The powers expire after 90 days.Ī key reason for the change, Hendler Ross said, is that the VTA board is not scheduled to meet again until August. The action allows authority leaders to spend up to $10 million in total on the effort, though Tran indicated the still-undetermined cost would likely be lower. The general manager would have the power to enter into agreements worth as much as $2 million, up from $1 million, without board approval. The VTA board’s emergency declaration temporarily exempts the authority from the typical bidding process for contracts, which staff said would take too long as they look to restart service as soon as possible. “We are working with local community leaders and labor leaders to assess and fund immediate needs to assist workers and get trains back on the streets,” Cortese said in a statement. A spokeswoman for Cortese declined to say how much he is seeking, or how it would be used. Dave Cortese, D-San Jose, said he is seeking funding from the state that could help VTA in its recovery effort. Meanwhile, with budget negotiations unfolding in the Legislature and California flush with a record surplus, state Sen. Management of the VTA bus system has been moved since the shooting to a temporary facility. In a memo to the agency’s board, VTA staff said the shooting caused “significant damage to property including equipment necessary for the operation and control of light rail.” They added that some of the victims in the shooting were gunned down just outside the Operations Control Center. The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office has turned the facility back over to VTA, Hendler Ross said. It’s also unclear what the authority plans to do with the Guadalupe Yard - if it will make significant renovations at the complex, as has been done at other mass shooting sites, and what temporary facilities VTA might build or rent to run the system in the meantime. The shooting occurred around 6:30 a.m., the hub’s busiest time of day, sending workers running for safety or barricading themselves in offices. Restarting the service is a logistically and emotionally challenging task - 379 VTA employees worked at the yard, the only facility where light rail trains are stored and maintained. As a result, thousands of riders who once relied on the light rail system have had to find another way to get around. VTA initially replicated its train service with buses but soon stopped those to preserve coaches for regular bus routes. The three-line rail network that runs for more than 40 miles through the South Bay was shut down hours after the shooting. VTA’s board on Friday approved an emergency declaration granting its general manager expanded authority to lease temporary space and start repair work at the Guadalupe Yard, the headquarters of the light rail system where a gunman opened fire early on the morning of May 26, killing nine of his colleagues before taking his own life. The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority could resume service along its idled light rail lines in the next several weeks, with an infusion of cash from the state potentially helping fund the agency’s recovery from the worst mass shooting in Bay Area history.
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