Tuesday, May 11, 2004
Ron Gonzales -- Jugular of the VTA Board
VTA's BART plans are a direct result of Ron Gonzales' campaigning efforts. Despite VTA's own projections that BART to San Jose will have a negligable affect on Bay Area traffic congestion, San Jose's Mayor and VTA's Board Chairman insists that it will. He continues to ignore the north county cities' objections to the BART extension as being over-priced and ineffective. This is particularly disturbing given that VTA has twice laid off drivers and cut service in the last three years in an attempt to operate within a reduced budget and a 40% reduction in ridership.
Add to this disturbing picture that VTA continues unnecessarily replacing older equipment with new, replacing older facilities by building new ones, and building new light rail extensions at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars -- all at a time when VTA can least afford it -- and it becomes clear that VTA is governed by a band of incompetent bureaucrats with nothing but spending other people's money on their minds.
Mr. Gonzales is also responsible for appointing five of the members of the VTA Board. Ordinarily, a member's vote counts only once, but since five members depend on Ron Gonzales to reappoint them from time to time, they cannot afford to oppose him on major issues -- such as BART -- if they wish to remain on the Board. This gives more weight to Ron Gonzales' desires than they deserve.
Mr. Gonzales has two official charges pending against him. He has been campaining for re-election using individual donations of as much as $5,000. San Jose's campaign laws limit such donations to $500 in an election year. His only response to these charges is that he needs them to push BART, using the ends to justify the means.
He is under the impression not only that this is enough to get him off the hook for illegal campaign financing, but that the public will naturally agree with his wishes and forgive any funding irregularities. Several municipalities, including Palo Alto and Los Gatos, have sent official letters to VTA demanding more reasonable transit fund allocation, fearing quite rightly that the BART extension will drain away all available transit funding for the foreseeable future, leaving the north county cities with no funds for transit improvements. Mr. Gonzales ignores them.
His only concern as VTA Board Chairman and as Mayor of San Jose, is for his own re-election. He will do whatever he thinks the residents of San Jose perceive to be in their best interests, and will ignore objections from outside the city as long as they do not affect his re-election plans.
Before any meaningful change of direction can happen on VTA's Board, Ron Gonzales must be voted out of office as Mayor of San Jose. If he is allowed to continue as VTA's Board Chairman, the transit agency will continue to slide into deep economic crisis, the citizens of Santa Clara County will have less transit service than they do now, and those who were laid off at VTA will not see their positions reinstated.
Add to this disturbing picture that VTA continues unnecessarily replacing older equipment with new, replacing older facilities by building new ones, and building new light rail extensions at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars -- all at a time when VTA can least afford it -- and it becomes clear that VTA is governed by a band of incompetent bureaucrats with nothing but spending other people's money on their minds.
Mr. Gonzales is also responsible for appointing five of the members of the VTA Board. Ordinarily, a member's vote counts only once, but since five members depend on Ron Gonzales to reappoint them from time to time, they cannot afford to oppose him on major issues -- such as BART -- if they wish to remain on the Board. This gives more weight to Ron Gonzales' desires than they deserve.
Mr. Gonzales has two official charges pending against him. He has been campaining for re-election using individual donations of as much as $5,000. San Jose's campaign laws limit such donations to $500 in an election year. His only response to these charges is that he needs them to push BART, using the ends to justify the means.
He is under the impression not only that this is enough to get him off the hook for illegal campaign financing, but that the public will naturally agree with his wishes and forgive any funding irregularities. Several municipalities, including Palo Alto and Los Gatos, have sent official letters to VTA demanding more reasonable transit fund allocation, fearing quite rightly that the BART extension will drain away all available transit funding for the foreseeable future, leaving the north county cities with no funds for transit improvements. Mr. Gonzales ignores them.
His only concern as VTA Board Chairman and as Mayor of San Jose, is for his own re-election. He will do whatever he thinks the residents of San Jose perceive to be in their best interests, and will ignore objections from outside the city as long as they do not affect his re-election plans.
Before any meaningful change of direction can happen on VTA's Board, Ron Gonzales must be voted out of office as Mayor of San Jose. If he is allowed to continue as VTA's Board Chairman, the transit agency will continue to slide into deep economic crisis, the citizens of Santa Clara County will have less transit service than they do now, and those who were laid off at VTA will not see their positions reinstated.
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