Post by ferryfast admin on Dec 27, 2007 12:51:01 GMT -5
It's the Law: Ferry statute doesn't float well with all
Solano County supervisors call legislation a 'hijacking'
By Aurelio Rojas - arojas@sacbee.com
Published 12:00 am PST Wednesday, December 26, 2007
One in a series of reports on new laws that take effect Jan. 1.
SAN FRANCISCO – On Jan. 1, most public Bay Area ferry systems will be consolidated into a new agency, a development that unnerves Vallejo officials and other critics.
The agency – called the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority – was created by Senate Bill 976, which Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata shepherded through the waning days of the legislative session with 26 pages of amendments.
Perata, D-Oakland, said the legislation will improve coordination among ferries, allowing them to carry more people if bay bridges are damaged by a natural disaster like the Loma Prieta earthquake or by a terrorist attack.
But elected officials from the cities of Vallejo and Alameda were surprised by the reach of the bill. Initially it called only for the creation of an emergency authority to ensure ferries would be able to respond to a disaster.
Now, the new agency will have authority and control of all public transportation ferries in the Bay Area except for those owned and operated by the Golden Gate Bridge District.
"It was an eleventh-hour gut-and-amend," said Vallejo City Manager Joe Tanner, referring to the legislative process by which a bill's contents are stripped out and replaced. "The city of Vallejo was not contacted or consulted."
The Solano County Board of Supervisors called the legislation, authored by Democratic Sen. Tom Torlakson of Antioch, a "hijacking." Democratic Assemblywoman Noreen Evans of Santa Rosa also opposed the bill.
Vallejo officials pointed out that the legislation did not spell out how the city would be compensated for its $130 million in assets, including four high-speed ferries, the terminal building and vendor contracts.
It's unclear what – if any – effect the power shift could have on the thousands who rely on the Vallejo ferries each working day.
Steven Castleberry, chief executive officer of the current Water Transit Authority, conceded the "legislation is very short on specifics."
"The legislation isn't necessarily a bad thing or a good thing – it's an unknown thing," said Castleberry, whose agency will be dissolved into the new Water Emergency Transportation Authority. "So it can be interpreted as legislative larceny, or it can be interpreted as coordination for an emergency."
Perata said critics should calm down and vowed that the outstanding issues – including Vallejo's compensation – would be addressed in cleanup legislation.
"This is a tempest in a teapot," Perata said of the concerns that Vallejo officials have raised. "All they're doing is aggravating the situation. We're not taking over anything."
Perata said the legislation was the product of two years of work by the Bay Area Council. The San Francisco-based business group is chaired by developer Ron Cowan, the senator's largest individual campaign contributor.
Perata said the bill was rushed through the Legislature because the 51-day budget stalemate left little time for debate.
Under SB 976, the new authority will receive $250 million – including $25 million in the first year – from infrastructure bonds that voters passed in November 2006.
The new agency will have authority over Vallejo's ferries, which provide service to 900,000 riders a year – many from the Sacramento region – to and from San Francisco's Embarcadero.
The agency will also have jurisdiction over Alameda's routes and ferries planned for South San Francisco, Berkeley and Richmond. It will be run by a five-member board chosen by the governor and legislative leaders, including Perata.
The agency will have 12 months to prepare a transition plan that incorporates Vallejo and Alameda, and 18 months to prepare an emergency water transportation plan.
Cowan's involvement in the project has raised eyebrows. The Perata ally has long been interested in ferries as a way to enhance his office development at Alameda's Harbor Bay Isle.
His firm, Doric Development, operates the ferry connecting Harbor Bay Isle to San Francisco. Perata said that if Cowan is named to the new agency's governing board, he will have to divest himself of any potential financial conflict.
Cowan, who did not return phone calls for this story, was also a driving force behind creation of the Water Transit Authority in 1999, with the idea of creating a baywide ferry system.
Plans called for creating a 33-boat system with seven new routes as part of a $1.6 billion project that would give commuters more options.
But the Water Transit Authority was not given the authority, the money or the mandate to build a regional system. SB 976 was designed to correct that, Perata said.
Castleberry, the Water Transit Authority's chief executive officer, said the $250 million in the legislation provides a start. Perata said plans call for leveraging homeland security funds to raise more money.
Ferry travel, which accounts for less than 1 percent of commuter traffic, has a checkered history. Ferries were hailed for providing a valuable service after the Loma Prieta earthquake leveled highways in 1989.
But the Richmond and Berkeley ferries were ultimately shuttered because of lackluster ridership. Castleberry said those routes failed because they did not have ample government subsidies and riders chose cheaper, faster alternatives.
That would change if another big earthquake hit the Bay Area. A major temblor along the Hayward Fault could close more than 1,700 roads, including major freeways and bridges.
"Today, there's not enough docking capacity at the ferry building to be able to dock just the existing boats in the Bay Area," Castleberry said. "So, in an emergency, when bridges fall down, essentially half the boats available to us, we couldn't put into use."
A typical terminal, such as the one planned for South San Francisco, costs up to $25 million. So it's going to be a while before the water highway that supporters envision takes place.
Meanwhile, the city of Vallejo is trying to patch up its differences with Perata and has hired a team of lobbyists.
"There's all kind of hair on this bill that will have to be cleaned up," Tanner said.
Perata said spending money on lobbyists was a waste of Vallejo's money because the issues will be amicably resolved.
"Senator Perata is a powerful guy, so right now I want to make friends," Tanner said. "At the same time, I'm not going to allow Vallejo to be the worse for this legislation."