Published Thursday, September 20, 2001, in the San Jose Metro

Public Eye

D'Oh, BART!

Is BART to San Jose in trouble?

As a November deadline for federal funding looming, BART and VTA
officials are scrambling to finalize the terms of their agreement.

On Nov. 28, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission is scheduled
to adopt its 25-year plan for Bay Area transit projects. Instead of
making separate requests, projects in the nine bay counties must be
included in the plan, which is expected to pump $82 billion into the
region. BART to San Jose needs to be included in the request, called
the Regional Transportation Plan, to get in line for federal funds.

Meanwhile, officials from VTA and BART are still haggling over
operations and maintenance costs, and haven't decided how -- or even
if -- Santa Clara County will formally join BART with a buy-in.

Staff from both agencies recently started sitting down once every
other week to close the gap in their talks. Policy makers are also
meeting biweekly, bringing together BART's elected board members and
VTA board members, including San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales and
Sunnyvale City Councilman Manny Valerio, VTA's chair.

"It's slow progress," BART General Manager Tom Margro said after this
Monday's meeting. "We've been exchanging drafts of the sections of
the agreements. It's a pretty intensive progress, and a lot of things
have to be agreed upon. And since Santa Clara County's not in the
district, it needs to be very clear who's going to pay for all this.
Sometimes it gets very difficult."

With other extensions planned around the bay, BART's stance is clear:
Santa Clara County must mitigate any additional costs that the new
line creates.

"The last couple meetings haven't been as pleasurable as everyone
wanted them to be," adds Santa Clara City Councilman John McLemore,
an MTC board member. McLemore says there's a chance that MTC could
revise the regional plan later, but right now the distance between
the two sides "is like a Grand Canyon."