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Santa Clara County delays proposal deadline

June 22, 2012 - 1:51pm -- Visitor

This update on events in Santa Clara County was provided by member Adina Levin.

At Tuesday's Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors meeting, the Board decided to put the brakes on deciding how to spend $10.4 million on trail funds that could go to complete a missing link in the Bay Trail.

They had planned to discuss a process to take proposals until July 19, and to make a decision by August 19. But instead, they put off even deciding how they were going to decide until August 7. The drive to postpone was made by Supervisor George Shirakawa, who was also the member who urged putting the matter off at the previous meeting.

The trail funds have been gathering interest since 2000 when Stanford was required to compensate the community for trails in the Foothills that branched off from the Dish Trail. Supervisors Liz Kniss and Dave Cortese have proposed the use of some of the funds to complete a gap in the Bay Trail connecting Santa Clara to San Mateo County and the East Bay, and toward the Adobe Creek Bridge which connects Palo Alto to the Bay Trail, and the County's attorneys have ruled that it is legally kosher to spend funds on those projects.

Stay tuned for actions you can take before August 7 to urge the Santa Clara Supervisors to avoid more delay and invest in trails.

Tags: 
santa clara county board of supervisors
stanford
trails
infrastructure
get involved
advocacy

Comments

pmackay's picture

pmackay

July 23, 2012 - 9:04pm

Thanks for this update; please keep us posted and advise us on how to help expedite this. In my view this County has its priorities out of order - claiming a lack of funding while putting curbs in on San Tomas Xway (why?) a few years ago and I couldn't find public records of the project.

Anyway it seems there is an opening on the VTA Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Committee (http://www.sccgov.org/sites/bos/bnc/Documents/bnc-current-vacancies.pdf). Anyone have information on where and how often they meet?

Thanks!

colin's picture

colin

July 24, 2012 - 8:12am

The BPAC meets on the Wednesday following the first Thursday of the month at 6:30 PM. You can find details at http://www.vta.org/inside/boards/governing_board.html#bpac. It's a great way for bike and pedestrian advocates to get involved at the County level. Not quite sure what it means when the position is "expired" as opposed to "vacant," though. Seats on that BPAC are assigned geographically.

pmackay's picture

pmackay

July 24, 2012 - 11:14am

Ah, looks like the City of Morgan Hill is the open position. Thanks for the info!

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