Looking Back at the Rail Symposium

State Assemblymember John Laird is arguably People Power's most influential member and despite busy schedules in Sacramento, he and his staff really make an effort to stay involved in the social and political life of Santa Cruz. When Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth" came out, Laird and staff hosted a free showing. At the forum afterward, the obvious question came up: "How will widening Highway 1 effect our county's contribution to global warming?" John responded with advice: "I think the reason people are still looking at widening the Highway is that we haven't presented convincing alternatives." Several months later, he agreed to co-host, with People Power and Friends of the Rail Trail, a symposium on the potential for trains and trails in Santa Cruz County. Tom Honig, the editor of the Sentinel, soon joined as a co-sponsor and provided ad space which was crucial to the event's success. Watsonville, Capitola, and Santa Cruz also co-sponsored, with Capitola providing the venue (the Jade Street Community Center) free of charge. Funding was donated by the Weiss-Penzias family to help pay for our staff time, while Beckmann's Bakery, New Leaf Market, and Kelly's Bakery all donated snacks. The Sierra Club hired PedX to put up flyers and covered other expenses, and People Power member Bruce Sawhill arranged for an appearance of the marimba band Hapana (of which he is a member) to provide presymposium music.

Guest speakers came from all across the country without being paid because they care about sensible transportation and want to help us bring it here. The discussion was a mixture of cautious advice and hopeful exuberance. Mike Hart, CEO of Sierra railroads made it clear that, for freight and recreational rail, his company is ready to go as soon as the tracks become available. Everyone seemed to agree that these uses were good steps that would eventually subsidize passenger rail.

The panelists familiar with the layout of Santa Cruz County noted that our unique geography, with most of the population living within a mile or two of the rail line, could make it a good place for trains. Nonetheless, panelist David Nelson made it clear that we need to proceed slowly, and that some projects do fail to generate the rider ship needed—particularly in less urban areas like ours.

John Laird did an excellent job moderating, and managed to get most of the dozens of questions from the audience answered. Debbie Hale, from the Monterey Transit Agency, talked about her County's plan to bring Amtrak and Caltrain to Watsonville by 2010, thereby creating a connection to state and nationwide rail systems.

Perhaps the best thing about the symposium was the extraordinary turnout. Over 230 people attended, which dramatically exceeded our expectations. (We had chairs and a sound system to accommodate 180). Most of the audience was very supportive of trains and trails, though there was also a small but healthy dose of skepticism. It's interesting to compare the attendance and enthusiasm of the symposium with meetings and public hearing on widening the Highway. Attendance at the latter has never reached more than 100 people, with two-thirds or more consistently opposing widening.

Other than our inadequate sound system, the biggest disappointment about the symposium was that almost none of the Regional Transportation Commission "leaders" bothered to show up, though they were personally invited by John Laird. The exception was our newest commission member, Neal Coonerty, and members of his staff. This raises the question: is the RTC really interested in transportation, or is it more interested in subsidizing automobile-oriented growth?

If you missed the symposium, it is still being aired on Community Television. (Our thanks to Community Television for charging less than half of their usual fee to record the event.) To find out when you can see it, call Jack at 425-8848 x27. You can also order a DVD from Community Television for $20 by contacting Jack or Kathy at kathy@communitytv.org.

Related Article, in the January 10, 2007, Good Times.