Update on Highway One Widening
Many people are wondering why a section of Highway One is being widened even though we defeated Measure J, in 2004. Actually, we voted against raising the local sales tax to pay for widening. If you thought that meant the county's Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) wouldn't make a top priority of something that most of us said wouldn't be a successful means of addressing the county's transportation woes, think again.
In fact, the RTC has been devious in responding to Measure J. Some of the Commission members claim that the vote went so badly not because people didn't want the highway projects (which were to get effectively all the money), but because the measure nominally included monies (in reality, minimal and provisional: an asterisk in the Measure language insured that the rail trail was not actually guaranteed any funding) for the Coastal Rail Trail. This excuse continues to be circulated, despite the fact that projects like the Rail Trail were only included in the initiative because the RTC's polls showed the tax measure getting 10 percentage more votes if they did so. Of course, if the RTC really wanted to know why people voted against the measure, they could have conducted exit polls. Initially money had been allocated for polling, but the RTC pulled those funds and instead started circulating the ridiculous story that it was the rail trail that sunk Measure J. And so, rather than look at real solutions, the RTC continues on its relentless push to widen the highway, one way or another.
Currently, People Power is working with the Campaign for Sensible Transportation and other organizations to stop further highway widening projects.
One crucial event to keep in mind is the March 2008 election for Santa Cruz County Supervisor in District 1. (The First Supervisorial District includes the communities of Live Oak, Soquel, Branciforte and a wide area of the Santa Cruz Mountains from Highway 17 to Nisene Marks including the Summit. See maps for your district.) Although the people of District 1 voted against Measure J, their current Supervisor, Jan Beautz, is a vehement proponent of highway widening ("there is more than one way to widen a highway"). Be prepared to work for a better District 1 Supervisor, especially if you live in the district. Although spring of 2008 is still a ways away, it is an election that will, in many ways, determine the shape of things to come.
People Power is also working with the Transportation Funding Task Force, as well as exploring the possibility of putting something crystal clear on the November 2008 ballot. We will also likely be taking a trip to Sacramento on May 4, 2007, to protest state funding of the sneak lanes. And, finally, we are researching legal action. Of course we will be notifying all People Power members about our plans as they come to fruition.
If you have energy to be involved at the planning stages, we need you. Please contact Paul Elerick, chair of the Campaign for Sensible Transportation, at 688-2304 or elerick@cruzio.com to help us figure out how to stop this behemoth.
For a discussion of why highway widening doesn't work to reduce congestion, see the article by People Power director Micah Posner in the February 8, 2007, issue of Good Times.
Related story: RTC Ignores Voter Opposition, Still Tries to Widen Highway 1