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 Write to the California Transportation Commission & SCCRTC Spring 2010 - letters of support to the CTC and RTC are very important at this time. Below are addresses and sample letters. Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission Sample letter to the CTC: March 18, 2010 James Earp, Chair RE: Support for SCCRTC’s Application and Allocation Request for Proposition 116 and STIP Funds for Acquisition and Improvement of the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line Dear Chair Earp, As you approach the challenging process of funding California’s many worthy transportation projects, we, the members of Santa Cruz County Friends of the Rail Trail (FORT), ask that you give special consideration to the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (SCCRTC) Uniform Transit Application and allocation request for $10.2 million in Proposition 116 funds and $10 million in STIP funds for acquisition of the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line ROW for corridor preservation, rail line improvements and recreational passenger rail service from Santa Cruz to Davenport. We believe the following factors help distinguish the Santa Cruz Branch Line purchase as a top CTC priority: · Prop 116 was voter approved. Santa Cruz County voters strongly supported this proposition and have paid into the fund since 1991. · Prop 116 funds expire this summer. Once this opportunity has passed it is unlikely this purchase will be possible in the future. · The Branch Line will provide an alternative to Highway 1 and Soquel Drive, our only North-South transit alternatives. · Santa Cruz passenger rail will serve as a feeder line to State-wide high-speed rail and qualify for Prop 1A feeder funds. · Santa Cruz passenger rail will connect to Monterey and help revitalize the impoverished community of Pajaro with a new train station. · The Rail and trail project has past, current and future funding from federal (Sam Farr) and private sources. · The rail line will improve the quality of life here with more car-free and scenic walking and biking opportunities for commuters, families and recreational users. · A 31-mile coastal rail trail helps address health issues such as obesity and carbon emissions. 14 local schools are within a few blocks of our coastal rail line. · Local passenger rail service was a top vote-getter of a 2007 Transportation Funding Survey of potential capital projects. · The many eco-tourism benefits of both rail and trail will help support our local, tourism-based economy and increased tourism to the state. A commercial operator, Sierra Pacific, has been contracted for passenger, tourist, and freight service. Some 70,000 residents live within half a mile of the rail line (126,000 within one mile) and would easily access the rail with trail for biking or walking to work, school, shopping, or exercise. The trail would provide a scenic, car-free, and safe route through major residential, commercial and school areas. The trail would provide daily exercise therefore promoting healthy lifestyles and combating obesity and other diseases associated with a sedentary lifestyle. As Transportation Commissioners you are facing the opportunity to make history for Santa Cruz County by bringing our coastal rail line into public ownership. For many years, transportation planners have seen the coastal rail line as the nerve center of a truly integrated, multi-modal transportation system that connects trains, busses, cars, bikes, and pedestrians throughout our County. We encourage and support your approval of the SCCRTC funding request for this important, voter-approved project. Sincerely,
Santa Cruz County Friends of the Rail Trail |
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