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Regarding Matt Farrell’s July 22 Community Voices opinion piece, I have this to say.
First, the larger no vote percentages of the City of Capitola and District 2 tell us voters of those jurisdictions were more informed about the reality of train and trail than elsewhere in the county.
Second, the 2022 vote is so “then.” It is irrelevant now, because it was based on a dream, not on reality.
That vote was made without general awareness by the public of four factors: cost overruns that would become known only after the election, massive tree felling planned in Seabright, Live Oak, Capitola and Aptos, displacement of low-income seniors, who only rent their lots and who had no knowledge their homes were encroaching into the rail corridor when they bought them, and the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission’s ZEPRT report, including a whopping sales tax that hasn’t even been passed by the voters.
Haranguing about a 2022 vote (with low voter turnout) only serves Farrell’s goal to keep public eyes on the past, ignoring current and growing information finally being published by the RTC about this prohibitively expensive boondoggle. It is time for Farrell to stop harking back to an uninformed vote.
Jean Brocklebank
Live Oak