BILLIONS FOR RAIL
The RTC should continue to pursue zero-emission passenger rail service in Santa Cruz County. The train will provide an easy way to bypass Highway 1 congestion, as well as a reliable transportation option for residents who can’t or prefer not to drive.
To pay for the project the RTC can hire staff instead of paying consultants, use local contractors, continue to get state and federal grants, and pursue cost saving approaches. The cost of building the rail system will be cumulative over years of construction and is less than Highway 1 improvements and road maintenance projects
Rail opponents keep talking about railbanking. County residents already voted against railbanking by 73%, because we want the train and the trail both. We all know that starting a legal battle to remove the tracks wouldn’t get the trail built faster. It would only benefit a few trackside land owners looking for a payoff.
The RTC should move forward with rail service along with the trail between North and South County.
Judith Carey, Russell Weisz | Santa Cruz
PAINFUL TRACKS
A letter in Good Times last week captured something essential about Santa Cruz County. It wasn’t about rail policy or billions in infrastructure—it was about a few dozen feet of track in front of the Boardwalk that keeps injuring cyclists. The problem has been known for years. It’s still not fixed.
That single letter asks a question that should echo through every public meeting in this county: if we can’t handle the little things, how do we expect to take on the big ones?
We can’t seem to repair our roads on schedule. We struggle to coordinate bike and pedestrian safety projects. METRO service is thin and unreliable. Sidewalks vanish mid-block. Crosswalks fade and stay faded. And yet, we’re talking about building and operating a $4.3 billion passenger rail system.
The reality is that Santa Cruz County’s government systems are stretched thin. Each small issue—like that dangerous crossing—reveals a deeper problem: no sustained focus, no accountability, and no follow-through. When the simple things stay broken, it isn’t because people don’t care. It’s because our institutions have grown used to tackling symbolic projects instead of concrete ones.
If we can’t install 25 feet of safe track filler to stop bike crashes, how will we design, fund, and manage a county-wide rail system that depends on dozens of complex crossings, bridges, and coastal bluffs?
Fixing the small things first isn’t just practical. It’s the only credible path toward the big things. Until we can deliver on everyday basics—smooth pavement, working buses, safe crossings—grand promises about zero-emission rail are just noise on top of broken tracks.
Will Mayall | Santa Cruz
STAND STRONG
As union members, we know what it means to stand together for the essentials that keep families safe and communities strong. Right now, Republicans in Congress are holding the federal budget hostage and pushing cuts that would rip away healthcare from millions of families.
Working families already carry enough burdens: rising costs, stagnant wages and the daily stress of making ends meet. Increasing healthcare costs in the middle of these challenges is not just irresponsible, it’s cruel.
Democrats are standing firm to protect Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) subsidies and reverse Medicaid cuts because they understand healthcare is a lifeline, not a bargaining chip. Working people can’t afford higher premiums or lost coverage just to satisfy an extremist agenda.
Unfortunately, Republicans are willing to gamble with our health, our jobs, and our economy to score political points. Unions fight for good jobs, fair wages, and benefits at the bargaining table; and Congress should do no less for the American people.
Sincerely,
Christian Fine | Capitola
Will Mayall’s excellent, common sense approach deserves to be seriously discussed by the members of the RTC before they move ahead with the proposed multi-billion grandiose intercity rail and less desirable confined trail project and the inflated sales tax that will be required to cover operating expenses.
Will wrote: “Fixing the small things first isn’t just practical. It’s the only credible path toward the big things. Until we can deliver on everyday basics—smooth pavement, working buses, safe crossings—grand promises about zero-emission rail are just noise on top of broken tracks.” Or, as one RTC member said the ZEPRT project “is sucking all the oxygen” from all other county transportation needs.
This lack of attention to fixing the “small things” applies to County infrastructure in general, of course. We have waited for years to have the broken drainage system of the original Arana Gulch Multi-use bike/ped path along Brommer Street Extension repaired. It was installed behind the retaining wall and worked when the $7.5 million project opened in 2014. It was broken two years later. It is still broken. As are three of the Dark Sky friendly nighttime lights for the asphalt path.