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Greenbelt Alliance In the News

May 5, 2005

Sales tax debate comes due

The Fairfield City Council on Tuesday endorsed a county transportation sales tax platform that calls for both fixing roads and controlling growth. It did so by a 3-2 vote.

But the county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday declined to vote on the idea. Supervisors during their discussion opposed the growth controls/transportation tax link by a 3-2 margin.

All of this is happening as transportation leaders ponder putting a half-cent county transportation sales tax before voters. Such a measure could come this November or November 2006.

The Greenbelt Alliance, Solano Orderly Growth Committee and various local elected officials created a tax platform to make their voices heard. They call it the "Fair and Safe Traffic Solutions" platform.

Fairfield Mayor Karin MacMillan brought the platform to the City Council and asked her colleagues to support it. She noted Fairfield has long supported such ideas as a growth boundary and protecting farmland.

"This is something this City Council has already embraced," she told her colleagues.

City Councilmembers Harry Price and John English agreed. But they were wary about trying to impose such ideas as growth boundaries on other cities.

"We'll rue the day we do that," English said. "I absolutely believe that."

City Councilmember Jack Batson viewed the platform as a "talking point" for discussions with transportation officials who are trying to shape the ballot measure.

MacMillan, Batson and City Councilwoman Marilyn Farley voted for the platform. English and Price voted against it.

At the Board of Supervisors meeting, Supervisor Barbara Kondylis brought the platform before her colleagues. Supervisor Duane Kromm also supported it.

But the rest of the board gave the platform a cool reception. Supervisor Mike Reagan read a letter from the Bay Area Council, a regional group that promotes economic progress.

The Fair and Safe platform would doom the next sales tax measure, the letter said. The platform emphasizes "top-down" land use controls that play poorly to Solano County voters, it said.

"While it is important that Solano County grow intelligently, a measure based on the 'Fair and Safe' platform would garner little positive enthusiasm and provide numerous opportunities for opposition," the letter said.

Among the members of the Bay Area Council executive committee are officials from such enterprises as Clorox, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Bank of America, Chevron-Texaco, Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream, PG&E and the San Francisco Giants.

The Benicia City Council in March endorsed the Fair and Safe Traffic Solutions platform by a 3-2 vote. The platform did not go before the councils in other cities.

Reach Barry Eberling at 425-4646 Ext. 232 or at beberling@dailyrepublic.net.

Among the items on the "Fair and Safe Traffic Solutions Platform":

• Make fixing the Interstates 680 and 80 interchange the first priority.
• Repair existing roads.
• Link highway projects to preserving farmland and open space.
• Improve pedestrian safety.
• Give tax money for local roads only to cities that do such things as endorse growth boundaries and try to reduce traffic.

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