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and bring more improvements to Alameda County. (He showed a chart with the Tri- <br />Valley Transportation Development Fees projects in black; the projects that would be <br />funded either wholly or in par~ by the V~ cent sales tax extension were shown in red.) It is <br />an investment in the 1-580 and 1-680 corridors to institute express lanes. IIe said that is a <br />new idea in this area. That means if there is excess capacity in lhe high occupancy <br />vehicle lanes, that excess capacity could be sold, to get people out of the mixed flow lane <br />and to make the whole facility flow more smoothly. Other projects that are being looked <br />at are the east botmd auxiliary lane, the lmn Horse Trail and Transit Project, and an <br />additional investment in the Route 84 projects in Livermore. This means morc than $9 <br />million for local transportation, $1 million thr para-tremsit lilnds, new revenue streams for <br />pedestrian~oicyclc facilities, new revenue streams for operations for LAVTA and ACE <br />and also additional funds for express bus services throughout the County. <br /> <br /> Many people have asked, with all of the Federal and State ftmds and all of the <br />local lhnds that are generated out here, why do we need the 1/2 cent sales tax? This is <br />actually a good question. For comparison, what he is showing tonight is that the Tri- <br />Valley Transportation Council plan which will generate $70 million over 15 years. The <br />Governor's plan, which is being discussed in Sacramento, would generate about $133 <br />million over 5 years. The State and Federal discretionary funds that the Congestion <br />Management Agency will divvy up over the next 20 years totals about $1.2 billion. A <br />very conservative estimate for the sales tax program here in Alameda County is $1.4 <br />billion. It is larger than any other funding source available. This also comes with a lot of <br />flexibility. It can be used for operations as xvell as for capital investments. It is a great <br />plan, but a lot of other people also think it is a great plmx, and the CMA is very happy <br />abont that. The Bay Area Transportation Land Use Coalition, a group of 60 <br />organizations, support the plan. The Coalition has worked with us to get the plan to a <br />point where they could support it. The CMA is happy to say that both the Sierra Club <br />and Environmental Defense, two organizations that aggressively opposed the 1998 plan, <br />now aggressively support this pimp. The Taxpayers Association has said that an <br />extension of the V2 cent sales tax for transportation is essential to Alameda County's <br />economy. LAVTA has endorsed it. The Silicon Valley Manufacturing group has <br />endorsed this plan, and they have endorsed it because they really believe in local funds <br />and local accountability. They also support it because of the significant investment in <br />transit included in our plan. The Pleasanton Chamber of Commerce, as well as many of <br />the other Chambers of Commerce, have endorsed it. There are 12 cities who have also <br />approved it and he would love to add tonight Pleasanton to tile list of cities that have <br />approved this plan. What would be lost would be very significant. It could be one-half <br />million dollars a year for local transportation, 9% of your pars-transit budget, transit <br />operating fnnds for AC Transit and the ACE t~ain that catmot be back-tilled easily. There <br />is a risk that ACE may not be able to stop in Alameda County if we cmmot step forward <br />and make a commitment of operating funds to make sure that it stops here. There are <br />also significant investments in the 1-580 corridor, the 1-680 corridor and the Ronte 84 <br />corridor in the eastern part of the county. What they are doing is hopefully getting <br />endorsements from all of the cities. They will then bring it to the Board of Supervisors <br />and ask the Board to place it on the November 2000 ballot. This is not a new tax. It just <br />continues an existing tax. If it were to go away, people probably wouldn't cvcn notice it. <br /> <br />Pleasanton City Council 7 06/20/00 <br />Minutes <br /> <br /> <br />