121,688 / 69.10% Yes votes ...... 54,252 / 30.80% No votes

See Also: Index of all Measures

THE PROPOSAL: Proposition H is an ordinance that would make it City law to extend the Caltrain tracks to a new or rebuilt regional transit station on the site of the Transbay Terminal at First and Mission Streets. These tracks would be built underground wherever feasible. The City could not allow conflicting use or development of the Transbay Terminal or the proposed extension right-of-way.

Proposition H also would require the City to pursue electrification of the Caltrain service between San Francisco and San Jose and consider adding new Caltrain stops in Bayview/Hunters Point and Visitacion Valley.

The Joint Powers Board that operates CalTrain estimated the cost of the downtown extension and transit station at $621 million, and the cost of electrification at $254 million, in 1995 dollars. As a member of the Joint Powers Board, the City of San Francisco would be responsible for one third of the cost of capital improvements. In my opinion, it is unlikely that General Fund monies would be used for such a project, as capital projects are generally funded by state and federal governments and by regional transportation agencies.

However, given limited funding at all levels of government, this project would compete with other transportation projects and funding this project may mean that other transportation projects important to the City would not be funded. It also appears that this voter approved ordinance would place this project at a higher priority for federal and state funding than typical capital projects such as Muni bus replacement projects.

Meaning of Voting Yes/No

A YES vote of this measure means:

If you vote yes, you want the City to extend the Caltrain tracks to a new or rebuilt station on the site of the Transbay Terminal and to pursue certain improvements in the Caltrain facilities and services.

A NO vote of this measure means:

If you vote no, you do not want the City to extend the Caltrain tracks to a new or rebuilt station on the site of the Transbay Terminal or to pursue certain improvements in the Caltrain facilities and services.

League of Women Voters

• Voters Guide on SF Measures

FAQVoter.com

• Q&As on the Ballot Measures

• ELECTION '99

Extending Caltrain, which connects San Francisco and San Jose, all the way Downtown will more than double Caltrain ridership, improve transit connections for residents of China Basin, Potrero Hill, Hunters Point, the Bayview, and Visitacion Valley, and provide City residents with access to well-paying jobs in Silicon Valley.

Construction of this station will provide convenient transit alternatives to some of our most crowded highways, like the Bay Bridge and the Bayshore Freeway. Coupled with conversion of Caltrain to clean electric power, Proposition H will alleviate congestion and air pollution.

This Downtown transit station, with restaurants, shops, and offices, will provide a fitting gateway to San Francisco for residents and visitors, and will help efforts to revitalize the area around the Transbay Transit Terminal into a thriving, pedestrian oriented urban neighborhood. And making world-class transit service an integral part of development plans South of Market will ensure that congestion does not overwhelm South of Market streets.

Proposition H furthers an environmentally sound transportation policy for San Francisco, which will allow the City to address future growth, while preserving the environment and enhancing mobility of San Francisco residents. Please vote yes on Proposition H.

Better Transit Alliance
San Francisco League of Conservation Voters
Board of Supervisors President Tom Ammiano

Unfortunately, Proposition H seizes the first place and the highest state and federal funding priority for its proposed Downtown Caltrain Station...San Francisco MUNI can do without any new buses with Proposition H...Never mind the public interest ...All that matters is the construction of the Downtown Caltrain Station, according to Proposition H.

PROPOSITION H IS BASICLY A DESTRUCTIVE BALLOT MEASURE:

The real effect of Proposition H, should it be passed, would be to halt the state and federal funding of important transportation projects effecting San Francisco.

The nine Bay Area Counties currently have a population of about 6,500,000.

By 2010 A.D., those same counties of San Francisco, Marin, Sonoma, Napa, Solano, Contra Costa, Alameda, Santa Clara, and San Mateo will have well over 7,500,000 people.

There will be greater demands on our Bay Region's freeways, the BART system and local buses in the years ahead.

We must prevent highway gridlock and plan for our transportation needs in a rational manner.

Passage of Proposition H would only serve to misdirect important transportation funding.

SUPPORT RATIONAL PLANNING:

• Vote NO on Proposition H (the Caltrain Station mistake).

• Vote YES on Proposition J (the vital Central Freeway replacement).

• Vote NO on Proposition I (the Octavia Boulevard waste).

(*) Titles or organizations for identification purposes only.

While not very many San Franciscans currently use Caltrain-rival buses and BART being lower priced and more convient for most purposes - Proposition H proposes that all other local transit programs be swept aside to give a proposed Downtown Caltrain Station the very highest development and funding priority.

The Joint Powers Board that runs the Caltrain estimates the bill for the Downtown Caltrain Station extention, construction, and electrification costs(in 1995 dollars)at $875,000,000...Assume the actual bill will run well over $ 1 billion dollars. Worse yet, San Francisco City Controller Edward Harrington has a further warning about Proposition H:

"[G]iven limited funding at all levels of government, this project [Proposition H] would compete with other transportation projects and funding this project may mean that other trans portation projects important to the City would not be funded. It also appears that this voter approved ordinance [if actually approved] would place this project at a higher priority for federal and state funding than typical capital projects such as Muni bus replacement projects "

Clearly, San Francisco does not need Proposition H.

VOTE "NO, NO, NO," on PROPOSITION H!

Citizens to Rebuild the Central Freeway
Dr. Terence Faulkner, J. D.
Chairman
Citizens to Rebuild the Central Freeway

Traffic congestion on highways and surface streets ranks near the top of San Francisco's environmental and economic challenges: Bay Area traffic congestion increased by over 30% from 1995 to 1996, wasting countless hours of people's time and adding to emissions of air pollutants including volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxide, dioxin and particulate matter, which harm human health and the environment;

Significant new commercial and residential development is planned for the South of Market area and Mission Bay, including construction of a new ballpark, the Pacific Exchange, and a new University of California campus;

Without strengthened regional and local transit service, such development will dramatically increase traffic congestion, overwhelm MUNI capacity, and decrease the quality of life in the South of Market area;

The Caltrain commuter rail line from San Jose and Gilroy, which stops at every major city along the Peninsula, currently ends at 4th and Townsend Streets in San Francisco, over a mile from employment centers in downtown San Francisco, making it less attractive to daily commuters travelling in both directions;

The most efficient and economical means of reducing auto traffic between the Peninsula and San Francisco is to:

a) convert the Caltrain line from diesel to electric propulsion compatible with high speed rail; b) extend the Caltrain rail line to a regional transit station near downtown; and c) operate Caltrain at BART levels of speed, comfort, and frequency of service;

San Mateo and Santa Clara counties have already committed the majority of financing required to complete these projects: as a responsible partner in regional transportation planning, San Francisco should identify its fair share of federal, state, or local financing to accomplish these goals;

The California High Speed Rail Commission has selected San Francisco as the preferred destination for a bullet train from Los Angeles to the Bay Area, which would provide rail service between downtown Los Angeles and downtown San Francisco in under three hours;

A world-class regional transit station, connecting Caltrain, MUNI, AC Transit, Golden Gate Transit, and other intercity bus lines with high-speed rail should be located within easy walking distance of downtown and should have a direct connection to BART and MUNI Metro; and

Such a regional transit station will help maintain San Franciscols role as the economic and cultural center of Northern California into the twenty-first century.

SECTION 1. It shall be and is the law of the city and county that the Caltrain commuter rail line, operated by the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board or any successor agency thereto, be extended downtown to a regional intermodal transit station. To implement such law, the Mayor, the Board of Supervisors, and all city officers and agencies, including Redevelopment Agency Commissioners, with any, authority over any aspect of the extension of Caltrain downtown or the Transbay land use planning and redevelopment effort (hereinafter referred to as "all relevant city officers and agencies") shall adopt such further ordinances and resolutions and take all other actions as necessary to effectuate the prompt extension of Caltrain downtown to said station, and to protect right-of-way as identified in the Joint Powers Boardls draft Downtown Extension Environmental Impact Report from any development that would preclude the extension or increase its costs.

SECTION 2. As part of the extension of Caltrain downtown, a new or rebuilt terminal shall be constructed on the present site of the Transbay Transit Terminal serving Caltrain, regional and intercity bus lines, MUNI, and high speed rail, and having a convenient connection to BART and MUNI Metro. Said terminal shall be so designed and constructed as to: (a) yield the highest possible transit use by residents and commuters; (b) afford senior citizens, persons with disabilities, and other commuters with the most convenient connections between regional bus lines, MUNI, Caltrain, and BART; (c) produce the highest density of foot traffic, in conjunction with foot traffic from the Caltrain station, to accommodate mixed use retail development; (d) provide the lowest possible operating costs for MUNI and regional public bus lines; and (e) result in the lowest feasible combined costs for construction of the bus terminal and the Caltrain station, without sacrificing the aesthetic qualities of the terminal and station and their interface with surrounding development.

SECTION 3. To eliminate diesel locomotive air pollution and minimize noise impacts on South of Market neighbors, the Mayor, the Board of Supervisors, and all relevant city officers and agencies shall pursue electrification of the Caltrain line from San Francisco to San Jose prior to or concurrent with the extension of Caltrain downtown. To ensure minimal inconvenience to businesses and residents South of Market Street during construction, the project shall, whenever feasible, employ tunnel boring techniques to extend Caltrain downtown.

SECTION 4. Any construction contracts related to extension of Caltrain downtown signed by the City and County of San Francisco shall include provisions to reward contractors for the timely and safe completion of project work within the City and County of San Francisco.

SECTION 5. The Mayor, the Board of Supervisors, and all relevant city officers and agencies shall negotiate construction contract and subcontract provisions with a goal of providing at least 10% of the new construction jobs resulting from the Caltrain downtown extension project to recent welfare recipients. The Mayorls Office of Economic Development and the Department of Human Services shall coordinate, in conjunction with other city departments and private, non profit social service agencies, any job training, employment recruitment, and related programs which are deemed necessary to achieve and maintain said goal. Whenever possible, any such job training and/or employment recruitment programs shall be focused within San Francisco neighborhoods with the highest rates of unemployment and welfare enrollment.

SECTION 6. The Mayor, the Board of Supervisors, and all relevant city officers and agencies shall coordinate with elected officials and other officers and agencies representing San Mateo and Santa Clara counties to explore the feasibility and cost-efficiency of performing a substantial portion of the manufacture and/or assembly of any new equipment or retrofits for an electrified Caltrain commuter rail line in the Bay Area, so that the jobs and tax-revenue resulting from such manufacture and/or assembly benefit Bay Area residents.

SECTION 7. The Mayor, the Board of Supervisors, the San Francisco Transportation Authority, and all relevant city officers and agencies shall coordinate with the Caltrain Joint Powers Board to explore the costs, feasibility, and benefits of reconfiguring and/or adding Caltrain station stops within San Francisco so as to provide easier Caltrain access to residents in Bayview/Hunterls Point and Visitation Valley who commute to downtown San Francisco and/or the Peninsula.

SECTION 8. The Mayor, the Board of Supervisors, the San Francisco Transportation Authority, and all relevant city officers and agencies shall take all appropriate actions to generate the revenue necessary to finance the Caltrain extension downtown and station construction referred to herein. Funding options to be pursued shall include, but shall not be limited to, the following, in the following order of priority:

(a) an application to secure funding through the federal Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act;

(b) an application to secure a portion of highway funding through the flexible funding provisions of the federal Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act;

(c) designation of the Caltrain extension as a priority mitigation project for the demolition of the Embarcadero freeway and use of a portion of the proceeds from the sale of excess Embarcadero freeway and Terminal Separator land, pursuant to the California Streets and Highways Code (Chapter 498 of the statutes of 1991);

(d) a portion of rental income and/or the local tax-increment from transit-oriented, mixed-use joint development at the site of the existing Transbay Transit Terminal and/or in the immediate vicinity thereof;

(e) a portion of Bay Bridge toll revenues;

(f) a portion of mitigation funds earmarked for the Bay Bridge retrofit; and/or (g) a portion of any future federal, state, regional, or local revenues which become available for transportation projects.

SECTION 9. The Mayor, the Board of Supervisors, and all relevant city officers and agencies are hereby forbidden from taking any actions that would conflict with the extension of Caltrain to downtown San Francisco, including, but not limited to, pursuing any uses for the present Transbay Terminal site that conflict with Section 2, or undertaking any other land use planning or development efforts that would conflict with the intent of this legislation..

SECTION 10. If any word, phrase, sentence, paragraph or section of this ordinance, or application thereof to any person or circumstance, is held to be invalid, the remaining parts of this ordinance, including their application to other persons or circumstances, shall not be affected thereby and shall continue in full force and effect. To this end, the parts of this ordinance and the applications thereof shall be deemed severable, and to have been enacted separately.