What an incredible year 2021 has been!

Even though it’s been a challenging year to live through, we’ve made enormous progress toward realizing the vision of Greenway and creating an integrated transportation system that works for all.

January

• Manu Koenig takes office after winning more votes than any County Supervisor in the history of Santa Cruz County. Greenway is a major issue in the campaign and voters clearly sided with Manu’s vision of the unused rail corridor as a multi-use pathway for pedestrians and bikes.

• Watsonville City Council unanimously rejects a propane distribution facility on the rail line promoted by Board members of Friends of the Rail and Trail.

March

• Poll undertaken by Greenway shows a decisive majority in favor of railbanking the corridor and building Greenway using the existing railbed/bridges and Measure D funds. Similar majority is against any new tax to fund a train.

• Greenway releases videos of former train engineers on the SC Branch Line saying passenger rail on the line is infeasible.

April

• RTC VOTES THAT THE RAIL PLAN IS FINANCIALLY INFEASIBLE.

• Greenway releases videos from bike manufacturer, disability advocate, environmentalist, medical professionals, families, Santa Cruz Waves publisher, and others endorsing Greenway.

May

• RTC confirms that the rail and trail plan is financially infeasible by NOT repeating April’s vote, which was definitive.

• Greenway announces support of over 100 in the local surf community.

• RTC’s Interagency Technical Advisory Committee (ITAC) votes to approve the evaluation of the Interim Trail in the Segment 12 Environmental Impact Report and also to include an Interim Trail analysis for the Capitola Trestle. 

June

• Rob Quinn, former Greenway Board member, replaces Patrick Mulhearn as the District 2 representative on the RTC.

• RTC Commissioners vote to approve the evaluation of the Interim Trail in the Segment 12 Environmental Impact Report and also to include an Interim Trail analysis for the Capitola Trestle. 

• Capitola Trestle report determines the trestle is out of service indefinitely and cannot support the weight of a train in any form.

• Over 200 doctors, nurses and medical professionals announce their support for the trail plan proposed by Greenway as the safest, healthiest and most equitable option for the community.

• YES Greenway submits the Santa Cruz County Greenway Initiative Letter of Intent and Statement of Petition Proponents to the County Clerk.

July

• County Counsel provides impartial summary of the Greenway Initiative.

• Train Engineers Oppose Passenger Rail on the Santa Cruz County Branch Line.

August

• Greenway volunteers begin to collect signatures.

• RTC undertakes coastal erosion repair at the Manresa Bluffs. The SC County Coastal Climate Change Vulnerability Report of 2017 said that any heavy infrastructure should not be built on eroding coastal bluffs or low lying flood prone areas due to climate change.

September

• RTC issues railbanking Q & A and FAQ that states that railbanking is possible on the rail corridor and should be pursued regardless of the planned use of the corridor.

• RTC reports conceptual study to repurpose Capitola Trestle to multi-use trail.

• Greenway volunteers collect more signatures.

October

• Trolley Folly: In the Sentinel and Pajaronian, Greenway highlights the infeasibility of Coast Futura’s TIG/m demo, which privatizes the rail corridor and does not address any of the real transportation needs of Santa Cruz County.

• California’s Fair Political Practices Commission opens an investigation of Friends of the Rail and Trail (FORT) and Coast Connect regarding unfair political practices, lack of establishing a campaign committee, and no attribution for spending on any campaign materials.

• Santa Cruz Branch Line Boundary Survey shows encroachments of mobile home parks and other properties demonstrating the issues with width of the corridor.

• Greenway volunteers collect more signatures.

November

• Greenway releases video of Gary Griggs, longtime environmentalist, coastal expert and Distinguished Professor at UCSC endorsing Greenway.

• RTC staff rejects “Unsolicited Rail Proposal from TIG/m and Roaring Camp.” Staff report includes the following statements in quotes: 

  • TIG/m Demo: “It did not provide information that would make commuter rail easier or less expensive to implement. RTC did not sponsor the event and is not responsible for the information disseminated at the demonstration, either orally or in writing."

  • No funding available: “A viable P3 relationship (Public Private Partnership) requires clear legal and political support for a well-defined project, including a strong commitment of public funds. At this time, the RTC does not have the funding commitment for either the TCAA vision of electric commuter rail between Pajaro to Santa Cruz or TIG/m’s vision of excursion trolly service between Capitola and Davenport.”

  • New taxes for passenger rail are required: “Although there are different mechanisms to generate local revenue, an approximate 30-Year, 1⁄2-cent county-wide sales tax would be needed to leverage the remaining State and Federal funding needed to implement the LPA and then help subsidize its operations and maintenance.” 

  • Public investment benefiting a private company: “The model ignores an initial required investment of $50M to $65M Million by RTC and any other annual maintenance cost, beyond normal wear and tear, which would be borne by RTC.”

  • No Watsonville service in TIG/m proposal: “This new proposal eliminated the commuter passenger rail service between Watsonville and Santa Cruz and focused on using TIG/m heritage cars for recreational service between Capitola and Davenport.” 

  • RTC Staff does not recommend TIG/m: “RTC staff does not recommend pursuing this or any other potential P3 proposal for passenger rail service at this time.”

• Greenway volunteers collect more signatures

December

• Manu Koenig unanimously voted to be Vice Chair of the RTC for 2022

• Greenway submits 16,213 signatures to the county clerk to place the Greenway Initiative on the ballot. Signatures were collected by 170 volunteers and represent a wide cross section of the county and every Supervisorial District. 16,213 signatures is the most ever collected in Santa Cruz County.

• RTC Staff reiterates that there is no money available for the train: “I heard public comment today regarding [rail] funding we should have applied for….We determined that [due to] the 50% grant match, and the fact that there is no current freight on the line past Watsonville, that the RTC would unlikely be able to compete for that funding.”