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Monday through Fridays of most weeks as I wakeup with my first coffee of the day, I read the the News page at the BLET's website. This morning (3-29) I read this item that is SF Bay Area railnews. Thought I'd pass it along to without comment. As follows: <br /> <br />Dukakis says rail is a must <br />(The following article by Keri Brenner was posted on the Marin Independent-Journal website on March 29.) <br /> <br />SAN RAFAEL, Calif. -- Passenger rail service in the North Bay is a "no-brainer," former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis told a packed town hall forum yesterday at the Marin Civic Center in San Rafael. <br /> <br />"If you want smart growth - and I think you do - you've got to invest in rail," Dukakis said to a crowd of about 200. "Once you do this, you'll wonder how you ever got along without it." <br /> <br />More than a dozen Marin and Sonoma residents addressed questions and comments to Dukakis and a panel of area leaders including U.S. Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, San Rafael Mayor Al Boro and Cloverdale Mayor Robert Jehn. <br /> <br />Jehn is board chairman and Boro is vice chairman of the Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit project, which is planning the proposed SMART rail line from Cloverdale to Larkspur Landing. <br /> <br />"It seems to be a no-brainer," Dukakis said in an interview before the forum. "You're not going to build your way out of congestion. Unless we invest in rail, we're not going to solve the congestion problem." <br /> <br />About two-thirds of the speakers agreed. Margie Wade of Novato said as long as SMART can provide shuttle buses at times that connect smoothly with rail, "I'm just 1,000 percent in favor of trains." <br /> <br />Others complained the proposal was flawed. <br /> <br />"SMART will never obtain the required two-thirds voter approval for a sales tax increase to fund it," said Mike Arnold of Novato, co-chairman of Marin Citizens for Effective Transportation. <br /> <br />The appearance of Dukakis, former vice chairman of the Amtrak Reform Board and a Democratic presidential candidate in 1988, came as SMART officials gear up for a November 2006 transportation sales tax ballot measure for the new rail system. SMART officials had initially planned for a ballot measure last November, but postponed it so as not to interfere with Measure A, the transportation sales tax measure approved last year by Marin voters along with a companion measure in Sonoma. <br /> <br />The proposed SMART commuter rail line would stretch 75 miles down the Highway 101 corridor from Cloverdale to a spot just above Marin Airporter at Larkspur Landing. <br /> <br />"It's the least onerous of the three onerous sites in Larkspur," Larkspur City Manager Jean Bonander said of the much-debated Larkspur train stop. "We said if they're going to study one site, that should be it." <br /> <br />The line would include the stations over a former Northwestern Pacific Railroad right of way already under public ownership. <br /> <br />Several speakers yesterday emphasized the need for speedy and efficient connections between the proposed North Bay rail line and other transit - such as shuttle buses, ferries and the East Bay's BART line. <br /> <br />"Why did they not put a set of prefabricated train tracks on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge five years ago when they started the seismic retrofit?" said Craig Yates of San Rafael, a member of the Marin County Committee on Disabilities. "That would have made a seamless route (to BART) - we need a seamless route." <br /> <br />Others, such as Basia Crane of Kentfield, a member of Marin United Taxpayers Association, complained that the SMART proposal didn't have the smooth service it promised, such as a ferry connection at San Quentin State Prison. <br /> <br />"San Quentin isn't even in the EIR," Crane said, referring to a draft environmental impact report on the SMART proposal set for release this summer. <br /> <br />Pending certification of the EIR in summer 2006, and approval of the sales tax the following November, SMART trains could be operating by the fall of 2009, officials said. The system is expected to cost $340 million, according to officials. <br /> <br />Arnold, an anti-rail activist, said his group believes in expansion of the transit bus system instead of trains. But Dukakis said both buses and rail are needed. <br /> <br />"I'm not against buses; I take buses all the time in Los Angeles," Dukakis said. "The problem with buses is that you're still sitting right on the streets, in the middle of congestion." <br /> <br />Dukakis, who teaches public policy at the University of California at Los Angeles, said he just came from Santa Barbara, which also is considering a rail line along its crowded 101 corridor. <br /> <br />"There isn't a metro area in the U.S. that isn't going nuts with congestion," Dukakis said. <br /> <br />Dukakis said when he was governor, he pushed for the Boston-area's rail and transit system. <br /> <br />"Now, the Boston public transit system in the best in the U.S, and it has totally transformed Boston," he said. <br /> <br />The nation as a whole is far behind Japan and Europe, which already have or are planning high-speed rail lines. Building more highways is not the answer. <br /> <br />"I use that quote from Einstein: 'The definition of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over again - and expecting different results,'" he said. <br /> <br /> <br />Tuesday, March 29, 2005 <br /> <br />http://www.ble.org/pr/news/headline.asp?id=13142 <br />
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