Candidate for
Director; San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District; Area 7

I have over 16 years of combined public service in state, regional and local government, with a focus on transportation and economic development.

For 8 years, as Pinole Mayor, I represented the cities of Contra Costa County on the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA). As a member of CCTA, I helped write Measure J, to extend the ½ cent transportation sales tax (formerly Measure C) that would generate $2B over the next 25 years to fund a Transportation Expenditure Plan (TEP) that included transportation improvements and transit programs countywide.

As the CCTA representative, I worked for 2 years in a planning process to balance the diverse transportation and transit needs of many stakeholders.

The final expenditure plan reflected the consensus of environmentalists, bike advocates, business interests, labor unions, social justice advocates, taxpayer groups and all 19 Contra Costa cities and the unanimous support of the Board of Supervisors.

In 2004, Measure J received over 70% of voter approval and became effective on April 1, 2005.

Currently, Measure J has leveraged $620 mm of its capital projects funding to over $1423 million of State and Federal funds.

Measure J projects & programs in West Contra Costa County:

• $14.5million was allocated as part of Measure J's "Safe Transportation for Children Program". This funding provides a subsidized bus pass for West Contra Costa County high school students.

• $189million for to improve transit for seniors and persons with disabilities and expand BART and transit programs to help get people out of their cars. This includes improvements to the BART system, Express Bus, feeder bus services and bus transit enhancements.

• $7.5million to construct a new Capitol Corridor station in Hercules.

• $15million for BART parking, access and other improvements.

• Over $3million for Pedestrian, Bicycle and Trail Facilities.

For the last 6 years, I worked with the Richmond Equitable Development Initiative (REDI), a coalition of social justice advocates to include economic development and transportation equity policies into the City of Richmond's General Plan which was recently adopted (April 2012).

Some of these policies in the General Plan include:

• Local Hire and Job Training of Richmond residents, especially those with barriers to employment, including youth, formerly incarcerated and people with limited English.

• Transit Needs Assessment that looks at the gaps in service and transit needs of youth, seniors, working families and low-income communities who depend on public transit.

• Better Mass Transit for Richmond residents. The City of Richmond will advocate at the local, regional and federal level for more frequent, reliable and affordable mass transit.

• Better Lighting and Safety Improvements at bus stops and bus shelters.

• Create Jobs and Reduce Pollution which includes land use planning that bring jobs, housing and transit together and will help the city meet its greenhouse gas reduction goals.