Saturday, June 19, 2004
Scathing Grand Jury Report
A front page article in the San Jose Mercury News today reports that the Santa Clara County civil grand jury has been investigating VTA for the past year, seeking information about its financial condition and justification for VTA's decision to place the BART extension to San Jose at the top of its list of priorities. VTA's board and upper management did not cooperate with the grand jury and never supplied it with information that would have satisfied their concerns.
This report spells the beginning of the end for VTA as it currently exists, at least, as its upper management is currently organized. Union officials, in informal conversations with drivers, have said that Pete Cipola would leave VTA early if offered a large financial incentive. It seems to me that a threat of indictment for fraudulent misappropriation of public funds might be a better incentive.
So far, no changes in VTA policy or management have been considered. Spokesmen for Ron Gonzales -- Mayor of San Jose, self-appointed VTA board member, and appointer of four other board members -- have said that he remains committed to the BART extension regardless of the grand jury report. But political pressure may yet force changes in direction from members of the board and replacement of some, if not all, of VTA's upper management.
Already, VTA has found it difficult to secure funding for the BART extension. The State, under Gray Davis, promised VTA $760 million for the extension, but because of severe budget problems at the state level, Arnold Schwarzenegger reduced that amount to a pittance of $18 million. Projected ridership figures submitted to the federal government, but suppressed by VTA in public hearings, have resulted in one of the worst ratings of any proposed project in the country, making it unlikely that federal funding will save the day.
Instead of rethinking its plans, though, VTA's board wants to propose an additional sales tax for consideration in 2006. All of these actions forced the grand jury to conclude that the board "is too large, too political, too dependent on staff, too inexperienced in some cases, and too removed from the financial and operational performance of VTA."
In other words, they are incompetent.
What has been needed all along, and what this grand jury is only now bringing to light, is a complete overhaul of VTA. In its dogged determination to build BART, hundreds of drivers have been laid off while planning, construction, and purchases of unneeded new vehicles, light rail lines, and facilities have gone forward without regard for cost.
This has to stop.
In a blistering critique of local transit management, Santa Clara County's civil grand jury on Friday recommended suspending the $4.2 billion BART project to San Jose and disbanding the Valley Transportation Authority's current board of directors... [The grand jury] said the VTA is too important an organization to have board members whose primary duties lie elsewhere, in their jobs as council members and county supervisors. Instead, the board should be pared down to five to seven elected or appointed members [from its current number of 12]. If appointed, transportation should be the members' "main public service responsibility."VTA board members and Pete Cipola declined to comment on the report. Although the report carries no legal weight, it does require a formal response from VTA. They won't be able to continue dodging the issues that they have habitually ignored any longer.
The jury was critical of numerous aspects of VTA management, saying that agency board members put parochial interests ahead of countywide concerns and rarely engage in "frank and open discussions on important matters of policy." ...The report also criticized the board for suppressing dissent. It suggested that voters have remained supportive of BART because they lack information about how little congestion relief the extension actually would provide and how it will eat up money intended for other transit projects.
...[T]he grand jury said continuing to pursue the planned 16.3-mile BART extension "may be to the detriment of an integrated transportation network throughout the region" because the agency is sacrificing other transit projects to protect the local contribution for the BART project... On a scale used by the federal government to rate the cost-effectiveness of transit proposals, the BART extension is one of the worst in the country.
This report spells the beginning of the end for VTA as it currently exists, at least, as its upper management is currently organized. Union officials, in informal conversations with drivers, have said that Pete Cipola would leave VTA early if offered a large financial incentive. It seems to me that a threat of indictment for fraudulent misappropriation of public funds might be a better incentive.
So far, no changes in VTA policy or management have been considered. Spokesmen for Ron Gonzales -- Mayor of San Jose, self-appointed VTA board member, and appointer of four other board members -- have said that he remains committed to the BART extension regardless of the grand jury report. But political pressure may yet force changes in direction from members of the board and replacement of some, if not all, of VTA's upper management.
Already, VTA has found it difficult to secure funding for the BART extension. The State, under Gray Davis, promised VTA $760 million for the extension, but because of severe budget problems at the state level, Arnold Schwarzenegger reduced that amount to a pittance of $18 million. Projected ridership figures submitted to the federal government, but suppressed by VTA in public hearings, have resulted in one of the worst ratings of any proposed project in the country, making it unlikely that federal funding will save the day.
Instead of rethinking its plans, though, VTA's board wants to propose an additional sales tax for consideration in 2006. All of these actions forced the grand jury to conclude that the board "is too large, too political, too dependent on staff, too inexperienced in some cases, and too removed from the financial and operational performance of VTA."
In other words, they are incompetent.
What has been needed all along, and what this grand jury is only now bringing to light, is a complete overhaul of VTA. In its dogged determination to build BART, hundreds of drivers have been laid off while planning, construction, and purchases of unneeded new vehicles, light rail lines, and facilities have gone forward without regard for cost.
This has to stop.
Comments:
Post a Comment
