☆ Fact check: CM Cohen’s five biggest pro-transit tax deceptions
In his pro-transit bailout Merc op-ed, SJ CM David Cohen gets a lot wrong, spins a lot of fabrications, and displays a lack of understanding about basic transit and tax truths. For an Opportunity Now exclusive, former CA Gov candidate Thunder Parley fact checks five of Cohen’s biggest misleads:
Cohen claim #1: VTA will improve service
Cohen: “The Regional Transit Measure will dramatically improve VTA service to offer faster, more frequent service and improved efficiency to bring back riders and take more cars off the roads.”
Fact check: False. Measure RTM guarantees no service improvements.
Thunder: “Measure RTM establishes absolutely zero minimum requirements for increasing VTA service hours, frequency or routes. Cohen expects voters to believe that handing unrestricted cash to an agency addicted to mega-projects will magically produce better bus service. That is like handing cash to an addict expecting them to check into rehab instead of feeding their habit.
“The recent Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury report proves this exact point. Why should the millions of us give billions to an agency with a documented lack of fiscal oversight and mismanagement? Who’s to say they won’t simply just funnel these new tax funds into mega-projects?
“The primary mega-project is the BART Phase II extension. VTA wants to spend $13 billion to tunnel 100 feet underground into downtown San Jose through an active fault zone. The design requires a series of massive escalators to carry passengers between the underground platform and street level. A rider can take the exact same trip from Berryessa to downtown on a Rapid bus in 11 minutes today for zero extra taxpayer dollars. What are we even doing here?”
Cohen claim #2: VTA needs more money despite being solvent
Cohen: “Some have argued that VTA is not in the same precarious position as other agencies. But VTA cut service years ago to balance its budget, and that service never bounced back. In fact, VTA operates less service today than it did in 2001.”
Fact check: False. Cohen sidesteps VTA's current financial health.
Thunder: “Cohen insists VTA needs this revenue to improve service despite the agency holding operating surpluses and strong reserves. He dodges questions about VTA's current financial health by pointing to budget cuts made decades ago. If VTA is solvent today, why has it not restored those service levels?”
“Even if they could, doing so makes no sense. Bay Area public transit ridership has been steadily declining since 2015, half a decade before the pandemic. Demanding billions to restore ghost routes is financial malpractice.
Cohen claim #3: “Carmageddon” is nigh
Cohen: “Make no mistake, the survival of our regional transit systems is critical to San Jose. Our systems depend on one another. Allowing BART to be hobbled would undermine the future of Caltrain and VTA and worsen traffic throughout the Bay Area. SPUR’s recent ‘Bumper to Bumper’ study gives us a glimpse of how bad that carmageddon could be without workable public transit.”
Fact check: Misleading. SPUR's own numbers suggest a negligible increase in traffic.
Thunder: “The math tells a completely different story. SPUR's worst-case BART scenario of 15 station closures actually adds fewer than 9,000 cars to the road. Across a region processing 12 million daily car trips, that equals a 0.07% increase. It is a statistical rounding error. Bay Area traffic gets worse during a light drizzle.”
“Furthermore, SPUR authored this tax measure while pushing to build 400,000 new housing units. Those homes will add at least 800,000 daily car trips to our roads regardless of transit use. That impact is roughly 8,800% higher than the transit cuts they use to terrify voters. Surely Councilmember Cohen must oppose all this new housing if he is truly terrified of traffic?
“It is well known that SPUR, which presents itself as an objective research nonprofit, consistently goes to bat for the special interests pushing this heavy-handed transit tax.”
Cohen claim #4: Measure RTM will help repair potholes and pave roads
Cohen: “The measure would reduce traffic by helping Caltrain and VTA take cars off the road, while also allowing funding for pothole repair and paving, something we explicitly fought to include to meet our local needs.”
Fact check: False. Measure RTM guarantees nothing for neighborhood potholes.
Thunder: “Cohen dangles road repairs to secure votes. He claims he secured money for potholes and paving. The state statute behind Measure RTM, SB 63, guarantees nothing for neighborhood potholes. Pavement projects are political code for road diets.”
“Californians already pay the highest gas taxes in the nation to fix our roads. Why is Cohen fighting to double-tax us for work that will never be guaranteed to happen?”
Cohen claim #5: Measure RTM is affordable for Santa Clara County families
Cohen: “The regional transit measure, Measure RTM, is important for the future of the Bay Area, and it’s a good deal for San Jose.”
Fact check: False. A regressive tax makes most purchases less affordable
Thunder: “When 20% of Bay Area residents rely on food banks, a $17 billion regressive tax hike is indefensible. It raises costs on meals, clothes, school supplies and everyday essentials to protect transit contractor profits and bloated bureaucracies.”
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