The Politics of Power

CALIFORNIA HAS been hit hard by the recession. It has one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation and a $26 billion unresolved budget deficit. Private businesses and public agencies throughout the state are making painful spending cuts and layoffs.
In Contra Costa County [and in the City of Oakland,] public employee unions demonstrated leadership by agreeing to a frugal contract with no pay increases and significant benefit cuts, which preserved jobs and basic services. "
This was the Editorial in the Contra Costa Times newspaper of July 16, 2009.

I agree with the conclusion. but I have two other reasons why I also recommend approval of a contract.
1. The strike is unthinkable, at this delicate time, one side is willing to push to the brink and the other is faced with a dilemma, "Do we really want to drive off the cliff and take the Bay Area, the state and, possibly, the nation off to the unknown abyss of a "Double Dip Recession"?
2. There is another option: "Agree, for now, but Remember!" Repeat your arguments to the voters at the next Board Election and let us decide. "They" have shown their cards, you show yours and you will save the Bay Area and, I really believe, the nation.
At worse, BART Officials will see the personal risk and THAT is the biggest motivator. It directly answers the juvenile, question "What's In It for ME?"
On the other hand, they have shown their incompetence or malfeacance in the way then handled voters in three BART Board Hearings on: "The Oakland Airport Connector (OAC)."
So many objected to the project the first meeting, many were turned away and they had to repeat the hearings and double the space which, still, proved inadequate. The opposition was over 80 Percent. The extra room, where I sat, had no audio or visual feed from the main hall. They either did not want for us to hear other objections or wanted to keep us from hearing what BART Board members had to say in support, later I wonder about other possibilities, i.e., were they awake?
To them, we did not matter, we were in "the back of the bus", again! But, I managed to get back to the main "Hearing Room" and watched the painful look on each of the Board Members who never spoke and looked as if they were wondering what did they do in their childhood to desserve such a cruel and unusual punishment.
It made me recall an old practice in Mexico, where the official appointed by the Viceroy, who was a representative of the Spanish King, held "Audiencias" where "indians" (from India?) came and bowed deeply and even kissed the hand of The Lord and handed a "Petition", with the proper gold coins, handed over to a servant, to keep "The Lord" from the unwashed coins. I had a written petition but included no coins.
Then I noticed that the names of did not match the sleepy heads behind the name. Some were "substitute players". His Lordship did not have to bother with the people's complaints.
I will skip repeating lies and deceptions used to get the Oakland Airport Connector approved except to mention that for over 35 years they have promised, in fact the promise switched a Contra Costa County vote that brought BART into existance. The promise was for an extension to Antioch and they always said that it was too expensive at "$100 Million per mile" which they later changed to $450 Million. They often said, "we don't have the money", yet, out of nowhere they have an urgent need to spend $400, $450 or $522 Million in Oakland' three mile bridge to OAK Airport, before the only one tenant left is Southwest Airline. This is the future in a "Hub and Spoke" airline network, it seems they are unaware that the Airline business, airplanes and route patterns change ALL the time. In the last "25 years", a BART Official said in a KCBS radio interview: "we have been working on this project, very hard, for the last 25 years". And, evidently, they still think its a good idea!
Do you know any technical idea that is 25 years old is still worth buying or constructing? Even songs and singers go out style in less than 25 years -or die.

They never mention that the traffic in Oakland Airport has been going down, EVERY YEAR, for the last 7 years. All traffic gains in the last 7 years are gone!Yet, the BART people have the audacity to say they expect the number of riders per year to exceed the highest number ever used BART to SFO Airport which has Boeing 747, 777 and 767 and the Aerospatiale A380 with 535 passengers, and A330 arrivals from the Middle East.
While the BART Directors collect, allegedly, $300K per year in Total Compensation. Yes, I know, it looks like an arrogant display of power. Did the contract offer include proportional cuts in THEIR total compensations?
High BART Officials must have limo service, otherwise they would know how increasingly jerky BART trains are becoming (an official told me the driver has nothing to do with that, did she mean it's only a computer "glitch"? A design "glitch"? They will never fix?). Recently a train shook a part off and closed the Trans Bay Tunnel 45 minutes. Did they fix the problem to keep it from getting worse? I didn't think so.