Promises, then betrayal.
That’s how residents of one San Jose neighborhood are describing their dealings with the Valley Transportation Authority.
The Alum Rock neighborhood is scheduled to get a BART station and urban center as part of "Phase 2" in the BART-to-San Jose project, but now the idea is in limbo, and residents are furious.
"I got to tell you it was gut wrenching that the BART station could be off the map," said Terry Christensen, who is part of the Friends of Five Wounds Trail.
Christensen said the group has poured blood, sweat and tears into plans that would transform 30 acres of land behind Five Wounds Church.
A neighborhood meeting was held Thursday night in hopes of finding a way to keep the plan on track. Residents said they’re looking for ways to band together to get the VTA to stick to the original plan.
“We’ve struggled for years, and this would be a shot in the arm,” said Davide Vieira, a member of the Five Wounds Village Task Force.
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For more than a decade, the Five Wounds area of Alum Rock Avenue has been planning for an underground BART station with a huge plaza at ground level.
But the staff at the Valley Transportation Authority, which is running the Silicon Valley extension project, is now proposing eliminating the Alum Rock stop altogether.
“We have to apply for federal funds,” VTA Board Chair Ash Kalra said. “So staff made recommendations of different options of how we can apply for federal funding and make ourselves most competitive.”
Kalra said he wants to keep the Alum Rock station, but he also has to listen to the VTA staff and perhaps look for alternative funding for the Alum Rock project, which is expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
“We are disappointed,” Vieira said. “And we are feeling betrayed.”
