More than half of those responding to our Feb. 9, 2012 online poll said they were disappointed that Petaluma will initially get only one SMART train station, versus two, as had been promised in the 2008 SMART ballot measure.
Petaluma was originally promised two stations, one downtown and one near Corona Ave. to accommodate the city. A recent SMART decision postponed the Corona station.
Here are some of the comments by those who responded to the survey:
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“The public is a victim of bait and switch from SMART. What SMART now says that they will give us is a far cry of what the public voted for. The media isn’t telling the people that the groups supporting SMART the most don’t actually care about the train.”
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“It’s a joke. I hope people wake up to see the only ones getting anything out of it is the contractors.”
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“Another boondoggle. Not very well thought out, SMART Board. But that is okay, we the taxpayers are still on the hook for this folly.”
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“If it gets built within the next three years I will ride it daily to my job. I doubt that it will though with all the nay-sayers and second guessers.”
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“Too bad enough signatures weren’t gathered to allow another vote on SMART What a freekin’ boondoggle for a train to nowhere!”
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“SMART doesn’t go to the places I need to go. It will take me at least three hours or more to commute to San Francisco from Petaluma. I will need to transfer to a bus at the San Rafael station, who knows how long that will take. Then the buses have scaled back on the drop off locations in the city where I need to go.”