“When even transit advocates and environmentalists oppose a transit tax, you know it’s a bad idea.”—transbayblog.com

“Better reasons exist to oppose the BART tax. It’s a very costly system for the number of new riders it is expected to serve. It will suck money from bus and light rail service. This won’t be the last tax.”—Scott Herhold, San Jose Mercury News columnist, 9/20/08

“Fairness is a huge issue with this tax. Residents of the western and southern parts of the county would receive virtually no benefit from BART, yet they would be paying for it. Alameda County residents would be the biggest beneficiaries and would pay nothing. Many in East San Jose could actually be hurt by it. Why? Because it threatens their jobs. The SVLG wants to replace high-priced local labor with lower-priced labor (East Bay residents), especially for the hourly positions, often filled by the transit dependent…If BART is to come to San Jose, it should be paid for by those who benefit. I would support such a measure if it was made dependent on two other taxes being levied: one on employers in the Valley, and one on Alameda County and Contra Costa County (a similar sales tax), totaling twice the amount to be received from Santa Clara County sales taxes. Until then, vote NO on the VTA tax for BART.”—Russ Atkinson, former VTA attorney

Organizations

Sierra Club

Silicon Valley Taxpayers’ Association

Dean Democratic Club of Silicon Valley

BayRail Alliance

VTA Riders’ Union

Modern Transit Society

Regional Alliance for Transit

Libertarian Party of Santa Clara County

Transportation Solutions Defense and Education Fund (TRANSDEF)

Elected officials

Yoriko Kishimoto, VTA Board Member; Bay Area Air Quality Management District Board Member; Member and Former Mayor, Palo Alto City Council

The entire Los Altos City Council:

Val Carpenter
Megan Satterlee
David Casas, VTA Board Member
Ron Packard
Lou Becker

Blanca Alvarado, Santa Clara County Supervisor

Pete Constant, San Jose City Councilmember

Larry Klein, Mayor of Palo Alto

Greg Schmid, Palo Alto City Councilmember

Dave Whittum, Sunnyvale City Councilmember

Curtis Wright, Monte Sereno City Councilmember

Patrick Kwok, Director, Santa Clara Valley Water District, former Vice-Mayor, Cupertino City Council

Hal Plotkin, Foothill DeAnza Community College District Board of Trustees

Nonette Hanko, Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District Director

Pete Siemens, Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District Director

Transportation leaders*

John McLemore, Former VTA board member; Former Vice-Chair, Metropolitan Transportation Commission

Dena Mossar, Former VTA board member; Former Mayor of Palo Alto

Greg Perry, Former VTA board member; Former Mountain View City Councilmember

Sherman Lewis, Former BART Director

Roy Nakadegawa, P.E.; Former BART Director; Former AC Transit Director

Margaret Okuzumi, Executive Director, BayRail Alliance

Mark Brodsky, Former VTA Policy Advisory Committee Member; Former Mayor, City of Monte Sereno

Arthur Keller, Planning and Transportation Commissioner, City of Palo Alto

Ellen Fletcher, Former Member, 2000 Measure A Citizens Watchdog Committee; Former Palo Alto City Councilmember; Former Member, County of Santa Clara Transportation Commission

Jim Stallman, Former President, Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition; Former Member, 1996 Measure B Citizens Watchdog Committee

John Inks, Member, Metropolitan Transportation Commission Advisory Council

David Fadness, Former chair, Santa Clara County Transportation Commission; Member, 1996 Measure B Citizens Watchdog Committee

Patrick Moore, Former Member, 1996 Measure B Citizens Watchdog Committee

Community leaders*

Karen Maki, Executive Committee Chair, Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter

Terry Trumbull, Professor, Environmental Studies Department, San Jose State

Dina Campeau, Community Activist

Rick DiNapoli, CEO, DiNapoli Commercial Properties; former chair of the SJ/Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce Infrastructure Committee

William B. Baron, Businessman; Former board chair of the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce

Jeffrey Schwartz, Former board president, Mission/West Valley College District Board

Dale Warner, Secretary, Save Open Spaces (North San Jose)

Penny Ellson

Mona Miller, Advisory board member for Las Avenidas

Joyce Baker

Helen Chapman, Former Parks Commissioner for City of San Jose

Media

Palo Alto Daily Post

Gilroy Dispatch

Santa Clara Weekly

El Observador

*affiliations listed for identification purposes only