Letter to the editor: No, the sky is not falling – the RTC is doing just what it needs to do on rail trail

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Jack Brown, in his latest commentary, is acting like Chicken Little when he cries out about “Diversions and deceptions – in the rail-trail debate, Santa Cruz County is getting more rail and less trail.” 

What could be causing this consternation, you ask? Mr. Brown is crying mostly about a “diversion” or “realignment” proposed by the Regional Transportation Commission for Section 17 of the coastal rail trail. Could this be due to some nefarious plot by the RTC to promote rail over trail?

Nonsense! RTC originally proposed the Section 17 realignment in 2014 as an addendum to the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail Network master plan final environmental impact report (EIR). The realignment, labeled Section 17b, was mostly proposed to avoid environmental impacts to farmland and sloughs along the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line corridor which would be required to implement a trail next to the rail in Section 17.

Furthermore, RTC has not yet published an EIR detailing the scope of work for Section 17, so nobody has been fooled by this realignment.

Lastly, the realignment is over existing bicycle lanes, with no net loss of trails. And no net gain of rail, either.

So, no, Mr. Brown, the sky is not falling.

Peter Gibson

Soquel