Trolley-to-airport skepticism clouds transit tax
By Andrew Keatts / Axios San Diego / September 9, 2024
An airport-transit connection is one of the big ticket items in a ballot measure to increase sales taxes for transit, but the plan for that project is as uncertain as it’s been in recent memory.
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Why it matters: The lack of an airport connection to the region’s Trolley system has confused and frustrated residents for years, but an emerging consensus on how to do it ran into a significant delay earlier this year and is now at risk of falling apart completely.
Driving the news: A Port of San Diego official told the agency’s board not to delay plans for a new agency headquarters over a once-favored proposal that called for doing so while building a transit station on port property near the airport with an automated people mover connected to the terminals, as the Union-Tribune reported.
Leadership changes at the San Diego Association of Government, which is in charge of planning and building regional transportation projects, mean the agency has “gone back to the drawing board,” the official said.
Catch up quick: A year ago, SANDAG formally shifted its focus instead to simply extending the Trolley to the airport from downtown’s Santa Fe Depot.
The intrigue: A more revealing comment on skepticism facing the project appeared in a weekly Union-Tribune feature that poses the same question to a panel of local economists. Last week, they were asked whether the airport will ever get a light rail link.
Ray Major, SANDAG’s former chief economist and deputy CEO until he was fired by the new CEO in July, said any airport connection — either extending the Trolley or building a people mover — is too expensive and doesn’t measure up to other regional priorities.
“The project is extremely complex and unlikely to be built in the foreseeable future,” Major said.
State of play: Meanwhile, voters are preparing to weigh in on Measure G, a half cent sales tax increase for regional transportation projects that has made a rail connection to the airport a central piece of its campaign.
It’s the only specific project on the measure’s homepage, listed alongside general priorities like “rapid routes from job centers to communities” and “street repairs in every community.”
What they’re saying: “Residents throughout the San Diego region clearly want an easy transit connection to the airport, similar to what we see in most major cities,” said Gretchen Newsom, a spokesperson for the measure.
“Measure G helps fund this as a priority project and we’re counting on regional planners and community leaders to make this a reality.”
How it works: Measure G was put on the ballot through a citizens initiative, sponsored by local labor unions and infrastructure-building companies.
If passed the money it raises would go to SANDAG and fund projects planned and approved by its board, composed of elected officials from around the county.
The other side: SANDAG maintains that it is sticking to a timeline laid out earlier this year that calls for narrowing a list of potential connections and reviewing their environmental impacts by the end of 2026.
“We are still very much committed to this project, and to the schedule we communicated to the board,” said Antoinette Meier, SANDAG’s senior director of regional planning.
NO MORE TAX MONEY FOR TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS!
I am writing to express my opposition to Measure G, the proposed sales tax ballot initiative intended to fund regional transportation projects. According to energy.ca.gov, as of 09/02/2024 Californian’s pay the following taxes and fee’s on each gallon of gasoline:
State Underground Storage Tank Fee 0.02
State and Local Sales Tax 0.097
State Excise Tax 0.596
Federal Excise Tax 0.184
For a total of about $0.90 per each gallon sold! Where does all of that Money go? I sure does not appear to have gone towards street maintenance or resurfacing. No, in San Diego the priority appears to be removing perfectly good traffic lanes and replacing them with dedicated bike lanes and dedicated bus lanes that very few people utilize, rather than the streets that everyone who drives a car uses!
Moreover, the proposed half-cent sales tax increase, lacks clarity in its allocation and prioritization. The measure lists the airport rail link as a central project but does not provide sufficient details on how funds will be distributed among other regional priorities. This vague framework raises questions about the efficacy of the spending and whether it truly addresses the most pressing transportation needs across the region. I, for one, do not trust local or state government officials to do the right thing. They have proven time and time again that they are only interested in forcing Californian’s out of their cars and into inadequate public transportation.
I urge voters to scrutinize the details of Measure G and consider whether it represents the best use of our tax dollars, because when you do, I think you will agree with me and vote NO on measure G!
John, I agree. The state and local government have proven they are not good stewards of our tax dollars and I will definitely be voting against this initiative. I would bet some of the gas taxes pay the overinflated salaries at Sandag. Look at all of the people making well over 250k a year.
https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/san-diego-association-of-governments/?page=2
And for what?? What projects have they ever completed that has been a benefit to the citizens of San Diego?
“in San Diego the priority appears to be removing perfectly good traffic lanes and replacing them with dedicated bike lanes and dedicated bus lanes that very few people utilize, rather than the streets that everyone who drives a car uses!”
Your complaint about dedicated bus lanes makes no sense. What do mean very few people utilize? Are you saying very few people take the bus? You know that’s not true. If you’re statement is based on there not being busses in the dedicated bus lane every 5 minutes, that’s the whole point. You know each line runs in 15 to 20 min intervals, so of course the bus lanes are not going to be packed. It allows for the lines that use that particular route better flow.
Yes Chris, that is exactly what I am saying! Far fewer people take the bus and utilize bike lanes than those who drive cars. To deny that is to deny reality.
People DO take the bus and depending on time of day and route, the busses get packed. To deny that is to deny reality.
As for the bike lanes being under utilized, in many cases it makes riding them much more pleasant, so there’s that.
Reading about San Diego governmental agencies is like watching the very old episode of ‘Abbot & Costello – Who’s On First .’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIGRgmxRfiE
Brought to you by the same people spending a billion dollars on bike lanes. News flash. There are buses that can go from the trolley to the airport among other options. No on this tax.
The tourism industry changed San Diego in a very positive way beginning in the 1960’s, which included the evolution of the airport.But those living in Loma Portal and Point Loma were always right. This airport with its one runway has always had a finite life. Within the last five to ten years, even the airport authority has almost been transparent about its capacity, projecting 2035 as the approximate date when the airport hits capacity. Even then it is difficult to rationalize spending billions of dollars to upgrade terminals and transportation systems. The airport authority uses 290,000 annual operations as the airport capacity by multiplying the maximum number of hourly operations, 43.3, times the 17 hours per day the airport has departures, times 365. This morning during one of the busiest times of the day, there were only 16 departures. An airport becomes constrained at about eighty-five percent of its capacity, or at SDIA, this would be 246,000 annual operations, or about 20 operations per half hour. One of SDIA’s primary attributes has been convenience, but this is about to change as travelers may very well find themselves waiting on the runway for a half hour to an hour to depart. So, no, a sophisticated people mover does not make sense. Nor did the billions already committed, given that San Diego County is about to begin losing hundreds of millions of dollars annually because of the limitations of SDIA.
Move after move of countless city leaders has resulted in no forethought to when realizations become fruition let alone interacting with one another. Like when 52 was built, you automatically needed another lane.
I lived in sf for years. I miss a ‘bart’ here. I rode it all the time…and they are extending it. In San Diego you HAVE to have a car. Image when all those condos in Mission Valley full up…every one of those will have at least one car but probably 2 to 3. It is foolish for any major city to not have a decent rapid transit system with buses used to spread out from main rapid transit lines. Think NYC, Europe, Japan, Sweden, etc,etc. The cost will keep just keep rising. Do it now!
This should’ve been included in the Terminal 1 construction. They have a space open for a transit hub but, it should’ve been atleast decided what route they want to take already. A people mover from Terminals down Harbor, Across Grape, then down PCH with a stop at Santa Fe Deport would be ideal. Allows for a future extension to the Convention Center/Gaslamp for people to easily access hotels.
That being said, I really hope once the new terminal is done, SAN hits capacity, because then we can get serious about finally haggling the Military to let us build an airport in Miramar. Stupid we didn’t approve it in 2006, but people listened to La Jolla/UTC NIMBYs, and now we are reaching a time when SAN is about to actually hit capacity, and we have 0 relief airports around, and CAHSR isn’t coming to SAN for atleast 30 years if not more.
You can’t hang the lack of a civilian airport at Miramar on so-called “LJ/UTC Nimbys.” Seems to me the Navy had a lot to say about it.
There was an engineer who laid out a Mira Mar solution. He was invited to go on a local TV show hosted by a good friend of Don Nay. Nay ran the Airport Authority at the time; he was heavily invested in keeping the airport exactly where it was and is. So, he simply had his commentator friend skewer and shrewd the engineer and his idea, in that order. Never heard the idea come up again even though it showed great promise.