The key to understanding the organization, Santa Cruz County Greenway, and their prime benefactor, Bud Colligan, is that their mission is not about building a trail. That’s already in the pipes, with real funding and real design process going on.
Despite all of their bloviating, the substance of SCC Greenway’s business is to maneuver things to permanently prevent light rail from ever being funded or built. If you read the text of their ballot measure, you’ll find lots of “feel good” aspirational talk, even pretending to encourage rail connections to, basically anywhere but Santa Cruz. The only substantive elements are to delete any mentions future rail transit from our county’s “General Plan.”
The text also requires removing as much of the physical rail infrastructure as soon as possible. So, even if transit aspirations arise in the future, it becomes hopelessly expensive. It is all very strategic.