​Ep.113: Faina Segal | Why Santa Cruz County Needs a Rail & Trail

ICYMI: Here’s a download of what’s going on with the Rail & Trail projects in Santa Cruz County. Tune in to hear where the project stands, where it should go, and what’s behind the 6:6 vote. A huge thanks goes to Thomas Sage Pedersen and Speak For Change podcast for having us!

Jim Weller, expert land title consultant, sent the following report about Rail and Trail and Greenway to a few outlets including BrattonOnline. He states…

“We got trouble, my friends. Right here in River City, with a capital G, and that stands for Greed, and that rhymes with Green — as in Greenway.

(The municipality of Santa Cruz, California has been called “River City,” because it is at the place where the San Lorenzo River flows into Monterey Bay. I intentionally invoke the libretto of the 1957 musical stage play, “The Music Man.” Read on.)
​
Here we are, now, in 2021.

You see, in the County of Santa Cruz, California (home to some 275,000 people) it is unfortunately the present case that a small, shadowy special-interest group, who are organized as a 501(c) 4 “dark money” political action committee, having cleverly adopted the euphemistic name, “Greenway,” are threatening the public good and our local civil order with disruptive, paid-for propaganda and misinformation.

Just like a bunch of damned Trumpite Republicans.

In my well-informed opinion, if I do say so myself, this despicable Greenway con game needs to be exposed for what it is — a fraudulent scheme aiming to privatize the single most important piece of Santa Cruz County’s public transportation infrastructure — for their personal financial gains.

Yes, I said fraudulent. I meant it. Political fraud. Are you ready to look at the anatomy of a shameless attempted public rip-off of massive proportions? Dig.

The back story:
Around 2002, the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) began negotiating to purchase the existing 32-mile long Santa Cruz Branch railroad from Union Pacific Railroad Company. It was a complex transaction. It took a while to conclude. The RTC finally closed escrow in 2012, for a purchase price of $14.2 million (a good deal at twice the price). Tens of millions more public dollars have been invested since then, improving the public rail infrastructure.

RTC is an instrumentality of the State of California. Its functions are to plan for and allocate funding for state highway and public transportation infrastructure. Every county has such an agency. The RTC is funded by the state, separately from the County general fund, as an independent public authority. The commissioners of the RTC include the five members of the County Board of Supervisors, one representative each of the four incorporated cities, and representatives of the Metropolitan Transit District, which provides local bus and paratransit services, some of whom are also City Council members.

The Santa Cruz Branch railroad corridor was purchased with state funding, pursuant to the 1990 California Proposition 116 public transit bond measure. Its purpose was, and is, explicitly for a future public passenger rail transit system to be implemented in due course, when fully planned and funded. Early in 2021, the RTC commissioners adopted their staff’s “preferred alternative,” a concept involving advanced electric passenger rail technology, not yet in the design phase but in the planning process.

Meanwhile, the plot thickened.

Since around 2014, led by a famed high-tech philanthroper, a group of very wealthy local investors, agricultural and commercial land owners, and their lackeys, have organized to carry out a hugely well-funded political campaign with intense propaganda designed to permanently prevent any use of the publicly owned railroad corridor for public transportation purposes. “Greenway” is their brand.

Why? What for? Their objective is as plain as it is bizarre. The Greenway gangsters say openly and shamelessly that they want to commandeer control of the public railroad corridor and repurpose it for private recreational use. They say they want to redevelop the entire 32 miles of real estate as a so-called “linear park,” repaving the entire width of the corridor with two lanes of divided expressway for bicyclists and a separate lane for pedestrians. And no public transit, ever.

The “Greenway” scheme these bozos are pushing would not be a public transportation asset at all — the corridor would most likely be owned by a parks agency, or a recreational organization — maybe even for profit, if they can somehow force the RTC to transfer the land into the private sector.

That’s a pretty ballsy objective, isn’t it? A gang of a dozen or so rich white guys, sniffing opportunity, teams up, in the guise of a public-spirited grassroots group, doing the old AstroTurf Shuffle, and proceeds to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars (at least that much — who knows — it’s dark money) over a period of years, with no public accounting, and with the goal of privatizing the local public sector’s most valuable transportation asset.

Awesome, eh? What bold market disruption! What entrepreneurial initiative!
The Greenway gangsters, and their accomplices, have been incessantly meddling in local politics, contemptuous as they are of public authority, and the public interest, and the integrity of public institutions.

They don’t give diddly-squat about anyone but themselves and their class of elites.
In 2018 Greenway foisted a ludicrous ballot initiative (Measure L) on the itty bitty City of Capitola (population, 10,000) – a campaign they billed as “Save the Trestle,” but which ended up simply forbidding the town to direct pedestrian and bicycle traffic using the railroad corridor around the antiquated railroad trestle over Soquel Creek, and instead routing travelers a short distance along city streets. In other words, Capitola supposedly now has to force users of a pathway someday to be built in the RTC’s corridor to cross directly over the ancient rickety railroad trestle, where there is not enough width for both a pedestrian/cyclist path and a rail transit system — even though Capitola has no authority over the use of the corridor, or the trestle, even though the City of Capitola sued Greenway to stop the initiative, and even though the RTC’s near-term planning involves a redesigned new crossing for both rail transit and trail users. (Get it? No room for public transit on the old trestle now, so Trail Only — Forever!)

Who supports this? I know who the Greenway gangsters are, for the most part. I know where they live and what they own. They could be served as defendants tomorrow, if they made the wrong move and got caught. I could name them, but they have a propensity for threatening punitive lawsuits against anyone who criticizes them, and I don’t want to give them the opportunity. That’s what kind of people they are. They’re filthy rich, they’re merciless, and they have moneyed interests at stake.

The Greenway gang even bought themselves a County Supervisor last year. They funded a brash young upstart who was, by the way, their paid operative and their Greenway Executive Director, to run for election against the incumbent, who was an honorable, three-term Supervisor who happened to be one of the leading local advocates of public passenger rail transit as a member of the RTC. The Greenway gangsters hated him. They demeaned him. They demonized him. The then-incumbent is Jewish, and they targeted him with scurrilous anti-Semitic cartoon images. They were determined to knock him off in the election no matter how much money it took. They succeeded. Their golden boy had only one actual campaign issue — the “Trail Only” objective of Greenway. Other than that, their puppet candidate was pretty much all shuck and jive, with grinning billboards of his fresh face all over town — placements paid for by the usurpers.

Since then, the Greenway gang has managed to compromise six of the twelve RTC commissioners in support of their anti-public transit objective. Along with their bought Supervisor, they have, by a combination of promises and threats, influenced in their favor two Capitola City Council members serving on the RTC, one delegated paid staffer appointed to the RTC by another County Supervisor whose conflict of interest kept him off the RTC, followed by an outright member of the Greenway gang who was appointed as an RTC alternate by that Supervisor, and yet another member of the Board of Supervisors, who is elderly and facing re-election next year. The Greenway gang has thereby stalemated the RTC’s progress in planning for passenger rail transit. They brought progress by the professional RTC staff in the public interest to a dead stop by corrupting the RTC commissioners. Cumshaw rules the day. (See how they did that? Money equals clout. See why I call them a gang?)

Functionally, Greenway is nothing more than a privately-owned political propaganda mill, a dis-information machine designed to confuse public sentiments and to propagate a deptive narrative in community discourse. Their goal is to reify the false dictum that “we can’t afford public transit,” and to promulgate the idea that private recreational uses of the publicly owned railroad corridor are preferable. They also have donated big money to their favored candidate, and they promise to sponsor opposition candidates against incumbents who don’t play their game.

One irony of Greenway’s “Trail Only” campaign is that it posits a false dichotomy. For them, it’s all about “rail” versus “trail” — one thing or the other. But the RTC’s well developed plans include a protected, paved pathway for bikes and pedestrians, within and alongside the railroad corridor, adjacent to the tracks. And eventually, a public passenger rail transit system. The RTC plan is for “rail and trail,” and segments of the trail are already completed; others are under construction. It’s all planned, designed, and funded. But Greenway hates the RTC’s “rail trail” because it doesn’t preclude public transit, and that’s their main goal. Greenway wants something completely different. No public rail transit. Ever.

Now. Today, July 21, 2021, Greenway has publicly announced its intention to circulate an initiative petition they hope will accomplish the first step in their master plan to privatize the railroad corridor. This is their Measure L on steroids. In substance, their proffered countywide “YES GREENWAY” initiative would simply delete any and all references to possible future passenger rail service from the County General Plan. (Get it? Squelch. Slam! Case closed. No way.)

It sure looks like the Greenway gangsters are plotting to seize control of the public railroad corridor for themselves. Maybe they will permit the general public to walk or bike or scoot or buzz or zip along their Greenway highway by the California coast. But there will never be public transportation there if they have anything to say about it. Forget it.

These Greenway gangsters are enemies of the public interest. They hate public administration, except when it enriches them. I know these people. They’re privateers. They worship Money, and above all else, they look out for number one. Screw everybody else. Believe me, I couldn’t make this up.

The upshot:
If you live in Santa Cruz County and you happen upon some clueless shill hustling a “YES GREENWAY” petition for signatures, give them the cold shoulder. Tell them to get lost.
These clipboard meisters will be paid well in cash by Greenway for voters’ signatures. These hapless hustlers may be ordinary poor schmucks busting a living for ten bucks a pop getting signatures, and maybe you’ll feel sorry for them and want to help, but you must remember they’re being paid by a gang of rich anti-public interest schemers who deserve nothing but our opprobrium. Don’t sign!

The Greenway stooges will lie enthusiastically. They’ll say something like, “Do you want to have a nice trail along the coast for biking and walking?” They’ll say nothing about their paymasters’ real game: to kill any prospect of public transportation in the public
railroad corridor.

Do the right thing. Defend the public good and the public interest.

​DO NOT SUPPORT THE GREENWAY FRAUD!

The decades-long Rail Trail debate is headed into a second battle next week, as the county Regional Transportation Commission decides whether to approve a business plan for passenger rail or shelve the plan. Supporters of the rail line are on the offensive — sending letters and making their voices heard.

Here’s what will happen on Thursday, May 6: The 12-member commission is expected to vote on the Rail Trail “business plan” for a second time after a motion to approve it failed in an initial vote on April 1. The business plan’s aim is to have an electric commuter train system on the old Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line corridor, with a trail alongside it. If the business plan isn’t approved next week, the likelihood of the rail line coming to fruition looks even slimmer than it does now.

In a last-ditch effort to get the rail momentum back on track, rail proponents rallied Wednesday in Aptos, forming a human train along the dormant branch line tracks to show public support for the project.

​Earlier this week, the Santa Cruz City Council approved a resolution in support of the business plan, which acts as a roadmap drafted by planners to outline funding sources and implementation steps to make passenger rail a reality.

When a similar move to back the business plan went before Watsonville City Council on Tuesday evening, some city leaders sparred over it. Councilmember Lowell Hurst, who supports the Rail Trail business plan, said he thought it was crucial for Watsonville leaders to speak as one body before the next RTC meeting.

Not long ago, the Watsonville City Council passed a resolution in support of rail. Hurst and Councilmember Aurelio Gonzalez, the RTC chairperson, wanted another such vote of confidence before next week’s decision.

“I think we need another go at it, because they’re going to have another meeting, and they couldn’t decide what to do last time, and I just don’t want to see the Pajaro Valley left behind, socially, economically, transportation justice-wise,” Hurst said Tuesday night.

The council decided to call a special meeting at 4:30 p.m. on Friday to vote on a resolution. Hurst and Gonzalez wanted to approve a resolution in favor of the business plan during Tuesday’s council meeting but were too late to add the item to the agenda, according to Mayor Jimmy Dutra.

The RTC’s 6-6 tie vote earlier this month meant that, at least for now, its staff won’t be directed to seek federal and/or state funding to complete preliminary engineering and environmental reviews for electric passenger rail along the corridor.

​Although the issue is set to return before RTC commissioners next week, at which point they could decide to vote differently, the failed vote in early April marked a drastic public setback for the proposal, putting its future in doubt and raising alarm among supporters of a train and trail vision.

The tie vote came after the RTC — which is made up of county supervisors, local elected officials and members appointed by the Santa Cruz Metro transit agency — in February approved a staff report, by a 9-3 vote, that pointed to electric rail as the “preferred local alternative” transit option for the corridor.

Still, concerns over future costs and how to pay for a train surfaced. Even some members who voted in favor of moving ahead in February were skeptical. Patrick Mulhearn, a staff member who sometimes represents Supervisor Zach Friend on the RTC, was among them. By early April he was one of the six commissioners who voted against the business plan.

“My real issue is the opportunity cost of pursuing rail,” Mulhearn said at the April 1 meeting. “It means that we’re not talking about other things that we could be implementing right now, with money that we already have.”

​Longtime opponents of rail have argued that a train along the corridor is too costly and will be underutilized. To them, the failed April vote marked a welcome step in the right direction.

“It’s about time the commissioners listened to the people,” said Bud Colligan, a board member of trail-only advocacy group Greenway. “Perhaps now we can find a plan to move forward together.”

​With the future of a train along the coastal corridor in doubt, supporters rail supporters have ramped up efforts to spread their message.

About 30 proponents of a train and trail vision, including Hurst, gathered at Aptos Village Wednesday morning, hoping to rally support for the project and capture the attention of RTC members who voted against the business plan. Among the targets: Mulhearn and Friend.

Friend “needs to get the point,” said Sally Arnold, a board member for Friends of the Rail & Trail, the advocacy group that organized the event. Arnold said she wanted to prove to Friend that the Rail & Trail is a popular project in his district, and one that he should get behind.

“We’re here trying to demonstrate how clean light rail will be good for Aptos Village,” she said, adding that visitors could arrive via train and spend money at local businesses without clogging up roads.

By Isabella Cueto, Patrick Riley
To read the original piece on Lookout click Rail Trail coming to a head: Supporters make big push to keep rail on track heading into key vote next week

APTOS — Wednesday morning, members of Friends of the Rail and Trail ]rallied along the rail corridor in Aptos Village to send a message that despite the tied 6-6 vote at the last Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission meeting, their advocacy isn’t going anywhere.

On April 1, RTC continued an agenda item around the business plan for electric passenger rail that would span more than 30 miles from Davenport to Pajaro. This decision was made despite the commission’s 9-3 vote in February to accept electric passenger rail as its “locally preferred alternative.” Patrick Mulhearn, the alternate for Zach Friend, voted against the business plan. Mulhearn cited his distaste for staff’s definition of “feasibility,” feeling it to be inaccurate that the project itself was feasible at this time.

“It’s really important that we emphasize the disparity between options for north and south county, and that’s why we’re here in Aptos Village,” Friends of the Rail and Trail president Faina Segal said. “Zach Friend and his alternate Patrick Mulhearn voted no and they aren’t listening to his constituents and they aren’t listening to the people who live in District 2 who really need better transportation options.”

Segal listed the need for space for emergency vehicles currently clogged by citizen and visitor cars, the priority to reduce traffic, issues around parking locally and the opportunity to bring people down into the villages in places such as Aptos and Capitola which she considers “the heart of Santa Cruz County” as reasons to support electric passenger rail.

“We will continue to advocate until we get a different vote,” Segal said. “We won’t go away, we’re not going to let them forget about this. It will not be shelved.”
Lowell Hurst, former Watsonville mayor and current city councilmember, stood just feet from Segal holding a sign that said “tourists without traffic.” Hurst told the Sentinel he felt it to be his municipal responsibility to ensure access and equal opportunity in transportation.

“I’m a lucky retiree and I get to go where I want to go. If I could come to Santa Cruz more often and not have a car, maybe put my bike on a rail car and enjoy the best of both worlds that’s what I’m looking forward to,” Hurst said. “I know that many of our workers in Watsonville would really like relief from traffic congestion and they would like to be able to maybe even work while they ride.”

Hurst mentioned Transportation Agency for Monterey County’s plans to expand its branch line that would encompass both buses and light rail. Currently, according to the agency’s website, the project is on hold due to a lack of funding.

“If our residents, particularly our disabled residents and our elderly residents, could have the comfort of riding and not worry about riding they could go visit their families. Many disabled folks could be able to have jobs where they can’t afford to live and they could be able to get transportation back and forth,” Hurst said. “We have seen this in other places all over the world. There’s really no reason we can’t do it right here on the Central Coast.”

The idea of weaving in all forms of transportation — walking, biking and riding on a passenger rail  — is exactly what Friends of the Rail and Trail is in favor of, said former president Sally Arnold.

“Our point is that the rail is the spine and the buses are the ribs that come off the spine,” she said. “It’s an integrated system. There are some people who are trying to make this as if it’s rail or buses. It’s not either/or, you like trains or you like bikes. It all works together. We want it all.”

Senior Cara Lamb is one of the individuals who would directly benefit from a county rail system. A METRO rider for nearly 30 years, Lamb has been affected by the downtown store closures in Santa Cruz and now has to ride into Capitola for most of her material needs. She has not driven in the area since 1992 and now that journey is approximately two hours each way through the bus system.

“Let’s say I want to go to Capitola village. The fastest way to get to Capitola village would be first I walk half a mile to a bus stop. Then I take a bus to downtown. Then I take another bus to the mall. Then I walk to Capitola village because waiting for the bus that goes there, assuming it’s even running anymore, takes too long,” Lamb said. “I could walk a shorter distance to a train station and just be in Capitola village in 15 minutes.”

Beyond better serving residents, a rail system in addition to trail on either side would fulfill the need to treat the county’s visitors kindly, voiced local Mary Jane Slade.
“Travel is one of the staples of our economy,” she said. “This is one of the most beautiful trail rides. So let’s use it, let’s get ’em out there, through our county. (We) can make it pleasant for everyone and not be stuck in traffic.”

Establishing an electric passenger rail system will bring Santa Cruz County up to snuff with incoming national environmental policies, resident Liz Ann Keys said.
“We just need to be in sync, especially in California we need to be in sync with environmental change,” Keys said. “It doesn’t seem radical. It seems like it should have happened a long time ago.”

Aptos resident Barry Scott — who recorded the procession down the train tracks in front of the village and helped to start chants such as “Transportation justice!” and “No redlining!” — is passionate about using those changing policies and funding efforts under the Biden administration.

“This is an educational effort,” he said of Wednesday’s event. “People don’t read the business plan … it’s our job to get people interested and get people involved and use that moment. Absolutely it’s a look-at-me kind of event … we’re passionate about the messaging here too. This transportation justice is no joke. We are not kidding.”

Scott has been studying the main objections to the rail and trail alternative in an effort to support the grassroots organization. The idea that the county can’t afford the rail system, a complaint made by many RTC members in the past, can be debunked by the additional dollars going to equitable transportation through the current presidential direction, he said.

“This was feasible under Trump, it’s crazy right now,” Scott said. “It could be affordable. It will be electric, so it’s very clean … Opponents argue we don’t have the ridership. The business plan includes actually doing a careful ridership study … these ridership numbers are preliminary.”

Additionally, if Caltrans’ 2018 State Rail Plan funding, predicted to equal $140 billion for the next 20 years through federal, state, regional and private sourcing, goes unused by Santa Cruz County it will be used by other interested counties, Scott argued.

“We don’t get that back,” he said.

By Melissa Hartman
To read the original piece of Santa Cruz Sentinel click Rail and trail advocates rally in Aptos Village

A group of local transportation organizers is hoping that, within the span of a decade, a passenger rail will run from Watsonville to Santa Cruz, making stops at hubs where buses will whisk passengers to further destinations. 

For commuters who wish to eschew motorized transportation in its entirety, a 32-mile bike and pedestrian path will run alongside the train tracks from Davenport to Watsonville.

This ambitious project is the vision of Friends of the Rail Trail (FORT), which launched Coast Connect, a group tasked with drumming up community interest and support for the project, on June 24.

The rail-trail project would provide an economical way to get to work and reduce traffic, and take a chunk out of the county’s greenhouse gas emissions, more than half of which comes from vehicles, said FORT Board Chair Sally Arnold.

The project, described by supporters as a “complete transportation solution,” could also make cross-county day trips possible for residents, further bolstering the economy, Arnold says.

“Our primary purpose is to help people envision what life could be like if we had a rail-trail service,” she said. “It’s going to make life better for people in the community and it’s going to help the economy.”

FORT has been working to make a bike and pedestrian path next to the rail line since 2002, a project that rail supporters say could connect the Central Coast to the greater Bay Area transportation infrastructure and, by extension, to the rest of the world.

With 20 separate segments of trail stretching throughout the county, each jurisdiction will be responsible for their sections of the trail. In places, that work has already begun.

In Watsonville, a stretch that runs from Lee Road to Ohlone Parkway is slated to open in the fall. 

“Not only does the rail line provide our local economy and companies and provide hundreds of jobs, but I’m really excited that it can also bring passenger rail on that very same line,” Watsonville City Councilman Felipe Hernandez said. “Let’s start now, planning now for a solution that truly includes Watsonville with high-quality passenger rail transit.”

In Santa Cruz, a one-mile stretch of trail from Bay Avenue to Natural Bridges Drive is expected to be completed by September.

The trail is slated to be complete by 2030, and the rail line will soon follow, organizers say.

And the plan has largely been greenlighted.

The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) in 2018 approved a plan to allow Lakeville, Minn.-based Progressive Rail, Inc. to take over the rail-freight operations in South County. The company’s plans at the time included possible passenger service.

A Santa Cruz County Superior Court judge rejected a legal challenge to the company’s contract in 2019.

The RTC is now mulling options for what the rail line will look like, and will present the best option to the public in September.

The project also has its detractors, including the groups Santa Cruz County Greenway and Trail Now, both of which hope to see the tracks replaced in their entirety with a bicycle and pedestrian path.

Trail Now Executive Director Brian Peoples says that the county’s system of tracks and aging trestles is not equipped to handle the estimated 60 trains per day traveling 45 miles per hour.

Peoples also says that the rail line is not wide enough to safely hold a train and trail.

“We think the trail is a waste of time and money,” said Peoples, who envisions a future when not rail, but legions of people on foot and bicycle—and a fleet of pedicabs—helps to reduce traffic and lessen greenhouse gasses.

The passenger rail service portion of the project will cost an estimated $325 million. It is funded by Measure D, the 2016 half-cent sales tax created to fund countywide transportation projects, which provides about $1.6 million per year for infrastructure preservation of the rail corridor. In addition, the State Rail Plan identifies $1.5 Billion for projects in the Central Coast area, some of which will be allocated for the project.

The rail-trail will cost $283 million, and will also be funded by Measure D, as well as a mix of state and federal funding. Funding for both portions of the project will also come from donations and local matching funds.

FORT member Mark Mesiti Miller pointed to the fact that the Regional Transportation Commission, in a rare unanimous vote, showed its support for the rail-trail project.

“This project will change the way people get around forever,” Miller said.

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY — A group of local transportation organizers is hoping that, within the span of a decade, a passenger rail will run from Watsonville to Santa Cruz, making stops at hubs where busses will whisk passengers to further destinations. 

For commuters who wish to eschew motorized transportation in its entirety, a 32-mile bike and pedestrian path will run alongside the train tracks from Davenport to Watsonville.

This ambitious project is the vision of Friends of the Rail Trail (FORT), which on June 24 launched Coast Connect, a group tasked with drumming up community interest and support for the project.


The rail-trail project would provide an economical way to get to work and reduce traffic, and take a chunk out of the county’s greenhouse gas emissions, more than half of which comes from vehicles, said FORT Board Chair Sally Arnold.

The project, described by supporters as a “complete transportation solution,” could also make cross-county day trips possible for residents, further bolstering the economy, Arnold says.

“Our primary purpose is to help people envision what life could be like if we had a rail-trail service,” she said. “It’s going to make life better for people in the community and it’s going to help the economy.”

FORT has been working to make a bike and pedestrian path next to the rail line since 2002, a project that rail supporters say could connect the Central Coast to the greater Bay Area transportation infrastructure and, by extension, to the rest of the world.

With 20 separate segments of trail stretching throughout the county, each jurisdiction will be responsible for their sections of the trail. In places, that work has already begun.

In Watsonville, a stretch that runs from Lee Road to Ohlone Parkway is slated to open in the fall. 

“Not only does the rail line provide our local economy and companies and provide hundreds of jobs, but I’m really excited that it can also bring passenger rail on that very same line,” Watsonville City Councilman Felipe Hernandez said. “Let’s start now, planning now for a solution that truly includes Watsonville with high-quality passenger rail transit.”

In Santa Cruz, a one-mile stretch of trail from Bay Avenue to Natural Bridges Drive is estimated to be completed by September.

The trail is slated to be complete by 2030, and the rail line will soon follow, organizers say.

And the plan has largely been green-lighted.

The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) in 2018 approved a plan to allow Lakeville, Minn.-based Progressive Rail, Inc. to take over the rail-freight operations in South County. The company’s plans at the time included possible passenger service.

A Santa Cruz County Superior Court judge rejected a legal challenge to the company’s contract in 2019.

The RTC is now mulling options for what the rail line will look like, and will present the best option to the public in September.

The project also has its detractors, including the groups Santa Cruz County Greenway and Trail Now, both of which hope to see the tracks replaced in their entirety with a bicycle and pedestrian path.

Trail Now Executive Director Brian Peoples says that the county’s system of tracks and aging trestles is not equipped to handle the estimated 60 trains per day traveling 45 miles per hour.

Peoples also says that the rail line is not wide enough to safely hold a train and trail.

“We think the rail is a waste of time and money,” said Peoples, who envisions a future when not rail, but legions of people on foot and bicycle—and a fleet of pedicabs—helps to reduce traffic and lessen greenhouse gasses.

But all of the group’s concerns have already been addressed, said FORT member Mark Mesiti Miller, who pointed out that the Regional Transportation Commission in a rare unanimous vote showed its support for the rail-trail project.

The passenger rail service portion of the project will cost an estimated $325 million. It is funded by Measure D, the 2016 half-cent sales tax created to fund countywide transportation projects, which provides about $1.6 million per year for infrastructure preservation of the rail corridor. In addition, the State Rail Plan identifies $1.5 Billion for projects in the Central Coast area, some of which will be allocated for the project.

The rail-trail will cost $283 million, and will also be funded by Measure D, as well as a mix of state and federal funding. Funding for both portions of the project will also come from donations and local matching funds.

“This project will change the way people get around forever,” Miller said.

Six months ago, I spoke with Sally Arnold, the Friends of the Rail and Trail Board Chair, about their vision for Santa Cruz County. The non-profit was created in 2002 with the end goal of “a 32-mile rail corridor and pedestrian pathway from Davenport to Watsonville.” Arnold and I caught up this past week, and while FORT’s motivations remain the same, Arnold was excited to share the newest updates on the transportation system.  On June 24th, FORT launched Coast Connect, their newest campaign, with hopes of creating more community support for the Rail and Trail system. 

Arnold immediately dove in and explained the need for Coast Connect, “FORT has always been very policy focused and we really excel at that, but it’s so easy for community members to get lost in the details. We realized there was a bell curve of understanding in our community.  We have outliers with strong opinions, but mostly a huge portion of people that don’t know what’s going on with the rail and trail.  How do we reach the middle group and share this excitement with the general public? They’re the ones who will really benefit.” COVID-19 has also thrown a wrench into the wheel of public understanding.  Arnold lamented, “We can’t go to farmer’s markets, fairs, and parades.  We have such a great dedicated team of volunteers that can’t work, so how do we get the news out?” 

Like many community members, FORT was in dire need of socialization.  Enter Coast Connect, “FORT’s primary face to the community… As a clear explanation of our broader vision to the community, Coast Connect will be a vital piece of FORT’s comprehensive transportation system throughout the county and beyond.” So far, Coast Connect has attracted quite the list of endorsers, like Justin Cummings, John Leopold, John Laird, Donna Meyers, and Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing.

Much like Coast Connect’s role in FORT, Arnold was eager to move away from the details, and instead passionately addressed the benefits of this future transportation system.  “It’ll improve the economy, environment, and our community’s health, safety, and equity… So many commuters are cut out of jobs and educational opportunities.  Access to easy and safe public transport is the answer to these inequities.” Arnold hopes the new campaign will drum up public support and encourage awareness, “that FORT isn’t just about the Rail and Trail, it’s a unified vision of what could happen, it’s shared, and it belongs to anyone that wants to implement it, whether making neighborhood streets more walkable, improving Metro Bus routes, or getting on a bike.”

On top of the new campaign, Arnold proudly summarized other recent FORT achievements.  “A lot of our work is invisible, it doesn’t look like anything is happening, until it’s almost done.  We’re now beginning to pull things together, the West Side trail between Bay and California will open in the fall, and the neighbors already love it. We’ve finished the design on the Bay to Wharf segment and are applying for funding soon.  A Watsonville segment will also be finished this fall.”  In addition to trail segment construction, Arnold had much to say about the rail as well. “We’re moving towards our own little Promontory Point moment.  The Watsonville City Council just voted unanimously to tell the RTC that they want the rail on the corridor and construction should start in Watsonville first.  The Pajaro Station will link to the rest of the state and the rest of the world.  Commuters will easily travel from Watsonville to Gilroy, Salinas, and Monterey.”  Finally, the RTC is currently conducting a study on 4 different potential vehicles, 2 bus and 2 rail, and will recommend one this fall. 

It might be difficult to take in so many wonderful developments! But don’t worry, you can now keep up with and voice your support for FORT’s fast-moving vision at coastconnect.org.

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In this segment of Talk of the Bay, Rachel Anne Goodman talks with Sally Arnold, board chair of Friends of the Rail and Trail, a nonprofit advocating for public use of the recently acquired rail line in Santa Cruz County between Watsonville and Davenport. Their new project, Coastconnect just had its kickoff. www.coastconnect.org.

Sally Arnold has been a Santa Cruz resident since 1976.  She is a retired public school teacher and community activist.  She is a the board chair of Santa Cruz County Friends of the Rail and Trail, member of Sierra Club Transportation Committee, the working group of Campaign for Sustainable Transportation, and the Bicycle Advisory Committee to the Regional Transportation Commission.  She is excited about the potential of the Coast Connect vision to unite various community groups, businesses, and individuals around a positive vision for our county.