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.
rail trail opinion
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.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Letter to the editor: Still no answers on how we will finance a train
In a letter to the editor, a Santa Cruz resident pushes for a bike and pedestrian trail now along the county’s branch rail line and to leave a passenger train for a future era.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Letter to the editor: We might need a revote on the train
In a letter to the editor, a Santa Cruz resident contends that the county’s rail line is inadequate for the kind of rail transit system voters have expressed support for.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Santa Cruz County needs a reality check on the rail-trail project
Matt Farrell, board chair of Santa Cruz County Friends of the Rail and Trail, takes issue with a Feb. 4 op-ed questioning the feasibility of passenger rail in Santa Cruz County. Here, he explains why our community wants a rail system, revisits what voters have previously decided and provides an update on the segments of the trail already being built.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Why won’t the dream of a train die?
Santa Cruz leaders have considered building a train from Watsonville to Davenport for decades, and the Regional Transportation Commission has repeatedly approved studies on cost and feasibility. Measure D (2022) was among the costliest and most contentious ballot initiatives in recent memory and saw 70% of voters reject a plan prioritizing a trail. More than two years after that vote, the RTC is waiting for the results of a $20 million environmental impact study on the feasibility of a rail. Will Mayall questions the logic of all the money and time poured into the idea of rail service: “At some point, we have to ask: Are we clinging to this train dream because it’s the best solution, or because we’re reluctant to admit it isn’t?”
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Letter to the editor: No, the sky is not falling – the RTC is doing just what it needs to do on rail trail
In a letter to the editor, a Soquel resident takes issue with a recent opinion piece about the Coastal Rail Trail.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Diversions and deceptions – in the rail-trail debate, Santa Cruz County is getting more rail and less trail
Transportation activist Jack Brown remains skeptical about the rail trail’s development after looking at the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission’s June design plan. “There simply is not room for a rail and a trail as has been promised by rail groups for over a decade,” he writes.
