Palo Alto officials have complained for decades about the city's representation on the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, which ostensibly serves the entire county but which is largely dominated by San Jose. In June, a Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury report largely confirmed the city's position when it had determined that the transit agency's leadership structure is, to paraphrase the report, an utter mess. The scathing report notes that the board suffers from a lack of experience by its members, domination by representatives from San Jose and conflicts of interest by members who must balance their fiduciary duties to the VTA with demands from local communities. Later this month, the Palo Alto City Council will consider approving a letter signed by Mayor Eric Filseth that makes a case for changing how board seats are meted out. While Filseth noted that smaller cities like Palo Alto currently don't have a consensus position on the issue, he argued that VTA's governance should be based not just on cities' populations (as is the case today) but also on employment and sales-tax generation. "As a major employment center and sales tax generator at the edge of VTA's service territory, Palo Alto has historically been underrepresented in VTA policy decision in ways that do not serve the travelling public," the city's response to the grand jury states. The letter proposes having the VTA provide funding to a regional group, such as the Cities Association of Santa Clara County, so that the various cities that don't currently have representation on the VTA board can have a "thoughtful discussion" about possible alternatives.
August 11, 2019
Palo Alto Online
By Palo Alto Weekly Staff
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