Oakland Airport Connector--Government at its Worst
12/12/09 Filed in: MTC | Transportation
Planning
Guy Span
wrote a powerful post on the decision
of the BART Board to put itself into serious debt,
in the midst of cutting service and not having the
funds to replace its cars.
Here’s the comment we posted:
The BART Board's decision to proceed is a textbook case of everything that is wrong with transportation decisionmaking in the Bay Area. Because the benefits of this extremely expensive project are so obviously minimal, BART Directors and MTC Commissioners have made their priorities very public. They clearly couldn't care less about maintaining current transit service.
Building shiny new things is what moves them. The big question is why. Is this about building political careers by appearing to 'deliver the bacon' when the ribbon-cutting ceremony finally comes along? Or is this something darker? Is this about political contributions from contractors and consultants? Or is it actual under-the-table cash?
When policymakers do something so obviously against the public interest, the public needs to know why. Hopefully, Guy Span can dig into this, and come up with some answers. Our region cannot afford to have its scarce dollars wasted. We need transit, not Disney.
Here’s the comment we posted:
The BART Board's decision to proceed is a textbook case of everything that is wrong with transportation decisionmaking in the Bay Area. Because the benefits of this extremely expensive project are so obviously minimal, BART Directors and MTC Commissioners have made their priorities very public. They clearly couldn't care less about maintaining current transit service.
Building shiny new things is what moves them. The big question is why. Is this about building political careers by appearing to 'deliver the bacon' when the ribbon-cutting ceremony finally comes along? Or is this something darker? Is this about political contributions from contractors and consultants? Or is it actual under-the-table cash?
When policymakers do something so obviously against the public interest, the public needs to know why. Hopefully, Guy Span can dig into this, and come up with some answers. Our region cannot afford to have its scarce dollars wasted. We need transit, not Disney.