Measure D funds buses, roads, bike trails

“Get Santa Cruz County Moving” is the motto of the aggressive and well-funded campaign to build voter support for an additional half-cent (on a dollar) sales tax to fund more than a half-billion dollars in transportation improvements over the next 30 years.
The drumbeat is rolling, and from a broad and diverse spectrum of community groups and leaders. The measure requires a two-thirds “super majority” to pass.
Measure D, as it will be seen on the ballots beginning to be distributed next week, is a unique combination of projects and promises that offer a little bit of something for everyone, from bicyclists to truckers.
And, because a quarter-cent is schedule to roll off the Santa Cruz County sales tax rate next year, the “real impact” of approval of Measure D would a quarter of a cent.
The county sale tax currently ranges from 8.25 percent in the San Lorenzo Valley and other unincorporated areas to 9 percent in Watsonville.
The half-cent is estimated to generate $17 million in the first year. Because sales tax revenues fluctuate with the retail economy, local officials have conservatively estimated it will generate about $500 million in the 30-year cycle.
Bruce McPherson, chair of the Board of Supervisors and a member of the Regional Transportation Commission, also is quick to emphasize that counties that spend money on transportation get more favorable treatment for state and federal transportation dollars, which would mean more millions.
The county has not been setting enough money aside for transportation infrastructure – roads, bridges, buses, bike paths, etc. – for years, he said.
A growing economy, led by employment and tourism and higher education, has increased the strain, threatening gridlock during commuter hours on many route.
“If we don’t do anything, it’s going to get worse,” he said this week.
Unlike previous road-centric plans, the “Get Santa Cruz County Moving” sales tax measure commits specific percentages for the life of the tax to a broad range of transportation options:
30 percent for Neighborhoods and Street Projects
20 percent for Transit and Paratransit
25 percent for Highway Corridors (state highways)
25 percent for the Coastal Rail Trail and Rail Corridor
Specifically in the Santa Cruz Mountains, $10 million has been identified for Highway 9 improvements, and $5 million for a wildlife underpass for Highway 17.
Advocates call Measure D “the most environmentally sustainable local transportation plan in California,” with more than $100 million for safer bike routes, as well as protection of public transit services. It could, they say, “accomplish a 17 percent reduction in per capital greenhouse gas emissions.
That may be why Ecology Action has joined with the area Chamber of Commerce, why bicyclists have joined labor unions as some of the more than 60 groups endorsing Measure D.
The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (SCCRTC) invites the community to a meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 11 at 6 p.m  at the San Lorenzo Valley Performing Arts Complex on the SLV High School campus.