SMART will seek views from public

SMART plans to hold several forums starting in August to hear the public’s views on its management and direction, as well as reasons why voters rejected its sales tax extension measure in March.

“In the aftermath of Measure I, one thing that became very clear to the entire board for SMART is that we really need to get out into the community, we need to listen, we need to hear what various stakeholders, residents, voters, what they’re saying to us,” Eric Lucan, chairman of the board and a member of the Novato City Council, said Wednesday.

After Measure I failed to gain the necessary two-thirds majority support in both Marin and Sonoma counties in the March election, the board met in April and agreed on holding public meetings to determine what it would take to gain support for a future tax measure.

Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit sought to use the 30year, quarter-cent sales tax extension to refinance the nearly $140 million in bonds it used to construct the 45mile railroad between Santa Rosa and Larkspur, as well as free up $12 million per year in debt payments.

Opponents of the measure accused SMART of financial mismanagement, lack of oversight, lack of transparency and failing to live up to the build-out promises it gave when voters passed the existing sales tax in 2008. SMART’s sales tax is set to expire in 2029.

“SMART is not going anywhere,” said Marin County Supervisor Damon Connolly, a SMART board member, at the board’s meeting on Wednesday. “So really it’s our jobs to make sure that it succeeds, that the vision is carried out, but that it provides service in a very costeffective, meaningful way for the public. I think we’re willing to take the perspective that no stone will be left unturned. We’ll be willing to look at everything.”

Board members plan to hold several forums targeted toward specific communities, including those that are not along the SMART line, such as Southern Marin. The first meetings, which have yet to be scheduled, are set to take place in Sonoma County. The Marin meetings will be led by Connolly and Larkspur Councilman Dan Hillmer, who is also on the rail district’s board.

Hillmer suggested that people who commute from San Francisco to the North Bay also have a chance to weigh in.

“I want to make sure that we allow in this conversation the relationship to the (Golden Gate) bridge district and ferry and how people have the opportunity to live and work in the North Bay,” Hillmer said.

Steve Birdlebough of the Sonoma County Transportation and Land-Use Coalition suggested that these hearings continue to take place up until SMART puts another tax extension on a future ballot.

“Keeping the finger on the pulse is a very important thing to do,” Birdlebough said.