Advocacy Alert SMART Directors: We Need Your Leadership

MCBC is again calling on SMART’s Board of Directors to hold the district accountable for its delivery of the pathway. Please join us today by signing onto our letter and, if you’d like, sending your own note to Marin’s representatives on the SMART Board of Directors below. We’ll deliver your signatures at next Wednesday’s (April 3) SMART Board workshop.

Dear Directors,

MCBC remains concerned about SMART’s slow, piecemeal delivery of the promised pathway in Marin County. We ask that you direct staff to form a strategy to build the remaining pathway and tie it to target dates, just as was done for the rail project.

Through discussions with SMART staff and presentations made at the October 2018 Board of Directors workshop on SMART’s first year of passenger rail service, it is clear that SMART does not have a strategy in place to fund and build the remaining seven miles of pathway promised in Marin.

Since 2011, SMART has built just four segments in Marin totaling less than two miles of pathway, roughly one-fifth of what was promised. At the current rate of completion, it would be another three decades before Marin’s portion of the pathway is complete.

The pathway stands to be a real asset for North Bay communities. The sooner it is built, the sooner people will have a safe alternative to walking and bicycling along busy roadways and across dangerous freeway interchanges. Like the train, the pathway is a key piece of our transportation network and SMART’s stated commitment to provide a “safe, reliable, and efficient transportation alternative to traffic and congestion.”

We continue to ask SMART to outline its strategy toward completing the pathway. What funding sources will you pursue, what segments will be prioritized, and what is the target date for completion?

Again, MCBC respectfully requests that you direct staff to form a strategy to build the promised pathway and tie it to target dates.

add your name

By submitting your information below, you’re adding your name in support of our letter above with the following message:

Dear Directors,

At the current rate of completion, it would be another three decades before Marin’s portion of the SMART pathway is completed. As Marin’s representatives on the SMART Board of Directors, I urge you to direct staff to outline a strategy toward completing the pathway. Absent your leadership, it is clear that this project will continue to progress in a slow, piecemeal fashion.

Please also consider submitting your own comments in the space provided.