For Whom the Bridge Tolls are Slated: $79 Million for Ferries

Dear Editor,

Your positive article about Senator Perata’s proposed Bay Toll Crossing allocation was right on target.  Perata’s plan is remarkably well balanced and intelligent, especially when compared to what MTC has been doling out for the past 25 years.

However, the MTC mishmash continues.  I hope you’ll write more about this. Three years ago, MTC blew a once-in-a-hundred-year opportunity to resolve the transbay capacity problem.  There’s much that could be said about this particular piece of bureaucratic idiocy.  Two years ago, MTC had to be pulled kicking and screaming into the much needed Transbay Terminal/Caltrain Upgrade program.

By failing to do its regional job, MTC has presided over, and is continuing to preside over boondoggles, while continuing to miss opportunities to ease Bay Region traffic congestion.  For this, the Commission should be called to account in no uncertain terms.  However, because the media is generaly bored with transportation issues, this hasn’t happened.

Gerald Cauthen
Oakland

Searching

Dear Editor,

I am searching for any information regarding my great-grandfather Hans C. Sand. He was a tugboat Captain on the SF Bay from 1900 to 1950 (approx). Later in life, he worked for Shell Oil. I have a receipt that shows him as a member of the N.O. of M.M. and P. of A. - Local No. 40 of San Francisco (Bay and River). Any information you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

With thanks,
Robert Strom

Golden Gate Bridge Did Too Get Federal Money

Dear Editor,

Senior Editor Wes Starratt’s otherwise solid interview with Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1575 president Tony Withington (Bay Crossings, May 2003) was tainted by a question based on the false premise that seismic upgrading of the Golden Gate Bridge is being done largely without federal and state funding.

The fact is that discretionary federal investment in the $388 million Golden Gate Bridge retrofit program currently totals $83 million, and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission is working with the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District to advocate for an additional $25 million in federal bridge discretionary funds for this critical project. In addition, MTC in 2000 committed $26 million of federal Transportation Equity Act for the 21st century funds to the Golden Gate Bridge retrofit. State funds in the amount of $50 million — plus $71 million in local toll funds — have been committed to the project to date as well.

As part of many regional agreements designed to position the Bay Area to receive the greatest possible amount of federal discretionary funding, the Golden Gate Bridge retrofit has had a clear field to compete for scarce federal dollars while improvements to the state-owned toll bridges in the Bay Area rely primarily on locally-generated toll revenues and state highway account funding. Indeed, the Golden Gate Bridge retrofit is the only project for which MTC is seeking federal bridge discretionary funds.

Mr. Withington’s knowledge of Golden Gate Transit bus routes gives him an excellent, and illuminating, perspective on proposed cuts to the system. The next time you want to know about bridge financing, we would be happy to provide any information you need.

Randy Rentschler

Manager, Legislation and