BART Director, District 3: Rebecca Saltzman
I am so excited to endorse Rebecca Saltzman for the open District 3 seat on the BART Board. I've known Rebecca for several years as she has been involved in transit issues. She understands BART's needs and the best solutions -- that BART needs to refocus attention on maintaining and improving service on the existing system (a focus of TransForm's "Save BART!" efforts). She understands that if we're going to expand BART's capacity (which would be great!), we need to focus on the most effective improvements, not necessarily the most expensive ones that have dominated BART's agenda in the past.Rebecca is a sharp transit wonk (a term I use with love and admiration!) who is also a savvy political strategist. She will work well with others on the Board and I look forward to working with her. And she's got endorsements up the wazoo: Sierra Club, Alameda County Central Labor Council, Alameda & Contra Costa County Democratic parties, and gobs of elected officials. Full disclosure: Rebecca served with me recently on the Board of the League of Conservation Voters of the East Bay (LCVEB), and LCVEB endorsed her too.
BART Director, District 7: Maria Alegria
For BART District 7, Maria Alegria is a strong challenger to the incumbent Lynette Sweet. I have known Ms. Alegria for a long time, through her leadership of Contra Costa FaithWorks and leadership as an elected official on transportation issues in Contra Costa County. She understands that BART needs to prioritize fixing the existing system, support sustainable transit-oriented development at stations, and focus on cost-effectiveness.The big question in this race is whether any of the challengers will be able to unseat the incumbent Lynette Sweet. District 7 has crazy geography -- mostly Western Contra Costa County (60% of the district's voters) plus slivers of Alameda County along I-80 (23%), and a little bit of San Francisco (17%). All three challengers are from the East Bay. Challenger Margaret Gordon is a great activist from West Oakland, but she has little chance of winning. Ms. Sweet is a San Franciscan who has been on the Board since she was appointed to it in 2003 -- and oddly, the only campaign website I can find for her is her failed 2010 run for SF Supervisor. She also has a reputation for being difficult to contact, and I know she simply failed to answer several groups' endorsement questions. While I endorsed Sweet 4 years ago, this time there's a good challenger.
Ms. Alegria has a great collection of endorsements -- Sierra Club, labor councils in Alameda & Contra Costa Counties, the BART union, and even several Democratic clubs in San Francisco, plus a bunch of popular elected officials. And she's also endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters of the East Bay, on whose Board I sit. If she and Rebecca Saltzman both win, along with Robert Raburn's win in 2010, that will signal a major shift towards a BART Board that really understands what needs to happen to Save BART!
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3 comments:
I was interested to see you supported Maria Alegria. How do you factor in news reports that she was recalled from the City Council over ethical issues, and has not kept up with tax reporting on her non-profit? I found this a tough race to decipher, but went with the transportation planner, Zakhary Mallett, and thought you might have, too.
Thanks for commenting. I was aware of the recall when it happened. I wasn't particularly impressed by the claims the recall proponents put forward -- it appears to have grown out of what is now the Tea Party in Contra Costa. I have found that group to put out a lot of spurious claims that have unfortunately gotten more traction than I think they deserve. I see some good points in Mr. Mallett, but I'm not impressed by his position about BART's finances, which I think is the most important consideration in the BART race.
It seems quite laughable that Hobson would support the two candidates who are the most financially liberal when he sees finances as the issue!
I guess the race is over either which way - still, an odd thing to come across.
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