Features

I am the current incumbent to the BART Board and am running on a limited campaign budget where my opponents are probably spending 20 to 30 times more than what I will spend. This will be my last term so I am using my reserve, which I had from former campaigns and am not seeking any contributions for this last campaign.  

Just last week my opponent sent out a defamatory and slanderous hit piece about me and it is too late to even file suit so I have written to you in hopes that my response will be published.  

I am the most qualified candidate to continue in this office for I am very familiar with actual operations of transit. I have influenced BART to proceed in a more rational and studied manner. I even pressed the board to consider a study whether BART would survive a major earthquake and had to introduce this motion three times before the board’s approval. After the study the board realized that it was imperative that we act on an Seismic Retrofit program immediately. If BART is damaged, it will cause serious affects to the overall transportation system of the Bay Area. The recent report made last week by UC’s transportation group indicated over three hours delay leading on and through the freeway maze would occur. The repair would take at least two years to repair if we do not complete the retrofit work before a major quake occurs.  

I also managed to influence several policies which will lead to a more reliable system. I have written much of this into LWV’s www.smartvoter.org if you are interested. You can also see the wonderful transit oriented people who have endorsed me as well. 

My extensive transit knowledge comes from travels to major cities in the US, Canada, Germany, Japan and other cities in Europe and South America studying various forms of transit, its capital cost, operation and maintenance cost. Kathy Neal’s fancy expensive colored mailing, without checking with anyone, accuses me of using excessive public funds in my travels. On the Port Commission she said she seldom took out of area trips. She implies that I am too focused on academic interests of transit that are not relevant to BART. This shows her naiveté about why I investigate other transit systems. I could elicit numerous transit innovations in Europe and Japan that could be applied to us to make BART more rider-friendly and cost-effective. 

Of the 12 overseas trips, excluding Canada, I paid for them myself except one trip to Germany where the Bavarian Transit Industries paid for the trip. About 1/4 of my trips were funded by AC Transit or BART because they were sponsored by American Public Transit Association where staff and board members attended as well.  

On almost all my trips, I stay with friends or at two-star hotels and motels or some private homes, most often at cost, and charge less per diem days to save public costs. BART staff and board know of my economiy travel because it is so unusual among board and staff that it’s conveyed through the grapevine. They usually stay at expensive conference hotels, which are generally four stars or fancier. Also, I limit my spending to 75 percent of what is allowed under BART rules in view of the deficit BART has experienced last three years. Staying at outlying places, I use the city’s transit system to get to/from the meeting and experience the quality of their system to compare to BART. 

›