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Greenbelt Alliance In the News

April 12, 2002

Greenbelt Alliance offers up a priority list

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By Jason Massad/Reporter Staff

The Greenbelt Alliance issued this week a list of transportation projects it wants funded by a proposed half-cent sales tax that could be on the ballot in November.

The alliance, a regional open-space advocacy group, calls for supporting mass-transit projects as a solution to the growing traffic congestion along the Interstate 80 corridor.

Transportation officials have said the proposed local sales tax would be linked to specific transportation projects, such as improvements at the I-80 and I-680 interchange, to help it win the required two-thirds majority vote.

The proposal for a sales tax to be linked to a countywide open-space district, is being shopped around to the seven city councils in the county.

The alliance is the first group to lobby for projects that would be funded by the sales tax. The projects are pulled from a recently released county transportation plan that outlines future transportation needs, including:

• $100 million investment to expand the Vallejo ferry service and the current terminal;
• $120 million to expand the county's Express Bus Network for Bay Area commuters and inter-city travelers;
• Funding for track improvements for Capitol Corridor trains;
• Funding for Solano-Napa Commuter Information, which coordinates ride-sharing programs.

According to Bob Berman, a Greenbelt Alliance member from Benicia, the local sales tax should not focus solely on highways. "The plan will lock funding in place for the next 20 years," he said. "We need to make sure that we achieve a balance of funding for buses, ferries, and other transportation modes. Not just highways."

Jason Massad can be reached at county@thereporter.com.

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