Health & Fitness
SMART – Show the Public the Money
SMART is making a lot of promises for additional infrastructure, but has provided no specifics on how it will pay for them.
With all of the pronouncements emanating from SMART in the past few days, you’d think that they don’t have a financial problem. Of course they do. Little has changed financially. Consider just a few recent headlines:
- Rohnert Park is moving a station closer to its “downtown."
- Atherton Ave. station may get constructed.
- A committee is looking at providing express bus services north of Santa Rosa and between downtown San Rafael and the Larkspur Ferry Terminal.
I personally object to none of these changes. If rail is to operate, connectivity is a good thing. Even a SMART critic like me thought excluding Atherton station was dumb and said so at a board meeting.
Where will the funding come from? Just a few months ago, Farhad Mansourian, SMART’s General Manager, promised the Metropolitan Transportation Commission that he was willing to defer rail service for two years in order to produce a “fully funded project.”
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There has been no update to the financial plan since last spring. Buses will require annual subsidies to operate daily service to meet trains. Constructing Atherton station doesn’t come for free nor does moving Rohnert Park from the original site.
It’s time to show the public the money. Otherwise, the public should expect another raid on Marin County’s treasury to fund SMART’s infrastructure.
