High-ranking VTA officers and Mayor Sam Liccardo went out of their option to be “very silent” a couple of federal report that added $2 billion to the estimated value to construct the BART extension to downtown San Jose, whereas they privately shared issues over public notion and funding gaps, newly obtained textual content messages reveal.
In a single message, the mayor inquired on whether or not VTA officers may ask the Federal Transit Administration to strike the brand new worth estimate from a information launch.
When confronted this week in regards to the textual content conversations, Liccardo – a chief proponent of the extension’s design – stated the secrecy was needed to save lots of the taxpayers cash. He informed the Bay Space Information Group that he'll now ask for an impartial assessment of the venture’s controversial single bore tunnel design to make sure public confidence.
Liccardo’s announcement marks a reversal after months of pushing again towards a rising refrain of transit advocates who fear the tunnel design is forcing prices greater and can in the end inconvenience riders. However questions stay over how the VTA will implement a good-faith assessment of the long-delayed venture whereas it continues marching ahead with the present design, as Liccardo says it plans to do.
The six-mile, four-station BART extension via downtown San Jose, which might be managed by the Valley Transportation Authority, would be the largest infrastructure venture in Santa Clara County historical past. And the most recent revelations present a window into the thorny stability officers should strike between offering taxpayers with worth transparency whereas negotiating contracts, looking for extra state funding, and keeping off criticism from transit advocates.
In a number of textual content exchanges, obtained by the Bay Space Information Group in a public data request, officers urged each other to hide a Federal Transit Administration evaluation of the BART venture that pegged the seemingly value at $9.1 billion – a $2.25 billion improve over the present price range – and projected that the downtown extension’s opening may slip to as late as June 2034.
“We must be very ‘silent’ about our price range points,” VTA’s Takis Salpeas, who's overseeing the BART extension, informed Liccardo in an October textual content message, referring to the FTA’s estimate. Salpeas informed Liccardo in a textual content that he feared contractors bidding on the venture would inflate their prices in the event that they knew of the upper price ticket.
“As you already know, we've got 9 main development groups shortlisted . . . They [sic] listening to all the things!! I do know you already know,” Salpeas added.
Every week later, the FTA introduced its greater value projection in a information launch, which prompted Liccardo to plead that it be faraway from the announcement.
“I’m positive you caught the half within the federal announcement the place they assert the venture value ‘is predicted to be $9.148 billion.’ Can we ask them to revise that language??” he texted Salpeas and VTA’s Common Supervisor Carolyn Gonot. However the language was not modified.
In the meantime, the VTA didn't acknowledge the federal value estimate and initially denied a Public Data Act request from this information group for a federal evaluation that defined the brand new price ticket and prolonged timeline.
After months of downplaying the federal value evaluation, the VTA earlier this month stated it could be brief by as much as $1.66 billion in wanted venture funds and indicated that the company is scrambling to determine new state and federal sources to fill the hole. The company stated the rising value of provides and labor is driving up the worth nevertheless it stays adamant that the ultimate value will are available in decrease than the federal projection.
In an interview this week, Liccardo defended his actions to hide the upper worth estimate as an effort to “shield taxpayer dollars.”
“We have been making an attempt to make sure we are able to get a venture constructed with out giving a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of dollars extra of taxpayer cash to contractors,” he stated. “So in different phrases, it was a tightrope in making an attempt to elicit extra state and federal assets for the venture with out telling contractors that there’s extra money within the pot for them to go seize.”
In an interview Tuesday, Salpeas stated he's “the guard of the general public cash” and revealing greater prices “on the road” hampers his capability to barter. “If I needed to do it once more, I'd say the identical message,” he added.
But John Pelissero, senior scholar on the Markkula Heart for Utilized Ethics at Santa Clara College, stated the messages may “undermine the general public’s belief and confidence” in authorities.
“The truth that the federal authorities had a quantity they usually shared it with the native officers within the valley they usually weren't prepared to place this out within the public seems to be an try and be lower than clear, and that’s by no means an excellent technique for public officers,” Pelissero stated.
Within the face of rising criticism, the mayor plans to current a memo at Thursday’s VTA board assembly that can search an impartial assessment of the venture’s tunnel and station designs – marking a serious victory for transit advocates who've lengthy been pushing officers to reevaluate the venture’s design.
In 2018, the VTA and BART boards selected to dig one of many world’s largest subway tunnels with a single bore as a substitute of a extra typical twin bore design that may require tearing up massive sections of Santa Clara Road. Critics argue that the only bore design compromises the long-term expertise of riders by requiring passengers to descend almost 90 ft to get from the road to their trains and failing to offer entry factors on the south facet of Santa Clara Road.
For greater than a 12 months, textual content messages reveal that the mayor – who has additionally publicly voiced issues in regards to the station designs – has been profoundly fearful that he might lose native assist for the venture as native companies search new sources of funding.
In a November 2021 textual content, referring to an influential public coverage suppose tank, Liccardo wrote: “Okay. I simply suppose we've got to publicly wrestle with the parade of ‘higher concepts’ that advocates like SPUR insist that we’re not heeding. I don’t wish to take care of the political headwinds of getting native advocacy organizations towards us.”
It’s unclear who will conduct the brand new evaluation or how lengthy it would take. Nevertheless, Laura Tolkoff, a transportation coverage director for SPUR, praised the mayor, saying the intensive forwards and backwards with VTA officers confirmed a “real effort to enhance the venture.”
“I feel Mayor Liccardo is aware of that getting BART Section II (to downtown San Jose) proper, is as vital as getting this venture finished,” stated Tolkoff.
Scott Knies, govt director of the Downtown Enterprise Affiliation, was probably the most vocal proponents of the only bore design again in 2018 when transit officers have been selecting between the 2. Right now, nonetheless, Knies stated he's open to extra evaluation to be able to persuade residents and taxpayers that they're getting the most effective venture.
“I feel loads wants to come back out on this examine for a change in route,” he stated. “I don’t anticipate that. I see it as a reassurance that we’ve made the correct determination 4 years in the past.”