SMART Initiative:
As part of NBLC’s adopted 2025 workplan, I’m excited to share that I’ll be collaborating on the SMART Initiative—a 2026 voter-led campaign to reauthorize public funding for the SMART train and its multiuse pathway. I’m working closely with Suzanne Smith, former Executive Director of the Sonoma County Transportation Authority, and Mike Pickens of Operating Engineers Local 3, to prepare a robust campaign to renew the existing ¼-cent sales tax.
The momentum is strong: recent polling shows over 65% support for renewal, with overall public favorability toward SMART also at 65%. Since the last round of public polling, support has grown by 4% in both Sonoma and Marin counties. Among voters who have ridden SMART, support surges to 82%.
To ensure the most reliable path to the ballot, we are pursuing a voter-led initiative (VLI), which minimizes political and electoral risk and gives SMART the surest path to long-term sustainability. But before we get there, we must collect nearly 50,000 voter signatures. Signature gathering will begin in early July and will include both professional and volunteer circulators.
Many of you will recall NBLC’s role in the original SMART campaign, led in part by our own Cynthia Murray, which resulted in the successful 2008 ballot measure. That campaign promised to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, provide an alternative to driving, eliminate over 1.4 million car trips on Highway 101, and deliver a multi-use bike and pedestrian pathway. Today, SMART serves more than a million riders annually, offers free fares to youth and seniors, and plays a major role in reducing congestion along Highway 101. In the past year alone, ridership has grown by nearly 30%. SMART has made good on those promises—and we must ensure that this vital infrastructure remains protected and funded.
Importantly, this initiative does not raise taxes. It simply extends the existing funding source that has powered nearly two decades of clean, reliable transit and bike/ped pathways throughout the North Bay.
Without renewal, SMART’s current funding will expire—potentially leading to a complete shutdown of service by 2029. That would mean walking away from over $1 billion in infrastructure investments and abandoning the many riders, including youth, seniors, workers, and families—who rely on SMART each day.
Support for this campaign is broad and bipartisan, with backing from Senator Mike McGuire, Assemblymembers Damon Connolly and Chris Rogers, all ten county supervisors in Sonoma and Marin, labor unions, environmental organizations, employers, and thousands of SMART riders across the region, including me.
If you haven’t yet, please consider endorsing the campaign by sending an email to: info@thesmartinitiative.org
To contribute to the campaign, visit the website and donate here.