Flexing the facts
Could BART and Muni cut costs *before* pushing a sales tax that makes almost everything more expensive?
Lefty non profit SPUR dubiously says No, then goes on to claim transit capital project funds simply can’t be “flexed”--or reallocated --to pay for transit operations. Instead, SPUR encourages Bay Areans to pass RTM, a punishing five-county sales tax hike on this November’s ballot.
But former CA Gov candidate Thunder Parley recently took to X to call out SPUR for flexing the facts and distorting one of the key arguments against the transit tax. He says SPUR is using straw men and catastrophism to hide what this is really about: a bailout for agencies who refuse to spend money responsibly. An Opp Now fact check, with Thunder’s comments below:
SPUR Claim #1: It’s impossible to reallocate funds from boondoggle megaprojects, so the only way to keep the sky from falling is to hike the sales tax.
“There’s no procedurally or politically viable option to flex funding at the scale needed to prevent cuts in 2027.”
Fact Check: False. Transit agencies can improve efficiency through more-than-common-sense cuts. And this doesn’t mean closing 15 BART stations. It means the state Legislature working with MTC could redirect state grant funds from projects like the $1 billion/year California high speed rail project, the $8.25 billion, 1.3-mile Caltrain extension to Salesforce Transit Center, and the $2.05 billion Valley Link, a rail connection between Mountain House, Livermore and the Dublin/Pleasanton BART station.
Thunder Parley: “The agencies are essentially arguing they cannot cut their fingernails because they will bleed to death. Not all cuts are bad. Taxpayers are not stupid. We will not even talk about the billions available in cap and trade funds.
“The Committee for Affordable Bay Area Transit, is…pro-transit and pro-accountability. We want smart cuts and clean, safe and reliable transit.
“Caltrain is costing taxpayers $41,000 a year per rider for South County diesel service. That is only 365 riders but spending $15M a year. It also duplicates service that VTA covers with both Rapid and local buses.”
SPUR Claim #2: The transit tax is going to be carefully crafted to distribute the money fairly.
“Much transit tends to be funded locally (at the county level) and…so much process and effort is required to craft regional transit funding measures, where shared priorities and obligations must be defined and agreed to.”
Fact Check: False. By locking in fixed percentage handouts, RTM perpetuates the inequities that hit Santa Clara County and VTA the hardest. It’s a centrally planned scheme that cares not for the needs of local taxpayers and riders, just rewards transit agencies for their bad behavior.
Thunder Parley: “They directly claim that SB 63, Scott Wiener's Connect Bay Area Act that put this on the ballot, defines shared priorities. Unfortunately for them I can read. All it does is lock in fixed percentage handouts to fractured agencies to continue existing service. Unbelievable.
“It forces zero actual operational changes or consolidation. They think you are stupid and will just believe anything they say.”
Read the SPUR article and Thunder Parley’s response on X and learn more about CABAT’s position on the transit tax here.
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