'Resounding success': SMART supporters celebrate critical tax measure win

By Adrian Rodriguez | Marin Independent Journal

PETALUMA, CALIF. — Election Day was a day of redemption for Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit.

After a stunning defeat at the ballot in 2020, SMART achieved a huge victory Tuesday as voters in the two counties overwhelmingly approved Measure B, renewing a critical quarter-cent sales tax for 30 years.

The tax generates about $51 million annually for SMART, equal to more than half of its annual operating budget.

The election results as of Wednesday show about 70% of voters supported the measure, well over the simple majority threshold required to pass.

“I don’t know what the final count will be,” said Sonoma County Supervisor Chris Coursey, chair of the SMART board. “But after what happened in 2020, to come back now with over 70% of the vote in both counties, it’s a testament that the residents in the North Bay have decided SMART is part of what they want, part of the infrastructure in Sonoma and Marin — not just the transit infrastructure, but the lifestyle infrastructure in these two counties.”

“Seventy percent right now is a resounding success on a measure like this,” said Marin County Supervisor Mary Sackett, vice chair of the SMART board.

“It’s the people’s train,” Sackett said. “This vote shows that the public is dedicated to preserving and expanding SMART, and they’re fully on board to see the SMART train’s success.”

Opponents objected to the fact that the measure was submitted through a citizens’ initiative, which lowered the approval threshold to a simple majority. In 2020, the failed tax extension needed a two-thirds majority to pass.

Mike Arnold, a Novato economist who was the treasurer for the campaign against the 2020 tax renewal, said the opposition opted not to formally campaign against the measure this time.

“The reason is, there was a poll taken a few months ago, and the polls indicated that you couldn’t beat the 50% simple majority,” Arnold said.

Arnold maintained that sales taxes are regressive and that SMART is a bad investment.

“To the political left: We can’t buy everything, and things that don’t work, we really shouldn’t be spending taxpayer dollars on,” Arnold said. “SMART is never going to reduce congestion. It never will because it can’t.”

“The success of Measure B was a foregone conclusion,” said San Rafael resident Kingston Cole, a board member of the Coalition of Sensible Taxpayers. The watchdog group was the only entity to submit arguments against the measure.

Cole said the citizens’ initiative committee was well funded and the opposition raised no money for a campaign.

Supporters say the lower approval threshold didn’t matter.

“It’s clearly a success despite the naysayers’ comments, no matter what they are claiming,” said Jack Swearengen, chair of Friends of SMART, a group that helped campaign. “The results speak for themselves.”

Failure at the ballot was not an option for the train service. Without renewal, the existing tax would expire on June 30, 2029, threatening the financial collapse of the transit system.

“We couldn’t be more pleased with the results we’re seeing right now,” said Suzanne Smith, chair of the initiative committee that put the measure on the ballot.

“I think it’s a testament to SMART as an organization and the services they provide to the community,” said Smith, a former executive director of the Sonoma County Transportation Authority. “We, as a committee, were lucky enough to have such a great project to sell to voters, to tell voters about, and voters see that value, so we’re pretty excited.”

Marin and Sonoma voters passed the quarter-cent sales tax in 2008 to fund the construction and operation of a 70-mile passenger rail line between Larkspur and Cloverdale, along with a bicycle and pedestrian path parallel to the railroad.

Today, SMART runs trains between Larkspur and Windsor and has about 40 miles of path.

Coursey said when the agency sought its tax renewal in 2020, the opposition highlighted a number of areas where the system was falling short.

The 2020 NotSoSMART campaign criticized the agency’s management, financial planning and public transparency.

In 2020, SMART also lost some former allies, such as the Marin County Bicycle Coalition and the Marin Conservation League, over concerns about its progress on the bike path and claims about the system’s effects on greenhouse gas emissions.

“In the ensuing six years, SMART has addressed every one of those issues, from transparency, to ridership, to pathways, to extending the system and adding new stations,” Coursey said Wednesday. “The performance of the organization has improved on a monthly basis that you can see over that time. This has been done with intent and it has been done internally, but with bringing the public along. I think the vote yesterday is validation of that work.”

This year, the Marin County Bicycle Coalition and the Marin Conservation League supported Measure B.

“They have done an admirable job taking feedback and recommendations of bike coalitions of Marin and Sonoma,” said Warren Wells, policy and planning director of the Marin County Bicycle Coalition. “They have involved us in the planning and design of the forthcoming pathway segments. The current management is doing an excellent job both on the train side as well as the pathway.”

Marin County Supervisor Eric Lucan, a SMART board member, said exceeding the two-thirds threshold “shows how much our community values SMART.”

“Last time, it was right before the global pandemic and SMART was — and still is — a new transit system, only carrying passengers since 2017,” Lucan said. “Now, having a longer track record of growing ridership, building track, building path, more people riding and experiencing the train, it has become part of the fabric of the North Bay that folks rely on.”

San Rafael Mayor Kate Colin, a SMART board member, called the service an “important transportation connector.”

“I’m thrilled voters chose to invest in a service that is making it easier for people to move throughout the North Bay,” Colin said.

“SMART has become the transit backbone for the 101 corridor in Marin and Sonoma counties, as seen in the adoption of the MASCOTS service plan,” said John Goodwin, spokesperson for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the Bay Area transportation planning and financing agency.

MASCOTS refers to the Marin-Sonoma Coordinated Transit Service plan, a streamlining effort that increased the number of trains that run daily.

“The solid margin by which the Measure B renewal appears to have passed indicates the people of the North Bay value that transit backbone,” Goodwin said.

“The passage of SMART’s Measure B is great news for the North Bay,” said Marin County Supervisor Stephanie Moulton-Peters, vice chair of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

SMART has become the No.1 transit provider in Sonoma County, and the increased transit coordination strengthens the North Bay system, Moulton-Peters said.

“SMART is also for the future: Sonoma cities have great plans for creating housing and walkable, bikeable communities around their SMART stations,” she said. “I’m hopeful our Marin communities will do the same, creating needed housing with transit.”

Anne Richman, executive director of the Transportation Authority of Marin, said the approval of Measure B shows the community’s support of “reliable and sustainable transportation options.”

“SMART now has secure funding for 30 years,” Richman said. “These voter-approved investments make all the difference to support and improve our transportation network. TAM looks forward to continuing our strong partnership with transit operators to serve our communities.”

Fairfax resident John Berg said he is a SMART supporter, but he voted no on the measure to send a message.

“I’m not happy with the treatment of San Rafael,” he said, noting that the crossings through the downtown area have jammed up local streets during commute times for years. This has been a common complaint among critics.

“It’s just a nightmare,” Berg said. “They’re really failing traffic in San Rafael, and I haven’t seen them comment on that at all.”

That said, Berg congratulated SMART on victory and continued rail expansion.

“I think SMART is going to be like BART and Caltrain: As it matures it will get better,” he said.

In a recent IJ editorial board meeting, Eddy Cumins, the SMART general manager, said that since 2022 the service has reduced the time the crossing gate is down from about three minutes to under one minute and 40 seconds. The problem persists because gates are not always synced with the traffic lights.

“I know that’s an issue, but it’s one that’s on our radar and we are doing our best to minimize that,” Cumins said.

Regarding the success of Measure B, Cumins said Wednesday that “SMART has delivered on what the community asked us to do, and the community has responded with this vote of confidence.”

Ridership has increased 95% since 2019, and this year the agency is on track to carry 1.47 million passengers. The agency is projecting 1.7 million riders in the next fiscal year.

SMART has begun its extension to Healdsburg with a target to open in late 2028. Plans are developing to take the railroad to Cloverdale. More than 11 miles of new path are in the works, Cumins said.

“One of SMART’s core values is continuous improvement, and we plan to keep our foot on the gas as we continue moving forward,” he said. “SMART has not peaked, and we aren’t slowing down.”

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