March 16, 2014

Dear Reader:
Over the past month or two, some of the notable discussions/developments at BART pertinent to District 7 include the introduction of a way to quietly report crimes with your mobile device to BART Police; poll results on the level of importance that voters place on funding BART improvements, including wBART; and the on-going discussion about banning BART worker strikes.  Summaries on each follow.

At the March 13 meeting of the BART Board of Directors, the Board authorized staff to enter a seven-year contract with ELERTS, a provider of mobile police communication software.  For years, BART patrons have desired to have a way to communicate illicit activities that occur on BART property more discreetly.  As it stands, patrons can only report illicit activities by using the on-board intercom to communicate with the Train Operator, utilizing a platform telephone to communicate with Station Agents, or by calling BART Police from their cell phone.  In each of these examples, patrons can be forced into situations where their efforts to help keep BART safe are exposed to the parties they’re attempting to report, potentially subjecting  the reporting patron to unsafe reactions by the parties they are attempting to report about.  The end result is a likely under-reporting of crimes on BART due to passengers’ concern about their own safety if they do report the crimes and other suspicious activities.

The ELERTS program functions as an app on your smartphone.  It is expected to go live within one-and-a-half to two months and will be accessible through both the Google Play and Apple App stores (free of charge, of course!).  In addition to being able to text information about suspicious or illicit activity to BART Police, ELERTS will also offer the following features, to name a few:

• The ability to take (with flash automatically disabled) and send pictures to BART Police of the activities being reported
• The ability for BART Police to send backwards communications to app users with safety alert messages, etc.

It is our hope that with a silent mobile reporting service like ELERTS, patrons will feel safer and more inclined to report crimes and suspicious activity.

In the interim, please continue to report crimes or suspicious activities through the available methods.  For your reference, the BART Police non-emergency number is (510) 464-7000.

As you may be aware, many Bay Area counties are engaged in an on-going discussion about whether and when to ask voters to extend/renew their county’s transportation tax measure(s).  Contra Costa County is no exception.  In answering these sorts of questions, a key strategy is to determine the sorts of transportation improvements that are most important to voters.  In other word, what will get voters to vote “yes?”

At the February 19 meeting of the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA), a recent polling of Contra Costa County voters was summarized.  The polling revealed that the highest priority of Contra Costa County voters is improvements to BART, including, but not limited to, service improvements and BART extensions.  Specific to wBART, the poll found that 85% of West Contra Costa County voters feel that an extension of BART in West Contra Costa County is either Very Important (52%) or Somewhat Important (33%).  Countywide, about 66% of the voting population finds investment in a West Contra Costa County BART extension to be important.

While there is a clear need (and desire) for high-capacity transit improvements in and through West Contra Costa County, we have yet to objectively determine the best technology (expanded express bus service, light-rail, BART, etc.) and alignment option(s).  As I detailed in a recent press release and was subsequently reported on in a West County Times article, the West Contra Costa Transportation Advisory Committee (WCCTAC) established the study of high-capacity transit options along the Interstate 80 corridor as a priority and gave WCCTAC staff direction to work with partner agencies to define a scope and cost for conducting the study.  This was done at the January 31 meeting of WCCTAC.  Pending the finalization of the proposed study scope, the WCCTAC Board will be able to vote on making the scope official.  This will hopefully be able to occur towards the end of April or May, after which time, it’s on to identifying funding and getting the study going.

Last weekend, I put out an op-ed in the Bay Area News Group regarding my views of a BART worker strike ban proposal.  In short, the proposal as put forward by my colleague and Board President, Joel Keller, includes a binding arbitration component that I have trouble with.  Basically, rather than the threat of a strike, BART’s Board of Directors would be faced with the threat of an unpredictable arbitrator making contract decisions – a threat that can cripple the Board’s ability to pursue much-needed, aggressive contract changes.  You can learn more about my concerns and position by accessing my op-ed online (link).

While on this subject, you may also find interest in comparing my perspective to that of BART Board President, Joel Keller, who also put out an op-ed (link), and the Bay Area News Group editorial board's opinion (link).

Director Keller has stated publicly that, unless a different approach to contract negotiations that protects the public from BART worker strikes in the future is devised in the coming few months, he intends to have the Board of Directors vote on having his proposal go to the ballot as an advisory vote.  An advisory vote has no legislative impact, but provides a "survey" of the electorate's opinion on the matter.  So, in theory, the advisory vote would send a message to Sacramento about the public's view on the matter.

As a reminder, BART is a special district of the State of California, so is subject to state laws when it comes to worker rights, including the right to strike.  As a special district, BART cannot create its own laws, so cannot ban the striking of its workers outside the life of a contract.  Only the State of California can institute such a ban.

Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.

Sincerely yours,

 

Zakhary Mallett, MCP
Director, District 7
San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART)