VTA Board of Directors:

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1 From: Board.Secretary Sent: Monday, February 09, :42 AM To: VTA Board of Directors Subject: El Camino Real Bus Rapid Transit Project - public comments and availability of documents VTA Board of Directors: On January 20, 2015 (see below), VTA sent you a link to the public comments on the El Camino Real Bus Rapid Transit Project Draft Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Assessment (EIR/EA). For your information, the availability of these comments on VTA s FTP site will automatically expire on Friday, February 20, Our FTP site was designed for temporary storage of documents and is programmed to delete files after two weeks. If you need access to these files after February 20, 2015, please contact us for assistance. Office of the Board Secretary Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 N. First Street San Jose, CA board.secretary@vta.org From: Board.Secretary Sent: Tuesday, January 20, :10 PM To: VTA Board of Directors Subject: El Camino Real Bus Rapid Transit Project - public comments and availability of documents VTA Board of Directors: Attached is a letter from Tom Fitzwater, VTA Environmental Resource Planning Manager, regarding the El Camino Real bus Rapid Transit Project. The text of the letter and the links to the documents are noted below. If you have any questions, please reply to this message. Thank you. Office of the Board Secretary Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 N. First Street San Jose, CA board.secretary@vta.org VTA Board of Directors:

2 Recently, we received questions about how comments and letters related to the El Camino Real Bus Rapid Transit Project and Draft Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Assessment (EIR/EA) are handled. In addition, concern was expressed about access to the electronic Draft EIR/EA. The following seeks to answer those questions regarding comments to the Board as well as provide the results of staff s analysis of the electronic availability of documents associated with Draft EIR/EA: Comments addressed to the VTA Board of Directors in the greeting but sent to the project address or mailing address will be included as part of the documented environmental analysis and provided to the VTA Board of Directors with the formal responses to comments as part of the Final EIR/EA. For the El Camino Real BRT Project, the Board of Directors will be asked to select a Locally Preferred Alternative in advance of the completion of the Final EIR/EA. In this case, VTA staff will provide all comments received during the public review period between October 29, 2014, and January 14, 2015 to the Board for their consideration in this decision. This is scheduled to occur in Spring There was a claim that opposition letters and s to the Dedicated Lane BRT were not being sent to the VTA Board of Directors. All comments sent to board.secretary@vta.org are handled as follows: o s are categorized and compiled based by topic o s regarding specific projects are compiled into one pdf file o The correspondence files are typically sent to the Board in one on a weekly basis. A sample sent last December is attached for your reference. In the interest of full disclosure and transparency, VTA staff is providing all written and transcribed verbal comments to the Board of Directors in advance of the decision on the Locally Preferred Alternative. These include all comments received as of Tuesday, January 20, 2015, and can be found on our ftp site located at The Draft EIR/EA and all attachments and appendixes have been available online since October 29, While a concern was relayed that the electronic link to one of the appendices was inoperable, a technical check of the website showed the links to the full Draft EIR/EA and Appendixes have been and are now working. Some of the files are large and take a long time to load. The link to the full Draft EIR/EA and Appendices can be found here: Staff checked our website metrics to see if the documents were being downloaded. Since October 29, 2014, the following files were downloaded: Entire Volume 1 (Draft EIR/EA Text) 177 downloads Executive Summary 440 downloads Traffic Operations Analysis Report 591 downloads

3 I hope this information is helpful. If you have any questions on the environmental process or VTA s handling of comments and their replies, please do not hesitate to let me know. Yours truly, Thomas Fitzwater Manager, Environmental Resource Planning

4 From: Board.Secretary Sent: Thursday, February 12, :59 PM To: VTA Board of Directors Subject: VTA Correspondence - Additional Petitions for the VTA Board to Save the Alum Rock BART Station VTA Board of Directors: We are forwarding to you the following comments: From District 5 United and San Jose United Topic Petitions to include and support the 28 th Street location for the Alum Rock BART Station Thank you. Office of the Board Secretary Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 N. First Street San Jose, CA board.secretary@vta.org

5 From: District 5 United Sent: Sat 2/7/ :47 PM To: General Manager; Gonot, Carolyn; Ristow, John; cindy.chavez; ken.yeager; jamie.matthews; Board.Secretary; dave.cortese; Valles, Colleen; Pearse, Brent; ed.shikada; Freitas, Harry; Kim.Walesh; Larsen, Hans; Jessica.Zenk; Michael.Brilliot; leslie.xavier; District1@sanjoseca.gov; District2@sanjoseca.gov; District3@sanjoseca.gov; District4@sanjoseca.gov; District5@sanjoseca.gov; pierluigi.oliverio; District7@sanjoseca.gov; District8@sanjoseca.gov; District9@sanjoseca.gov; District10@sanjoseca.gov; mayor @sanjoseca.gov; mike.wasserman Subject: Save the Alum Rock BART station** Dear Valley Transportation Authority, City of San Jose s Mayor & City Council Members, San Jose City Manager, and Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, I petition the VTA Board to save the Alum Rock BART station by including and supporting the 28th Street location in the Silicon Valley Rapid Transit Program planning. Our community deserves to have this major transportation hub located within our community as promised. The 28th Street location for the Alum Rock BART Station has been a part of the BART extension to San Jose Phase 2 Planning for years. Since 2001, the Alum Rock community has worked with the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) on concepts for the Alum Rock BART Station. The "Urban Village" concept embraces the BART Station as an important facet of the community and will have a positive economic impact on the neighborhoods surrounding the proposed station. The Urban Village designs were presented to the San Jose City Council in November 2013 and were unanimously adopted and included in the City s General Plan. The plan has also received the support of the Envision 2040 Task Force. The 28th Street location for the Alum Rock BART Station has a Park-n-Ride lot conveniently located immediately adjacent to an interchange on Highway 101 and would serve commuters from south county who work north of San Jose in areas with BART access. Commuters using the Alum Rock section of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) that is presently under construction would be able to transfer to BART at this location, providing addition public transit access to the community. In addition, the Urban Village plan would provide 4,050 jobs and 845 housing units to the residents of East San Jose. However, now the 28th Street location for the Alum Rock BART Station is fast becoming another broken promise from the VTA to the residents of East San Jose. The VTA has a long history of reneging on promises made to East San Jose, a community with a large population of residents who depend on public transit to get to work and school. In 2002, the VTA promised Light Rail Transit (LRT) on the Santa Clara/Alum Rock transit corridor in their Downtown East Valley Transit Improvement Plan. The proposed Light Rail route would have connected the Alum Rock Station on the Capitol LRT line to the San Jose Diridon Station in Downtown San Jose. The VTA also promised LRT service along the entire length of Capitol Expressway from the Alum Rock Station on the Capitol LRT line to Eastridge Mall, and continuing to the existing Guadalupe LRT line. These promises were broken in favor of the BART to San Jose Proposal. Rather than the promised Light Rail service in East San Jose, VTA District 5 United - Save the Alum Rock BART station Page 1 of 7

6 is building Bus Rapid Transit from Eastridge to downtown. The proposed LRT extension along Capitol Expressway has been postponed until funds become available in the future. East San Jose residents were promised trains and are getting expanded bus service. On October 6th, the VTA unilaterally proposed to the Silicon Valley Rapid Transit Program Working Committee the elimination of the 28th Street BART station and inclusion of an Alum Rock station at E. Santa Clara St (near 23rd St), This new location is not located in the Alum Rock community, does not have accessible parking, and is located in a neighborhood of singlefamily homes. This new proposed plan virtually eliminates direct BART access to the residents of East San Jose. Once again, East San Jose residents were promised trains, but this time will get NOTHING. Therefore, I make the following petition: Whereas, the elimination of the 28th Street BART station location demonstrates a blatant disregard for a community who has worked with the VTA in good faith for over a decade; and Whereas, previously promised extensions of Light Rail Service promised to East San Jose residents have been eliminated and/or postponed indefinitely in favor of a BART extension; and Whereas, the residents of East San Jose have continuously supported sales taxes to support transit extension in Santa Clara County ($1.4 Billion to date) including extensions of service to East San Jose; and Whereas, the San Jose City Council approved Urban Village plans that will provide much needed economic opportunities for East San Jose Residents are dependent on the existence of the 28th St location; I therefore petition the VTA Board to provide direct access to public transit services and improvements in East San Jose, I petition the VTA to include and support the 28th Street location for the Alum Rock BART station in the Silicon Valley Rapid Transit Program planning. Our community deserves to have this major transportation hub located within the community as promised. Respectfully submitted, You may not use my contact information for any purpose other than to respond (if you prefer) to my concern regarding the the Alum Rock BART station, nor may you share my contact information with any other organization(s) or individual(s). -- This mail was sent on behalf of a San Jose resident via San Jose's District 5 United! Community Working Together district5united.org District 5 United - Save the Alum Rock BART station Page 2 of 7

7 ** on page 1 and 2 were received from the following individuals. Additional comments in the , if any, are included below the individual s name. Senders are from the City of San Jose, unless noted otherwise. The comments were copied and pasted as is; no edits were made. Penny Osorio Cupertino, CA The proposal to eliminate the Alum Rock station is short sighted. BART through San Jose will be handicapped by limited access and parking due to too few local stations. Please do not turn this project into a repeat of the Light Rail fiasco, i.e., goes nowhere real slooow if you can get to it. Bill Johnson Donna M. Furuta It is unbelievable that VTA would consider eliminating the 28th Street Bart station after all the time and hard work that was put into the development plan for that area. Joseph Coelho Sunnyvale, CA I was born and raised in East San José and resided there for 32 years. My mother who depends on public transit and many other friends and relatives still live there. During my residence in East San José I relied on public transportation for over 16 years and can personally attest to the fact that public transportation is CRUCIAL to the area. Development and planning interests (and their associates in public office) have a long and storied history of neglecting East San José in favor of spending much needed resources and redevelopment dollars elsewhere in the city on what are frequently viewed by many city residents as "pet projects". PLEASE DO NOT ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN WITH BART! Although I fully support and can see a solid rational justifying ALL of the proposed BART stations planned for the south bay, it seems obvious to me that if one must be eliminated, it should be the Downtown station. The Downtown station is only 7 blocks form the Diridon station and that distance is served by AT LEAST 8 BUS LINES and could also be easily served by a dedicated loop shuttle between Diridon and Light Rail. Please do not short change an area that has a dire need for improved regional rapid transit and already has proven rider demand. Jeanne Labozetta I frequently take BART for work. This will enable me to save on my car expenses, time and frustration. Natalie Gardner Earl Vickers Nancy Paul Lisa Bayer Ross C. Bayer District 5 United - Save the Alum Rock BART station Page 3 of 7

8 Ernesto Martinez Ralf Rantzau The Alum Rock BART station will fast-forward investments in East San Jose, an area of huge potential for development of business. This area will become a hub for new ventures since it is highly undervalued. If decision-makers would think ahead they would act and provide traffic infrastructure for this fertile area! Gangs will be driven out once this area is recognized for what it is. You should see the Silicon Valley from the East Hills. Have a look! Elizabeth Figueroa John Gallo Bob Snelgrove Jennifer Lopez Blake Balajadia Michael Kutilek My wife and I and our neighbors will use the station at 28th St. and would prefer it to any of the other possibilities. It is easy to walk or drive to and will have retail businesses that are attractive. Alan Williams Alum Rock BART will be the southern access point for all South County residents. This must have sufficient parking and ease of access from the highway to minimize impact to the neighborhoods during rush hours. Going forward without a BART station/parking is just inviting disaster through ad hoc parking by the same commuters in and around the nearest station. Katja Irvin Camille Llanes-Fontanilla William P. Quinn Derrol Blanchard Another "Switch and Bait". Shame on you! Wolfe Cevorov I Live in District 3 in Downtown San Jose, but I still support BART. William Heil, Jr. Annie Gambelin District 5 United - Save the Alum Rock BART station Page 4 of 7

9 Richard Anthony Boyce Dick Silva Let's show the Tax payers we can get things done. We are passed the stage of playing KICK the Can. Ted Brockman Sierra Danielle Vasquez Melissa Maglio Linda E. Lopez Lu Friaz The Alumrock area is an area that is home to many poor and working-class people who lack the financial means and a public BART station would be a huge help. David San Jose, CA Katharine Kellum I commute to SF for work and regularly drive to Fremont to take BART. and Alum Rock Station in Alum Rock would be amazing for me but would also lighten the traffic form our area to Fremont or to down town and would bring foot traffic to the amazing restaurants and businesses in our area. Ken Hetzel Why is it that governments often shortchange the poorer neighborhoods when it comes to funding schools, libraries, nice mass transit, etc.? For financial reasons, the poorer neighborhoods need mass transit more than the well-to-do! For environmental reasons, you should build as many stations as affordable. Jeff Leech Bart down to Alum Rock is essential to commuter travel in the South Bay. We have been waiting for and needing this for a long time!! Doris Flores Richard Balsley Pleasanton, CA Rochelle Leggett District 5 United - Save the Alum Rock BART station Page 5 of 7

10 Uladzislau Sharanhovich Alum Rock has the same rights as other parts of the city and has to be treated equally without any bias toward other areas of the city. And this this is what's happening here, now and again, Alum Rock receives less care, less budget, less public services, and now less transportation compared to the other parts of the city while probably it's the most demanding demographicallywise of public transportation if you look at statistics of personal transport ownership per capita this this area. In other words, more people need public transportation in this area compared to other areas of the city. Alma D'Epiro Michael Wright Mark Vignau Sunnyvale, CA Lori Deal Please bring Bart to the area. Thank you! Bill Rankin Wendy de Bretteville Stanley Acton This additional functionality and population served is worth the extra cost. Period. Judy Thompson It would be a terrible disservice to the good people of Alum Rock to deny them a BART station in the neighborhood especially considering all the planning which has been done. The parking situation alone should be enough to follow through with the Five Wounds plan! Please don't blow this opportunity to get it right! Tomoko Nakajima Mimi Hernandez We need to transport our eastside workforce and keep pollution down Katrina Garcia Dee Brown Public Transportation is of teh future. Let's care enough about future residents to make the smart & right decision. District 5 United - Save the Alum Rock BART station Page 6 of 7

11 Thomas Haney The Alum Rock station is very important. It's not the wealthier people in finer neighborhoods that would ride mass transit, they'll stay in their BMW's. it's the less affluent neighborhoods that would take advantage of the system. Elimination of this Alum Rock station is foolish and would leave Bart wondering why people don't use the system as much as they hoped. Twenty years from now, if they were to want to put an Alum Rock Station in East San Jose, It might not be possible. If they want ridership (isn't that the point?) put a station where people who would be riders live and wouldn't have to use an automobile to get to. Anne Kangas PLEASE KEEP THE ALUM ROCK STATION OPEN!! The needs of the East Side deserve to be recognized. Thank you. Monica Perez Martin Delson Although I live close to downtown, and would actually personally benefit somewhat from quicker connections to East Bay locations if BART didn't have a stop at 28th Street, I nevertheless join the petition to keep the proceed with the original plans and build the station as promised, for many reasons, as described in the following. District 5 United - Save the Alum Rock BART station Page 7 of 7

12 From: San Jose United Sent: Sun 2/8/ :12 AM To: General Manager; Gonot, Carolyn; Ristow, John; cindy.chavez; ken.yeager; jamie.matthews; Board.Secretary; dave.cortese; Valles, Colleen; Pearse, Brent; ed.shikada; Freitas, Harry; Kim.Walesh; Larsen, Hans; Jessica.Zenk; Michael.Brilliot; leslie.xavier; pierluigi.oliverio; mike.wasserman Subject: Save the Alum Rock BART station** Dear Valley Transportation Authority, City of San Jose s Mayor & City Council Members, San Jose City Manager, and Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, I petition the VTA Board to save the Alum Rock BART station by including and supporting the 28th Street location in the Silicon Valley Rapid Transit Program planning. Our community deserves to have this major transportation hub located within our community as promised. The 28th Street location for the Alum Rock BART Station has been a part of the BART extension to San Jose Phase 2 Planning for years. Since 2001, the Alum Rock community has worked with the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) on concepts for the Alum Rock BART Station. The "Urban Village" concept embraces the BART Station as an important facet of the community and will have a positive economic impact on the neighborhoods surrounding the proposed station. The Urban Village designs were presented to the San Jose City Council in November 2013 and were unanimously adopted and included in the City s General Plan. The plan has also received the support of the Envision 2040 Task Force. The 28th Street location for the Alum Rock BART Station has a Park-n-Ride lot conveniently located immediately adjacent to an interchange on Highway 101 and would serve commuters from south county who work north of San Jose in areas with BART access. Commuters using the Alum Rock section of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) that is presently under construction would be able to transfer to BART at this location, providing addition public transit access to the community. In addition, the Urban Village plan would provide 4,050 jobs and 845 housing units to the residents of East San Jose. However, now the 28th Street location for the Alum Rock BART Station is fast becoming another broken promise from the VTA to the residents of East San Jose. On October 6th, the VTA unilaterally proposed to the Silicon Valley Rapid Transit Program Working Committee the elimination of the 28th Street BART station and inclusion of an Alum Rock station at E. Santa Clara St (near 23rd St). This new location is not located in the Alum Rock community, does not have accessible parking, and is located in a neighborhood of singlefamily homes. This new proposed plan virtually eliminates direct BART access to the residents of East San Jose. Once again, East San Jose residents were promised trains, but this time will get NOTHING. San Jose United - Save the Alum Rock BART station Page 1 of 4

13 Therefore, I make the following petition: Whereas, the elimination of the 28th Street BART station location demonstrates a blatant disregard for a community who has worked with the VTA in good faith for over a decade; and Whereas, previously promised extensions of Light Rail Service promised to East San Jose residents have been eliminated and/or postponed indefinitely in favor of a BART extension; and Whereas, the residents of East San Jose have continuously supported sales taxes to support transit extension in Santa Clara County ($1.4 Billion to date) including extensions of service to East San Jose; and Whereas, the San Jose City Council approved Urban Village plans that will provide much needed economic opportunities for East San Jose Residents are dependent on the existence of the 28th St location; I therefore petition the VTA Board to provide direct access to public transit services and improvements in East San Jose, I petition the VTA to include and support the 28th Street location for the Alum Rock BART station in the Silicon Valley Rapid Transit Program planning. This community deserves to have this major transportation hub located within the community as promised. Respectfully submitted, You may not use my contact information for any purpose other than to respond (if you prefer) to my concern regarding the the Alum Rock BART station, nor may you share my contact information with any other organization(s) or individual(s). -- This was sent via San Jose United ( San Jose United - Save the Alum Rock BART station Page 2 of 4

14 ** on page 1 and 2 were received from the following individuals. Additional comments in the , if any, are included below the individual s name. Senders are from the City of San Jose, unless noted otherwise. The comments were copied and pasted as is; no edits were made. Joanna Campbell Mary True Bart stations should be located in the best location for the people it will be serving. Not the whim of bureaucrats. Norma Callender Michelle Rose David Rosa Ernest Rose Michael Rosa Sean R. Mullin Angela Schertle Judy Jones I am a privileged person who lives closer to 23rd St than 28th St. Those who live in the Alum Rock area NEED efficient access to BART. Think long term and think past your current perception of limitation. Please allow all of us in the south bay to reap the benefits enabled by the provision of BART access to those in Alum Rock. Be creative. Find a way. Thank you. Adriana Ayala Placing bart on 28th street and alum rock is an excellent idea, as it bridges different communities to the alum rock/east side. This makes business sense and adds cultural capital to San Jose's strategic transportation planning. Mack Johansen Pay attention to the 28th street community and the logistics involved providing maximum usage to the greatest ridership. Karen Kambe Elisa Marina Alvarado The East Side of San Jose has been neglected by City and County government. Public transportation is a true need particularly for the low income families of the East Side. We should not be overlooked or ignored again by denying opportunity for an Alum Rock BART stop station. Stephanie Carles San Jose United - Save the Alum Rock BART station Page 3 of 4

15 Justin Triano Invest in the Eastside. If we want to be a the big city we claim to be we need to open up the Eastside to opportunities. If this doesn't get built, this will further wedge in the city divide felt buy the majority of Eastside residents. Mike Flaugher J F Renish The Alum Rock BART station has been in the works for years, yet VTA wants to scotch it in order to get a federal grant. Bad PR and bad policy, VTA. Jeremy Barousse Imelda Gonzalez Ralph Onstead Keep the station at 28th street. This is a vital step in maintaining a vibrant down town are. The benefits to the neighborhood are beyond statistics. Mona Onstead We should discuss the feasibility of building 2 stations right Downton. Michael Harvey Rose Hernandez It is imperative that you keep your word and build the Bart Station as promised. It is unconscionable that because minorities comprise the greater demographic you feel you can fail to fulfill a promise. They need it more than other areas. They depend on public transportation to get to and from work, to do their grocery shopping, to get their children to school etc. Do what is right and build the Bart Station on 28th as promised. Merle Giles Lawrence Koepke Sandy Flores San Jose United - Save the Alum Rock BART station Page 4 of 4