Larry Klein
Mayor
Omar Din
Vice Mayor
Russ Melton
Councilmember
Alysa Cisneros
Councilmember
Richard Mehlinger
Councilmember
Murali Srinivasan
Councilmember
Linda Sell
Councilmember
April 13, 2023
The Honorable Nancy Skinner
Chair, Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee
1020 N Street, Room 502
Sacramento, CA 95814
VIA Email: [email protected]
The Honorable Phil Ti
ng
Chair, Assembly Committee on Budget
1021 O Street, Suite 8230
Sacramento, California 95814
VIA Email: [email protected]
RE: Public Transit Funding in FY 2023-24 State Budget - SUPPORT Dear Chair Skinner and Chair Ting:
On behalf of the City of Sunnyvale, we strongly urge you to prioritize a comprehensive funding package for transit agencies recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and facing a critical fiscal crisis. Across California, transit agencies have seen drastic
reductions in ridership due to the COVID-19 emergency — especially agencies like Caltrain and BART whose ridership is especially tied to traditional peak commute patterns. While ridership continues to climb across the State, it may be years before many agencies are financially stable again. It is imperative that state lawmakers allocate the requisite funding to save California’s transit agencies from the impending fiscal cliff they will face if the State fails to take action.
Whether or not they use transit, all Californians depend on healthy transit systems.
Public transit is essential to California’s economy and to the everyday lives of millions of Californians. Throughout the Bay Area, local agencies, including Sunnyvale, depend upon reliable and coordinated regional transit access in order to provide access to jobs, reduce traffic congestion, and improve the sustainability of current and future housing development.
Attachment 5
The Honorable Nancy Skinner, Chair, Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee The Honorable Phil Ting, Chair, Assembly Committee on Budget April 13, 2023
Current City of Sunnyvale policy places a high priority on providing planned future growth around transit service and based assumptions relating to trip generation and travel options on its continued and increasing availability (Council Policy – Chapter 1 Land Use and Transportation, 1.3 Support efforts to create and maintain regional funding sources for critical transportation needs; 1.4 Support flexible spending of state and federal transportation funds for locally determined needs; 1.7 Support state funding for regional transportation projects; and General Plan – Chapter 3 – Land Use and Transportation Policies LT 1.1, LT 1.1a, LT 1.7 and LT 3.1).
For these reasons, we respectfully request prioritizing a multi-year funding package for transit agencies across California to prevent severe service cuts, adapt to changing travel patterns and regrow ridership. Thank you for your consideration of our request.
Please do not hesitate to contact me or Chip Taylor, Director of Public Works, [email protected], if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Larry Klein
Mayor
cc. The Honorable Josh Becker, State Senate
The Honorable Aisha Wahab, State Senate
The Honorable Evan Low, State Assembly
City Council
Kent Steffens, City Manager
Teri Silva, Assistan
t City Manager
Chip Taylor, Director of Public Works
Attachment 5