We have been honored to sit on the SMART Board of Directors as its chair and vice chair since January 2020.
The Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit board is comprised of 10 elected officials representing Marin and Sonoma supervisors, city councils, transportation authorities and two public members of the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District. The SMART Board of Directors meets twice monthly and provides opportunities at each board meeting for the public to provide input. This now includes via Zoom video or phone, mail-in or emailing written comments before these public meetings.
In a recent editorial by the Marin IJ (“SMART deserves aid, but must find more ways to cut costs,” July 2) singles out SMART as if it were the only agency receiving federal relief and the only government entity needing to make cuts during this historic shock to our communities. The use of the word “bailout” related to federal assistance was disappointing, as if SMART caused the global economic crises and now alone is in need of federal assistance. The editorial implied that SMART did not inform the public before making decisions. None of these assertions are correct.
The truth is that members of the community have been instrumental in helping to shape SMART’s budget.
Since mid-April there have been a total of eight public meetings in which we have seen record community input on SMART’s future and the budget crises. Beyond these eight meetings, we also sought public input via an extensive community survey in May specifically designed to get input on budget reductions. Over 3,000 people responded to the survey and submitted comments on proposed service reductions. That’s more responses than our average daily ridership prior to COVID-19.
For schedule changes and budget feedback, I am not aware of another transit agency in the greater Bay Area that gets that level of response as a percentage of their ridership. SMART utilized the information gathered via the survey to make final decisions about budget reductions and formulate a new, reduced weekday service schedule when offices begin to reopen.
The result of this extensive public outreach is a budget for the new fiscal year that is reasonable for the times we are facing in this fifth month of a historic global economic downturn. SMART’s 2020-’21 budget included more than $7.2 million in reductions which equates to 20% of our operations, including the permanent elimination of 12 staff positions. During our meetings we made it very clear that the board is prepared to review the budget again in September and make further cuts in service levels should economic circumstances require.
It’s crucial that the public understand that federal CARES Act grants are expressly designated for transit agencies to replace lost revenues due to the coronavirus pandemic. This funding is completely distinct and altogether separate from outside grant funding for construction of the railway northward or, potentially, state funding for SMART to assume freight service.
Grants are crucial to every transportation system in California. SMART’s success at winning outside grants – $323 million worth — would have otherwise gone to other transportation projects outside of the North Bay. We are proud that we have leveraged our local investments to serve the local goal of sustainability, economic development and greater mobility for all.
We encourage those who are interested to visit our website at SonomaMarinTrain.org and click on our Board of Directors page to see our meetings and presentations or the Financial Reports tab at the top of the page to see our budget and financial documents.
Eric Lucan is a Novato councilman and SMART Board of Directors chairman. Barbara Pahre is Golden Gate Bridge District Board of Directors president and SMART Board of Directors vice chairwoman.
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July 26, 2020 at 02:39AM
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Marin Voice: Extensive public outreach informed SMART train budget planning - Marin Independent Journal
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