The Sunnyvale Sun

Letters & Opinions

Former mayor, Fred Fowler, says 'yes' on Measure A

By Fred Fowler

I'm writing to ask you to vote YES on Measure A on June 6. Measure A is an important measure that will help pay for needed county programs and transportation improvements.

The county budget has been under siege for many years now. Ever since the "dot com bust," shrinking revenues have forced the county supervisors to shrink county services.

The county health system is just a shadow of what it was 15 years ago. The social services programs that make up our "social safety net" have been withering steadily.

I'm very concerned that if we don't step up and commit to funding county government adequately, our standard of living might be affected.

We also need to address long-standing transportation problems and bring BART to Santa Clara County. Let's not forget that when BART was built in the 1970s, Silicon Valley didn't exist. BART was designed to connect Oakland and San Francisco, the two main centers of economic activity at the time.

In the years since, the Bay Area has undergone fundamental change. The economic "center of gravity" moved south. BART needs to move south with it.

Measure A cannot solve all of our problems, but it will make funds available that could go a long way toward tackling the most important and significant ones.

I ask for your YES vote for Measure A on Election Day, June 6, 2006. Please vote YES, so that we can start to address our most pressing issues.

Fred Fowler is the former mayor of Sunnyvale.