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Greenbelt Alliance In the News

September 10, 2004

Measure J advocates hope to make history in election

Supporters aim to capture two-thirds majority vote in Contra Costa--a feat never accomplished previously

About 50 supporters, including elected officials, business people and labor leaders, gathered at the Concord Radisson Hotel to receive a briefing on the campaign strategy.

Consultant Alex Evans of the Evans/McDonough Company Inc. told the group that three separate polls conducted in July 2001, March 2003 and April 2004 showed the measure was consistently supported by 75 percent of likely voters.

However, Evans said it's never wise to rest easy in a campaign requiring a two-thirds majority.

"This hasn't happened before in Contra Costa," he said. "No countywide measure has ever cleared the two-thirds threshold."

If approved by voters in November, Measure J would reauthorize the half-cent sales tax originally approved by voters in 1988. At that time, the transportation tax only required a simple majority to pass and was approved with 58 percent of the votes.

Measure J, a $2 billion, 25-year transportation measure would provide $125 million to build a fourth bore of the Caldecott Tunnel, $150 million to extend BART to east county, $125 million to widen state Route 4 East and $100 million to extend bus and carpool lanes on Interstate 680.

In addition, programs such as bus and ferry service, BART and bicycle trail maintenance also would receive funding. Under the plan, $360 million would be made available to the cities for street and road maintenance.

The measure has won the support of all 19 cities, the county Board of Supervisors, organized labor and prominent business groups.

At Thursday's event, Peter Oswald, senior vice president of Sunset Development Co., urged his fellow supporters to get involved in the campaign.

"These yard signs are not doing any good sitting in a hotel or office," he said, pointing to bright green Measure J campaign placards set up all around the room. "We need them out in the community."

Amy Worth, chairwoman of the Contra Costa Transportation Authority and vice mayor of Orinda, said the elected officials can play an important role in getting the message out to voters.

"It's important for elected officials to tell their constituents we've been part of developing the plan," she said.

Worth said garnering the two-thirds majority will be a "Herculean task."

Measure J will actually require two campaigns, an early effort directed at absentee voters and a later drive focused on the rest of the county's voters, Evans said.

The campaign will strive to drive home a simple point.

"We don't have to convince people that transportation is the most important issue facing the county, because it is, and they know it."

However, not everyone is on board with the measure.

Some environmental groups, such as the Greenbelt Alliance, have chosen to sit on the sidelines. The alliance has expressed concern that smart growth provisions of the measure were not spelled out clearly enough.

Evans said the campaign is still striving to win over support from those quarters.

The Contra Costa Taxpayers Alliance is opposed to the measure, while the larger Contra Costa Taxpayers Association has not yet taken a stand.

The campaign committee, Contra Costa Citizens for Transportation Solutions, has set a minimum $600,000 election budget. So far, about $228,000 has been received in donations and pledges.

"We've received $25 contributions to $25,000 contributions," said Tomi Van de Brook of the California Alliance for Jobs.

DeSilva Gates Construction of Dublin has committed $25,000, while PMI Mortgage Insurance in Pleasant Hill has contributed $15,000 and Sunset Development in San Ramon has given $10,000.

Tamara Grippi covers Contra Costa County. She can be reached at (925) 416-4882 or at tgrippi@angnewspapers.com

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