A New Section: Marin County
In its August 26 meeting, the Committee approved a consensus plan including the following elements that had been proposed by TRANSDEF: a North-South bikeway on the railroad trestle, if feasible; improved merging of E. Sir Francis Drake Blvd. with I-580; and an added eastbound lane on E. Sir Francis Drake Blvd.
Marin County has become known lately for very vocal opposition to the Bay Area’s regional plan. TRANSDEF published an opinion piece on recent overreactions to regional planning. In an effort to foster an informed dialogue over housing issues, the Marin County League of Women Voters has published Dispelling the Myths Surrounding Affordable Housing.
We Lost One of the Greats: Roy Nakadegawa
Roy agreed to put himself forward, along with fellow former BART Director Sherman Lewis, as a named plaintiff in a suit brought by TRANSDEF to stop MTC from moving funds from the proposed Dumbarton Rail Project to the BART Warm Springs project. TRANSDEF vehemently opposed this billion dollar wasteful project. In agreeing to do so, Roy truly walked his talk.
TRANSDEF is very grateful for Roy’s assistance over the years and offers its condolences to his large family. We will miss him.
Joint Statement by AC Transit and BART
Mr. Nakadegawa served on the AC Transit Board for 20 years, from 1972 to 1992. He then served on the BART Board for 12 years from 1992 to 2004. After he left the BART Board, he joined the Board of TRANSDEF (Transportation Solutions Defense and Education Fund), a non-profit environmental organization created by transit activists to advocate for better solutions to transportation, land use and air quality problems in the San Francisco Bay Area. In all those positions he argued for cost-effective, mobility improving transit.
Mr. Nakadegawa was an active attendee and participant in TRB (Transportation Research Board) meetings and was well known and respected around the world for his depth of knowledge about transit and its relation to land use. He was written up in the local press for the frugality of his travel arrangements. When Mr. Nakadegawa served as an AC Transit directors, its members got an annuity when they left the Board. For many years, Mr. Nakadegawa generously donated his annuity payments to buy prizes for AC Transit's local bus rodeo winners. Read More...
Validation: It's a Funny Concept
An especially fascinating aspect to this validation suit is that the defendants are identified as “All Persons Interested in the Matter of the Validity of the Authorization and Issuance of General Obligation Bonds to be Issued Pursuant to the Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century, and Certain Proceedings and Matters Related Thereto.”
Interestingly, the Authority asserts that a validation ruling will not affect the ability of a taxpayers’ suit to challenge the expenditure of bond funds.
Click here to see the major papers filed in the case.
Killer Ruling on HSR Compliance
Court Rules
High-Speed Rail Not Compliant with Bond
Measure
Sacramento Superior Court Judge
Michael Kenny issued a ruling Friday that the Funding
Plan for the $8 billion High-Speed Rail project in
the Central Valley is legally defective because it
fails to meet the requirements of Proposition 1A, the
High-Speed Rail Bond measure. The landmark
case, Tos v.
California High-Speed Rail
Authority,
was filed by a farmer, a rural homeowner and Kings
County.
The Court agreed that the Authority’s Funding Plan
failed to validly certify that for the Merced to San
Fernando Valley segment of the project, all
environmental clearances had been completed and that
sufficient funding sources to complete the segment
had been identified. Further briefing was ordered to
determine the appropriate
remedy.
HSRA seeks federal protection from lawsuits
This brief involved a massive amount of gall, seeing as the High-Speed Rail Authority had not applied to the STB for permission to construct its project until very recently, long after all the briefing in this case had been filed. All materials related to the appeal are available here.