Supervisors McPherson and Koenig are wildly out of step with community on rail trail; they need to listen to voters

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You might have heard about the dramatic March 26 vote at the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors engineered by Supervisors Bruce McPherson and Manu Koenig, which seemingly thwarted progress on the rail trail project. What they apparently are unwilling to accept is the question of whether or not the residents of Santa Cruz County want to have both a trail today and the possibility of rail service in the future is a settled one.

Once again, it falls to community members to remind them of this.

In multiple elections and over several years, voters in Santa Cruz County have been crystal clear about their support for both a trail today and rail in the future. Sadly, and for reasons that do not align with the facts, McPherson and Koenig are wildly out of step with our community. 

The people of Santa Cruz County should be deeply concerned about the lack of leadership shown by these two elected officials. 

The voters spoke clearly at the ballot box in 2016 when they approved funding through the passage of the “good” Measure D, which provided rail trail funding for planning, as well as maintenance and repair. In 2022, voters delivered a historic defeat to Greenway’s vision to rip up the tracks, known as the “bad” Measure D. 

In fact, in McPherson’s district, which includes the San Lorenzo Valley and most of Scotts Valley, Greenway’s measure was voted down by an epic 83% – a bigger defeat than in any other district in the county. Never before in modern political history have Santa Cruz County voters so resoundingly defeated a ballot measure. 

And yet, McPherson has voted in the opposite direction.

Less than a month ago, voters again expressed support for the rail-trail project. The top two candidates to succeed McPherson are strong rail-trail supporters. The top two candidates to succeed Supervisor Zach Friend are also strong rail-trail supporters. (Friend chose to recuse himself from last week’s vote, though his support for Greenway has been demonstrated by his selection of a Greenway co-founder, Dr. Robert Quinn, as his voting alternate to the Regional Transportation Commission.)

Despite his well-funded campaign, Koenig (who is the former executive director of Greenway) was nearly defeated by first-time candidate Lani Faulkner, a political unknown who strongly supports the rail-trail project. During his campaign, he made it clear that he had heard the voters when they rejected Greenway’s measure in 2022. In fact, he said since then that he has advocated for funding to help plan the rail-trail project. 

And yet, before the election has even been certified as final by the registrar of voters, Koenig has reverted to his trail-only Greenway position, in defiance of the voters – including those who voted for him in the belief that he would not block progress on the rail-trail project.

In addition to being wildly out of step with our community, Koenig and McPherson have ignored the recommendations of our local professional planning staff and put at risk a key grant intended to support the rail-trail project.

In December 2022, the California Transportation Commission announced its intent to award Santa Cruz County a $67.6 million Active Transportation Program (ATP) grant. This is the largest ATP grant in California history. The grant will provide essential funding for rail trail Segments 10 and 11, which cover a 4.5-mile distance between 17th Avenue in Live Oak and the Seacliff area in Aptos. The County of Santa Cruz must officially vote to approve an agreement to receive these grant funds from the state. 

In what could be aptly described as a petulant and cynical move, McPherson and Koenig voted against taking this action.

Their stunt could also be described as ironic. 

McPherson has consistently raised concerns over the years that our community will be unable to attract funding to support the rail-trail project. And yet, when we are awarded the largest-ever grant of its kind, he voted to reject it. And Koenig cited concerns about cutting down trees (mostly of the eucalyptus variety) as his motivation to reject the grant funds. Yet, Koenig expressed no such concerns about the many redwood trees that have recently been cut down in order to widen Highway 1 through his district. 

But perhaps the ultimate irony is that Koenig is seeking to save eucalyptus trees in the name of environmental protection against a project that promises to offer a zero-emissions rail transportation alternative to the use of cars.

Rail-trail advocates remain bullish on the rail-trail project and we will not be deterred by the March 26 vote at the board of supervisors. A major new segment of the rail trail is set to open in the next few weeks in the heart of Santa Cruz, and the North Coast segment will break ground soon. Hard work continues in the planning stages for several other segments, including Segments 10 and 11.

The people have spoken at the ballot box, repeatedly. Though Supervisors McPherson and Koenig seem to not be interested in listening to the voters, we know our other local officials, as well as the incoming county supervisors – one of whom will replace McPherson and another who will replace Friend – will continue to listen, develop solutions and stand up for the rail trail. 

A brighter future for Santa Cruz County and our children depends on it.

Matt Farrell serves as board chair for Santa Cruz County Friends of the Rail & Trail. Learn more here.