=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/chronicle/archive/2003/03= /05/BA122575.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday, March 5, 2003 (SF Chronicle) Airport expansion approved/San Jose voters OK $1.3 billion measure said to = create 1,700 jobs Alan Gathright, Chronicle Staff Writer San Jose voters adopted a local measure Tuesday to start a $1.3 billion expansion at Mineta San Jose International Airport this summer and delay completion of surrounding traffic improvements. Measure A was backed by San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales, business and labor groups, who said it would save $120 million by combining the airport expansion with federally mandated airport security improvements and create 1,700 jobs. And because airport revenue will fund construction, supporters stressed, there will be no additional taxpayer expense. "This will give the green light to move ahead . . . and will result in an airport that will serve Silicon Valley well," the mayor's spokesman, David Vossbrink said Tuesday night. But neighborhood groups said San Jose was bailing out on a 2000 traffic- relief agreement that prohibited expanding the congested airport until roadway improvements and construction of a people-mover link to nearby light rail are within two years of completion. While the roadway improvements would only be pushed back an additional year to 2006, the $110 million people mover could be delayed six to 10 years. The new measure requires the city to only identify funding for a transit link to light rail or a future BART line. But the city has said that road improvements, including turning Highway = 87 into a freeway and a new Coleman Avenue-Interstate 880 interchange, would still be done long before the new central terminal and two concourses, which are scheduled to open in 2008 at the earliest. Critics, including City Councilman Ken Yeager, former Mayor Janet Gray Hayes and ex-Councilmember David Pandori, say the city had broken repeated promises to fix airport gridlock. Now they fear the people mover will be shelved indefinitely. "We're disappointed," Hayes said, but low voter turnout and being outspe= nt 10 to 1 make for an uphill fight. She said the watchdog group Citizens Against Airport Pollution would "try to assure that the airport is a good neighbor. We don't give up!" The former mayor accused the city of running a "stealth" election by scheduling the single-issue vote when only an estimated 25 percent turnout is expected -- instead of during last fall's general election. The election cost the city $1.8 million, paid for by airport revenues. City officials said the initiative was driven by the federal airport security requirements imposed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. To beat the year-end 2002 deadline for screening all passenger bags, the city installed weapon-detection machines in temporary tents. The city wants to do the terminal expansion simultaneously with building permanent housing for the security equipment -- instead of putting the screening machines in a temporary building that would have to be torn out to complete a delayed airport expansion. E-mail Alan Gathright at agathright@sfchronicle.com.=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2003 SF Chronicle