In a letter to the editor, a Santa Cruz resident advocates for personal rapid transit after seeing the price tag for county-spanning passenger rail.
rail trail opinion
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Corrective commentary: Setting the record straight on RTC, mobile home parks in Live Oak and the June 30 deadline
Castle Mobile Home Estates resident Cami Corvin is pushing back against recent statements by the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission regarding alleged encroachments along the rail corridor in Live Oak. Corvin says no agreements or negotiations have taken place between residents and the RTC, despite claims to the contrary. She believes the community is being unfairly targeted and urges the RTC to halt enforcement and have open dialogue with residents.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Letter to the editor: The rail project doesn’t pencil out
In a letter to the editor, an Aptos resident worries about the money being spent on the Coastal Rail Trail.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
We need clarity on Measure L as Capitola debates
Measure L is causing a lot of consternation in Capitola, as city councilmembers look to vote Thursday on whether the bike trail will stay in the rail corridor or be rerouted onto Park Avenue. Here, local activist Peter Gibson reminds us of the language of L and the legal analysis the city has done on it. He believes Measure L, which passed by a narrow margin in 2018, should not prevent the city council from approving the realignment of the trail along Park Avenue and will provide a safer alternative for pedestrians and cyclists.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Stubborn facts derail the train in Santa Cruz County
Bud Colligan refutes a recent Lookout op-ed on the facts behind the rail-trail debate. Bottom line, Colligan says, the train is too costly and infeasible. “At some point, FORT and the RTC must take responsibility. It’s time to stop blaming others and look in the mirror,” he writes.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Capitola’s crisis over rail offers a warning that could affect us all – don’t representatives have to listen to voters?
Gayle Ortiz, owner of Gayle’s Bakery & Rosticceria for 47 years and a former Capitola city councilmember, worries that a plan backed by the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission to divert sections of a trail from the historic rail corridor and onto public streets bypasses voters’ Measure L wishes. She sees this as a violation of trust that has repercussions for all voters. “This isn’t just a Capitola issue,” she writes. “If the RTC can pressure a city to violate its own voter-approved law, it sets a dangerous precedent for the entire county.”
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Let’s talk about funding the rail trail in Santa Cruz County
Greenway founder and rail trail opponent Bud Colligan made incorrect claims in a March op-ed, asserts Matt Farrell, board chair of Santa Cruz County Friends of the Rail and Trail. Farrell explains how local taxpayers are expected to pay a small percentage of costs for passenger rail on the 32-mile rail line, thanks to federal and state funding. He also highlights the $1 billion cost for a 7-mile segment of Highway 1 widening. The public needs good information when it comes to the debate about rail and trail, Farrell says.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
What is the Regional Transportation Commission’s plan for the rail and trail?
Lookout columnist and former Santa Cruz mayor Mike Rotkin answers questions about the $1 billion price tag attached to a portion of the county’s rail trail project. Some people have balked at the number and used it to double down on a continuing argument that the train is too expensive and infeasible. Here, Rotkin counters, insisting future Santa Cruz County residents will need a train, that the money is not coming from taxes or local government and that giving up now would mean having to pay back a lot of state and federal money already spent. So far, he says, the state and federal government continue to show support for the rail project.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Letter to the editor: Will anything make train lovers give up the dream?
In a letter to the editor, a Santa Cruz resident questions the viability of the proposed passenger rail project and expresses skepticism about its supporters’ unwavering enthusiasm.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
The Train Is Dead: Will someone please tell the RTC?
The long-sought train in Santa Cruz County will never be built because it is too expensive, writes local philanthropist Bud Colligan, who has studied the train issue for more than 10 years. Colligan thinks the Regional Transportation Commission staff needs to be more publicly open about the financial realities of the train plan. “There is no way taxpayers will support a $4 billion price tag for this train boondoggle,” he writes.