health-and-wellness campus in the Canal district and supporting local organic farming and sustainable agricultural practices. “My job will be to expand my philosophy of ‘healthy planet, healthy people’ by creating green jobs and growing our economy and by addressing a full range of healthcare issues in our new congressional district,” said Adams. The makeup of the 6th congressional district is still in limbo as the state Citizens Redistricting Commission is still redrawing boundaries—the current map on the table has the 6th District extending from Sausalito through all of Marin and up along the coast to the Oregon border. Lines won’t be finalized until mid-August. Adams currently chairs the Marin Board of Supervisors, the Marin Housing Authority, the Marin Transit District, the Disaster Council and the Criminal Justice and Behavioral Health task force.
ings it was unaware of in previous planning permutations. “Over the years, there have been some assumptions that didn’t bear out,” Mansourian wrote in a recent statement. “However, in the grand scheme of things, these are minor issues that can be solved through a combination of new leadership that the board has put in place and a more conservative approach to costs and revenues.” Chu says he has no confidence in SMART’s ability to “come up with good financial projections. They tended to look at the more optimistic outlook and come up short, and then they hoped the money would be there. Well, hope is not a strategy.” Chu says that Mansourian’s extensive experience in large infrastructure projects should provide SMART with the best perspective it can get at this stage in its creation. “And,” says Chu, “he has no stake in the game.” Although Mansourian’s temporary tenure as chief executive is inspiring confidence in some, SMART critics continue their attacks. After the June meeting, the group RepealSMART filed a Freedom of Information Act request, asking for full disclosure of costs and revenue projections. Then, on July 6, the day before the special meeting that decided the rescission question, RepealSMART and Novato resident John Parnell filed a lawsuit seeking a restraining order and temporary injunction to stop TAM from transferring the $8 million. Parnell, one of the RepealSMART leaders, says he supported the train project
until a series of those overly optimistic projections resulted in a succession of budget deficits. The lawsuit alleges that the transportation authority has no right to use sales tax revenue from Marin’s Measure A transportation sales tax coffers to help fund SMART. Parnell, and the lawsuit, says Measure A, which asked votes to approve a tax hike for local transportation and road improvements, prohibits the use of Measure A funds for rail projects. TAM says it won’t tap Measure A money but instead tap state funds. Critics counter that using the state money instead of Measure A funds is just shuffling financial cards, and whichever way they fall, Marin will have less money for local projects. The lawsuit also alleges that because some TAM members also serve on the SMART board, an inherent conflict of interests exits. And the lawsuit further alleges that an additional $30 million in deficits exists that hadn’t been fully disclosed in a timely manner before the TAM vote. Valerie Brown, chairwoman of the SMART board, rejects the conspiracy accusation and says all the numbers are under review and will be fully disclosed when Mansourian completes his analysis in August. She also says she has confidence in the county counsels of Marin and Sonoma who serve as the rail agenciy’s legal team. “I don’t see much about the lawsuit” that has merit, says Brown. ✹ Contact the writer at peter@pseidman.com.
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