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