American Dream

For some reason, the San Jose Mercury-News doesn't think the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) should give $7.7 million to public relations firms to boost its image. Could be be because VTA projects a $100 million shortfall on its $328 million annual operating budget? Or maybe because VTA's shortsighted planning has forced it to raise fares and cut back on transit service, thus losing 35 percent of its riders in three years?

It couldn't possibly be because light rail is a bad idea. After all, the Mercury-News always supported the idea of going heavily into debt to build more rail lines in San Jose. Now VTA says that it can't afford to operate any more trains even if it could afford to build them, which it can't. So it wants to hire the PR companies to sell voters on the idea of raising the sales tax yet again. At least the Mercury-News has finally figured out this is a bad idea.