars is ceased.]

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