McEnery: San Jose needs a common sense approach to BART extension

A fair and independent analysis is needed before we begin the multi-billion dollar project.

The multi-billion dollar project to extend BART six miles into the heart of San Jose is about to begin. One question must be answered: Should it?

It is said that you should never start a project without knowing the reason why. We must have that answer and another about the commitment of an accountable leadership, not a board of elected officials from other places.

They should also have the judgment to see the facts and do their job of looking at the financial reality of both construction and operation. There can be no magical thinking, no manna from heaven hopes, and they must be ready to commit something beyond “thoughts and prayers” to those who will be collateral damage in a rush to attend this ground breaking.

The billion-dollar VTA boring mole will soon be traveling beneath our streets, operated by the scandal-plagued BART management team. This is a group dominated by its unions and an assortment of contractors and consultants. To add to that, the politicized BART board and management of BART recently pressured its state-mandated inspector general to resign, a case of the team firing the referee. Add to that the immediate past of  VTA’s treatment of the small businesses downtown, and it bodes ill for the future.

As in most serious situations, people look to the mayor, and we have in Mayor Matt Mahan, winner in a historic election, his commitment to a “Revolution of Common Sense.” This is certainly a time for just that. Our city must adopt a municipal Hippocratic Oath to first do no harm.

Another casualty along with the businesses may be SAP Center and the San Jose Sharks. Despite all they have done for our city and the pride our citizens feel for them, the Sharks are receiving cavalier treatment from a twin juggernaut of BART and our city’s delayed hopes for Google. Little loyalty is being shown to the only structure in our city approved clearly and resoundingly by a vote of the people and to a dedicated, loyal owner, Hasso Plattner. The Sharks must not be a casualty in this story. It would dishonor our city leadership.

Finally, just who is really in charge of this risky race into the unknown, this bullet-train-magnitude decision? If the BART downtown tunnel effort fails, it will not be abandoned in the
fields outside Merced but in the heart of a major American city, San Jose.

I have seen past VTA projects such as the Transit Mall on First and Second Street in the 1990s, and I know how the past can be prelude. There will be few to hold accountable for errors or a disaster if that time comes. Then we watched this poorly run VTA city project arrive after the construction era of the 1980s, and “shoot the survivors.”

This is wrong. Our city leaders have the responsibility to assess the timing and real costs of this extension from Berryessa and carefully look at the options — perhaps buses, just as our major employers utilize, taking riders to the airport and Valley Fair or to their jobs and homes. The threat to our city is frightening. The need to recognize the gigantic changes in urban America that have left our office towers empty and transit system prostrate must be seen and acknowledged. There should be a fair and independent analysis before we begin and proceed only with full knowledge. Will there be riders? If so, is there a better, less expensive option? It is the responsibility of the mayor and City Council to get that answer before a shovel is lifted or a new billion spent.

Twenty years ago, we passed an ordinance proposed by councilmember and now state Sen. Dave Cortese to protect businesses from a BART project’s impact. This should be revisited. Remember, we can’t go back and change the beginning, but we can start from where we are and change the ending.

We must start to use our common sense — our duty demands it.

Tom McEnery is a former mayor of San Jose and a downtown property owner.