South San Francisco, CA October 25, 2020 by Jeffrey Tong
I think voters face a dilemma with Measure RR. On one hand, proponents claim NOT voting for it means more traffic gridlock. On the other, SALES TAX is a REGRESSIVE TAX that hurts mostly the poor, because the poor do not ride Caltrain – they ride Samtrans, which even SMC Transportation Authority Directors and their staff label as “Transportation For The Poor” (versus Transportation For The People).
In fact, Joint Powers Authority (JPA) is not a “Joint” Powers in any way shape or form – it is an oxymoron. On one hand, it is an Authority, because they do not listen to their riders – no one at Caltrain takes any responsibility what-so-ever! On the other, this “shared” authority means it is leaderless (they all pass the buck ???) …yet, due to internal warfare, everything is under control of Samtrans – a dysfunctional government bureaucracy that serves fewer than 5% of the population at a cost of billions of taxpayer dollars.
Directors like Jim Hartnett don’t care whether Samtrans work or not, because they don’t depend upon it for any of their own transportation needs. These county bureaucrats who reap over 1/2 million in compensation are all automobile drivers (in contrast with members of European Parliaments) They mandate a 100% MONOPOLY on public transportation, and are therefore the CAUSE of traffic gridlock!
If Samtrans were a private company, it would be shut down COMPLETELY! I think that is where things are ultimately headed! Why delay the inevitable? The SALES TAX won’t fix a dysfunctional bureaucracy – it will just perpetuate the corrupted status quo! (essentially throwing money down the toilet!)
We need to DEMOCRATIZE transportation, and set-up independent transportation alliances instead. Nobody should be as powerful as Jim Hartnett. Agree?
VOTE NO ON MEASURE RR!
Jeffrey Tong, founder
NWF Community ?ildlife Habitat
Colinas.Costeras.org
Colinas.Costeras.org
Ballot question
The ballot question is as follows:[1]
| “ | To preserve Caltrain service and support regional economic recovery, prevent traffic congestion, make Caltrain more affordable and accessible, reduce air pollution with cleaner and quieter electric trains, make travel times faster, and increase Caltrain frequency and capacity between Santa Clara, San Mateo and San Francisco counties, shall the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board’s resolution levying a 30-year one-eighth cent sales tax with oversight and audits, providing approximately $100 million annually for Caltrain that the State cannot take away, be adopted?[2] | ” |
THERE IS A CONCENTRATED EFFORT
being organized by a miniscule minority
of extreme right wing conservatives,
who have own agenda, such as doing
away with public transportation all
together, never mind the poor, disabled,
those who can’t drive, for a varied
amount of reasons, if these nay sayers
had their way, we would still be living
in the trees and riding burros,.admittely
caltrain needs a new game plan, but to
cut ones face off to spite the nose, is
a childish & stupid reason, btw these
neanderthals have no qualms having
people spend more of their hard earned
money, as long as THEY don’t have too
VOTE YES ON RR, I DID, CALTRAIN &
SAMTRANS ARE OUR LIFELINES, DO
PEOPLE REALLY WANT TO GO BACK
CLOGGED FREEWAYS & EL CAMINO REAL? THINK ABOUT IT, VOTE YES
editor,
the comments are not visible. Please fix them so that the public is able to read them.
It is important to remember to those who are paying attention that the director of Cal=Trans has no background in transportation and was former mayor of San Carlos., MAKING a $400k+ SALARY. What does he bring to the table but politics?
The 1/8 ct sales tax in the tri county consortium of San Franciscvo, Santa Clara and San Mateo County initially was offered in perpetuity to voters !! That means forever!! It was almost derailed at the 11th hr. when San Francisco almost backed out citing San Mateo County power grab.
Think of this, there are a growing number of stay at home workers due to COVID-19 issues and employers are seeking to keep them working remotely in a shift of workplace norms , so the trend there will be still LESS ridership.
There will never be enough taxes for politicians in San Mateo County, but there will be an ever growing number of poor. this tax promises to expand
I voted NO !
jeez, shut down both samtrans and
caltrain, thats a true gop extremist,
chop off the face, to spite the nose,
what off the wall planet.does this
individual live on? admittedly caltrain
has to get it touch with reality, but
shutting everything down? someone
has been sitting on their brains for far
too long
It would have been be nice if this had been published sooner!
I voted last week.