SCC resident brands BART extension a disastrous, inefficient, top-dollar “rodeo”
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In a letter featured recently in the Mercury News, Santa Clara's William Ortendahl critiques BART's ever-delayed extension boondoggle to downtown SJ and Santa Clara: it's crazy expensive, pragmatically questionable, and—to complete the lineup—abysmally managed. Read Ortendahl's insights below.
Stop the BART extension now, step back and take a pause.
We are watching this rodeo play out in the Central Valley now with high-speed rail. At the current rate, the BART extension will cost at least $20 billion and may run by 2040. Look at HSR; I see no difference. The BART extension is needed but not at this cost. Why go to Santa Clara, which will cost billions and is covered by Caltrain already? Stop at Diridon Station. Plus go back to the original two-tunnel plan. Doing both of these things will save billions. For the businesses that are disrupted, just pay them the revenue they can prove they lost.
And lastly, do no more until you have the management hired: Real project managers, leaders who understand the full scope of the project from start to finish and who are transparent to the taxpayers, not the keep-going-at-any-cost bureaucracy.
This letter originally appeared in the Mercury News. Read the whole thing here.
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