Change of Plans: Transit Funding Priorities Shift in the Silicon Valley
Santa Clara County cities rebel against the agency s proposed plan to spend most of the Measure B funds on a Silicon Valley BART extension. January 22, 2021, 8am PST | Diana Ionescu |
Sheila Fitzgerald
The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) is retooling its plan for how to spend Measure B tax dollars after several cities protested the VTA s plan to spend most of the money on the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) extension to downtown San Jose. Now, the agency s revised plan will reallocate the funding to support more projects promised in the measure, reports Aldo Toledo for the Mercury News.
Santa Clara County transit leader Nuria Fernandez joins Biden administration sanjosespotlight.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sanjosespotlight.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Nuria Fernandez Joining USDOT Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
Nuria Fernandez stepped down as Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s (VTA) General Manager/CEO on Jan. 19.
Nuria Fernandez is moving on from her position as Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s (VTA) General Manager/CEO to join the Biden-Harris Administration at the U.S. Department of Transportation, VTA reported Jan. 19. Evelynn Tran is now interim General Manager/CEO.
VTA did not specify Fernandez’s new position, but said that her federal appointment would be announced “in the coming days.”
Politico has reported that she will be named Deputy Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration. Transportation reporter Tanya Snyder wrote on Twitter: “The plan, sources say, is to eventually nominate her to administrator, but that requires Senate confirmation, and as deputy she can start right away.”
The Biggest Issues to Watch in 2021 Alan Greenblatt, David Kidd, Carl Smith | January 19, 2021 | Analysis
State lawmakers face a terrible hangover of problems from 2020. First and foremost is the pandemic, which is at its worst even as vaccinations are rolled out across the country. Caseloads and death tolls are adding uncertainty to the economy, which in turn is hampering state budgets.
As legislatures began to meet this month, some convened virtually due to concerns about COVID-19, while capitols were boarded up or surrounded by perimeter fences and SWAT teams because of the ongoing threat of political violence.
Anger about the election and its bloody aftermath is leading to partisan divisions about how to handle voting. Democrats would like to see more mail voting and other expansive measures, while Republicans argue that even the suspicion of widespread voter fraud while shot down repeatedly in dozens of court cas