A San Jose business owner said she is suing the Valley Transportation Authority, alleging revenue loss due to having to move for the BART extension.
Just off Highway 101 in San Jose sits the Monarch Truck Center, a hulking monolith that for years sold, leased, fixed, and pretty much did everything involving trucks. But two years ago, VTA invoked eminent domain to move the business out to make way for the upcoming Little Portugal BART station.
And Monarch owner Nicole Guetersloh said they were in a hurry.
“It was a mad rush. They told us, ‘We would be digging a hole the day after you leave,'” she said. “But, no, we haven’t seen anything change. And like I said, even my sign hasn’t come down. It’s very frustrating.”
Guetersloh said they found another location two miles away, but it is only about half the size of the previous site, where the old cavernous building could hold lots of vehicles for sale or repair. At the new location, the small parking lot is jammed with trucks and customers are being turned away because there simply isn’t room to store them.
“Sixty percent of our revenue gone,” she told CBS News Bay Area. “And it all started right with the move.”
Monarch didn’t own the old site. They were only leasing, but Guertersloh said the eminent domain law provides for losses for displaced businesses. They have been offered nothing, she said, by the VTA.
Meanwhile, the VTA said it maintains that the business was going to have to move anyway because even without the BART station, the site would eventually be used for housing.
“Basically, they’re going to build condos on it,” she said. “It’s not really about the train station. VTA has found a nice way to make money: building high-density housing. And they kind of disguise it in the way of, you know, train stations and eminent domain.”
A similar story occurred in May when the Silicon Valley Granite company next door to Monarch was told to vacate in 72 hours or lose any inventory left behind. They left, but some of the granite slabs still remain, and no work appears to have been done there either.
So, Guertersloh is suing VTA for the losses she is experiencing, and rather than settling, the agency is, so far, letting it go to trial, scheduled to start on March 9. CBS News Bay Area asked VTA for comment, but they declined, citing the ongoing litigation.
Guetersloh said she got word on Wednesday that VTA has also declined to attend a settlement hearing ordered by the court. She said she believes they will try to avoid a jury trial, if possible, because she doesn’t think it’s a story that a jury will be very sympathetic to hear.
“They’re used to being able to push people around, and I’m not letting them do it. I’m going to push back,” she said. “And I’m hoping it brings attention to it, so when other businesses go through this — You have rights! Make sure you get attorneys. Make sure you look out for yourself. Because they’re not going to look out for you. They’re going to hope that you just go away.”
