Santa Clara County Supervisor Liz Kniss will join the Caltrain board of directors in January, giving Palo Alto and other cities in the northern part of the county their first representative on the nine-member board.
Kniss, a former Palo Alto mayor, was appointed by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority on Thursday to replace fellow Supervisor Don Gage, who is termed out in December. The authority's board of directors unanimously voted for Kniss to be Gage's successor on the Caltrain board, VTA spokeswoman Brandi Childress said.
Kniss is joining the Caltrain board at a time when rail transportation has emerged as one of the hottest issues in Palo Alto. Caltrain is projected to have a budget deficit of up to $30 million in fiscal year 2012 and a coalition of citizens, including former Palo Alto Mayor Yoriko Kishimoto, have launched an effort to help make Caltrain financially sustainable.
Caltrain is also partnering with the California High-Speed Rail Authority on the Peninsula segment of the proposed San Francisco-to-Los Angeles rail line. The project has generated significant opposition in Palo Alto, where the City Council has passed a resolution of "no confidence" in the high-speed rail project.
The Palo Alto council, while critical of high-speed rail, has consistently lauded Caltrain as a vital commuter service. The city has recently launched a new Rail Corridor Study to refine the city's vision for the rail corridor and to consider possible urban-design opportunities near the tracks.
The VTA controls three seats on the Caltrain board, which is officially called the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board. The other six seats are split between San Francisco and the San Mateo County Transit District.
Caltrain spokeswoman Christine Dunn said Kniss is scheduled to be sworn in to the Caltrain board in January.
Comments
another community
on Nov 10, 2010 at 12:42 pm
on Nov 10, 2010 at 12:42 pm
Let's get the picture straight. Caltrain says they are in trouble, having lost much of their supplementary subsidies from sources such as SamTrans. Oh, wait. SamTrans and Caltrain are actually the same organization with Mike Scanlon as the CEO of both. So, Peter won't pay Paul, so to speak. That's Caltrain's dilemma, not ours.
Yes, the loss of supplementary funding is harmful; not only to Caltrain but to most urban and regional transit operators in the US. Caltrain is neither exceptional nor unusual. Which is to say, urban mass transit has a very low priority in our struggling economy today. Tell that to Anna Eshoo! You can't have it both ways; either we pay to salvage our urban/regional transit systems or we pay for a ridiculous luxury train. We certainly can't afford both!
But, Caltrain has self-imposed problems as well. Instead of solving those, they wish to upgrade their rolling stock, rails and propulsion system. And, they say that they are counting on high-speed rail to do that for them with the stimulus and other federal billions that will be made available. That's why Caltrain is so eager for HSR to join them on their (our) rail corridor. Caltrain argues that HSR-paid-for electrification will bail them out of most of their operating debt. That, of course, is nonsense.
The truth is that capital development expenditures, such as for new glitzy EMUs, are very sexy. All these wished for hardware fixes will not, of course, solve Caltrain's structural deficit problem. Capital development fund expenditures make great photo ops, while fixing the boring operating budget can always be put off another fiscal year. That's how most bureaucrats think about it. And that's how Caltrain has been thinking about it for a long, long time. Instead of lusting for that whizzy electric train for Christmas year after year, they should have been working to secure permanent supplementary funding.
Harware upgrades are not solutions to their problems. Among their real problems are a too-expensive headcount; i.e., too many employees with too large salaries. Also a too-expensive contract with the train operator, Amtrak. Caltrain's belt-tightening has been gestural, not substantive. Scanlon and his minions aren't really surprised. They've seen this problem coming for years. It should have been their highest priority. It suggests incompetent management.
Another basic problem is that Caltrain doesn't know who their friends are. They think that high-speed rail on the corridor will secure their future. Boy, are they wrong. Their future rests with us, the residents, citizens and their customers living on the Peninsula. They haven't learned that basic truth yet. And, until they do, they don't need our help.
Then, there's the problem of Caltrain's wrong business model. They think they are in the railroad business and therefore new rolling stock will make them more productive. That's also wrong. They should understand that they are in the urban and regional mass transit business, which is a deficit public utility by definition.
Furthermore, they should acknowledge that moving people around in the most effective way can't be done exclusively by rail; it must be multi-modal. Getting the first and last mile solved -- getting people to and from Caltrain stations -- will go a long way to increasing their ridership/productivity and help them do the job for which they are intended.
Our being a 'friend of Caltrain' should mean, first and foremost, 'tough love.' The make-up of this new Caltrain support group doesn't look like it can deliver on that. It's OK to be a 'friend' of Caltrain, but such friendship has to cut both ways.
The equation is simple. Caltrain needs to become a friend of all of us on the Peninsula. That way, we can be friends of Caltrain. What does that mean? We don't want high-speed rail on the Caltrain corridor, but we do want Caltrain to exist and flourish. If Caltrain is willing to relinquish high-speed rail on their corridor, we on the Peninsula can make Caltrain, like the Army, "be all that it can be." That's the deal.
OK, Caltrain, your call. Friends of Caltrain? Caveat Emptor.
Martin
Gemello
on Nov 10, 2010 at 2:28 pm
on Nov 10, 2010 at 2:28 pm
another corrupt local politician going upscale. Politics is a swamp wih so much corruption,nepotism. we all know caltrain is a badly run corrupt agency which is eating away california tax payers money by doing nothing and if they do anything it is mostly a badly bungled up mess. I am sure she will be making lot more dough and perks, wine and dine at expensive restaurants,first class travel expenses, five star hotels,etc... The system is so messed up and we have become a 3rd world country like Mexico...Nothing short of a purge at the top level will make it clean.
Monta Loma
on Nov 10, 2010 at 3:30 pm
on Nov 10, 2010 at 3:30 pm
Martin for Caltrain Director!
I've never understood how high-speed rail could be perceived as helpful to Caltrain. It really doesn't make sense now that the first segment is being built in the Central Valley. If you're going to earmark fund for a train system in California, why wouldn't you spend it on the existing system that has real riders?