If you haven't already seen it, the Transportation Authority of Marin (TAM) approved an $8 million bailout of the SMART rail project. The rail project's phase one will extend from downtown Santa Rosa to downtown San Rafael, with operations aimed to begin in 2014.
Not everyone is so pleased with the result. RepealSMART, an anti-transit organization formed exclusively to fight the project, is suing in Marin Superior Court, saying TAM meetings violated open meetings laws and election promises in providing the bailout. The organization also alleges that SMART has an undisclosed $35 million deficit, a number group lead John Parnell says comes from an anonymous source. Although he claims he'd have no issue if the train were being built at once, he calls the first segment "useless." Those that live and work along the segment will doubtless disagree.