I'm catching up with the January issue of the free San Francisco magazine that magically shows up in the mail every month. It's often worth a quick read and can venture south of EssEff once in awhile like four years ago when we were deemed Utopia-qualified. This month has a piece profiling the newly-elected BART board member, Janice Li. Her claim to fame is as a bicycle advocate. She also "still thinks it is scary, weird and absurd to be an elected official". But somehow she has the elected official's non-answer answer down pat as seen here:
Q: Riders south of San Francisco don't get to vote for BART elected officials, even though there are BART stations there. Is that a good idea?
A: There are two sides to the San Mateo problem. Some people say that the people who live there aren't paying their fair share. Others say that they are losing out because they have no representation. I'm not totally sold that BART should even have a voter-elected board. It's extraordinarily rare.
If you are waiting for the rest of the response, join the club. I'm not feeling super confident about the future direction of the Caltrain and high-speed rail connections at the intermodal station in Millbrae. You?
ah, from the mouths of bureaucrats.
Posted by: It Don't Come Easy | February 02, 2019 at 07:49 PM
Speaking of bureaucrats from the North Bay, I hope they put this guy out to pasture:
The chairman of the Bay Area’s powerful Metropolitan Transportation Commission may have a hard time getting reappointed, after landing at the center of a housing debate that has cut through cities and counties throughout the region.
Jake Mackenzie’s fate was in the hands of a selection committee of nine Sonoma County mayors who met Thursday night in Healdsburg to pick members of various boards. He was the only person who had submitted a letter of interest for the MTC, a seat he has held since 2008.
But in an abrupt move, the committee voted 6-3 to extend the filing deadline for letters of interest to March 1, so that other candidates can apply.
The delay is the latest twist in a battle that Mackenzie is waging in Rohnert Park, where he serves as a city councilman. Last month, Mackenzie’s City Council colleagues stripped him of two board positions — one on the Sonoma County Transportation Authority, the other on the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District.
Though they said it was time for new blood, Mackenzie accused the council of retaliating against him for supporting an MTC housing initiative to build 35,000 a year throughout the region.
“There are certainly some elected officials in Sonoma County who feel that as chair of a regional governance board, I should have a very parochial attitude,” he said, referring to Rohnert Park’s firm embrace of “local control” of housing decisions.
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The guy is 79 so he won't be around to see the damage done by his political positions. Good riddance. How do we clean out more of the MTC?
Posted by: Joe | February 03, 2019 at 01:42 PM
How come you get that mag for free but I have to pay $9 for it at the grocery store? Must be something only the gentry gets...
Posted by: J. Mir | February 13, 2019 at 03:24 AM
I have no idea. It's been that way for years and my whole street gets it...........
Posted by: Joe | February 13, 2019 at 03:18 PM
Speaking of BART again, check this bit of feather-bedding out:
On Day 31 of the Biden Administration, we get the 591-page bill that the Democrats are proposing to enact into law. Buried in the text of the legislation is a section from the House Transportation Committee (Sec. 7006) to fund $30 billion for transit systems to “prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus,” with funds earmarked for operating costs and capital investments to various transit systems around the country.
The bill funds $1 billion for projects under Section 3005(b) of Public Law 114-94, the “Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act.” That section created a pilot program to fast-track federal funds on projects meeting certain specifications and has been used in applications for funding the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Silicon Valley project.
The new “RELIEF” bill would provide BART with around $112 million in funding for continuing the 6.5-mile extension from its current terminus in Milpitas down to San Jose then back northwest to the City of Santa Clara. The extension would include three underground stations and one at-grade station at its new terminus in Santa Clara City.
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A trillion here, a trillion there, pretty soon you are talking about REAL MONEY
Posted by: Joe | February 25, 2021 at 05:35 PM
"A trillion here, a trillion there, pretty soon you are talking about REAL MONEY"
Not really. When we start throwing around trillions that is when it is not real money.
Quiz:
How tall would you need to stack $100 bills to make a trillion dollars?
a) 84.2 ft
b) 765 ft
c) 4 miles
d) 631 miles
Answer:
https://www.quora.com/How-tall-is-a-trillion-in-100-bills?share=1
Posted by: MBGA | February 25, 2021 at 10:10 PM
Not sure what to say. Li is now the BART president...
BART’s governing board voted unanimously Thursday to appoint board member Janice Li as the body’s next president.
Li, who has served as the BART Board of Directors’ vice president throughout 2022, represents the transit agency’s eighth district, which includes the western portion of San Francisco and partial representation of the Montgomery, Embarcadero and Balboa Park stations.
Li was first elected to the board in 2018 and was re-elected in November 2022 after running unopposed.
https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/bart-board-elects-new-president-vice-president/article_3b02766a-7df2-11ed-ac37-b3a6e8ea2365.html?utm_source=smdailyjournal.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletters%2Fheadlines%2F%3F-dc%3D1671289207&utm_medium=email&utm_content=read%20more
Posted by: Joe | December 17, 2022 at 12:35 PM
The Chronicle is blaring the potential loss of BART. Is anyone surprised with the leadership vacuum we saw coming years ago?
Is there hope for BART’s future?
There are two key reasons things appear bleak for BART right now: There’s no guarantee it and other California transit agencies will secure a state subsidy, and BART officials have little time before they will have to consider painful service cuts.
In a best-case scenario for BART, California lawmakers pass a bailout this legislative session, with money flowing as early as this fall.
But if the agency does not secure a subsidy from the state or local taxpayers by spring 2024, board directors will likely have to consider making steep cuts in service in the budget for that upcoming budget cycle, when BART’s fiscal cliff is realized.
Leaders of the Bay Area’s transit agencies appear adamant in banding together to ask voters to for a tax measure, which would require two-thirds approval, in 2026 in part to avoid a crowded ballot in 2024. Viewed as the long-term fix, a regional subsidy under this timeline would not arrive in time for the agency to avert its $143 million deficit in 2025 — assuming voters would pass it.
Officials at BART have not publicly discussed other options beyond the state subsidy lobbying push and a regional ballot measure that remains undefined.
“We’ve built our budget around peak worker riders, and when they went away, it sort of broke our back and broke the budget,” Board Director Mark Foley said in late January. “I am concerned in putting (all) our eggs in the tax measure basket. What if that fails, like so many other ballot measures fail because people don't want to be taxed anymore? What if that happens? What is Plan B?”
https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/2023/bart-finance-qa/
Posted by: Joe | March 13, 2023 at 01:22 PM
Commuters are wary of BART and now that they don't have to go to the office...
A casual rider of BART doesn't want to put up with the homeless and BART seems unable to keep them off the trains.
It is a no-win situation for BART and HSR.
But let us keep throwing money at both?
Posted by: Paloma Ave | March 13, 2023 at 02:32 PM
Watching the gyrations at BART can be frustrating. Just now they are planning to do somethings that any rational person would have done either at the beginning of the lockdown or as we were slowly reopening the economy. Most of this was 100% predictable unless you are a "bicycle advocate" on a train system board of trustees.....
From the Merc:
OAKLAND — BART’s quest to avoid a forbidding “fiscal cliff” and boost ridership is poised to launch next week with a plan to ditch half-hour waits on nights and weekends and a gambit to shorten trains.
The Bay Area transit agency will begin the new effort on Sept. 11.
“No BART rider will wait more than 20 minutes for a scheduled train no matter what hour of the day or day of the week,” BART said.
One result of the upcoming change is that evening service will increase by 50% seven nights a week, the transit system estimated.
BART is also undertaking two other significant changes in connection with its schedule alterations. The transit agency will shorten the size of the least-crowded trains. And the transit system will use only its “fleet of the future” trains for its base schedule.
Posted by: Joe | September 09, 2023 at 03:06 PM
And what about crime, filth and gate- jumpers costing millions?
Posted by: Peter Garrison | September 09, 2023 at 07:27 PM
BART has been one of the worst things to happen to Burlingame.
Look at the filth happening to Millbrae and Burlingame since BART has arrived.
Not politically correct to state, but the truth!
Posted by: Paloma Ave | September 09, 2023 at 08:42 PM
BART is about to start panhandling in San Mateo County--we would have to be nuts to get in business with these people:
After voicing dissatisfaction with staff recommendations on how to quell a $300 million budget deficit, some BART board members offered bolder suggestions, such as merging with Caltrain or incorporating San Mateo and Santa Clara counties into the agency’s districts.
“I think it’s time that we really think about what expanding the district looks like and what bringing in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties looks like. It gets brought up all the time, and it increases accountability in our system if those are also our voter bases,” BART board President Janice Li said during the Board of Directors meeting on Thursday, Oct. 26. “It also reconsiders our tax base. I don’t want this to just be an option where we say, ‘oh yeah, but it’s really hard.’”
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Canepa's office indicated we should consider it, but Gina Papan (who is on the MTC) noted
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Adding San Mateo County as a BART district could mean a higher portion of the county’s tax revenue would go to the agency, something Papan said would not be popular with residents.
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That's for sure!
https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/bart-leaders-seek-regional-consolidation/article_d80cd094-7abe-11ee-a40c-63eb91f4bdaa.html
Posted by: Joe | November 05, 2023 at 01:15 PM
Oh my no.
No.
Posted by: Peter Garrison | November 05, 2023 at 01:57 PM