Council Ready to Lead BART Bond Measure to Victory

The Bay Area Council is swinging into action with the unanimous vote Thursday (June 9) by the BART Board of Directors to place a $3.5 billion bond measure on the November ballot that will pay to fix the aging and overcrowded mass transit system. Under the leadership of Executive Committee member Andrew Giacomini of Hanson Bridgett and Council Chair Michael Covarrubias of TMG Partners, the Council is raising the funds that will be needed to execute a successful campaign.

The Council was instrumental in leading the effort to create the BART system almost 70 years ago, and the Council’s Transportation Committee under the leadership of co-chairs Jeff Heller of Heller Manus and Rosemary Turner of UPS has hosted several meetings over the past year with BART General Manager Grace Crunican and BART board members as the bond measure was in planning stages.

“Fixing BART is critical for ensuring its safety and reliability, meeting growing ridership demand and helping relieve traffic on our congested roads and highways,” said BART Board Director Nicholas Josefowitz. I’m looking forward to working with the Bay Area Council to pass the bond measure in November and invest in BART’s long-term future.”

There’s no higher priority for improving regional transportation than fixing BART and increasing its capacity to absorb record ridership growth. When BART breaks down the region’s entire transportation system feels the pain from increased traffic, slower commutes and lost productivity. The bond measure will invest in making important repairs and upgrades to improve BART’s safety, capacity, convenience and reliability. Recent polling shows that the BART bond measure narrowly reaches the two-thirds voter approval needed to pass, but a strong campaign will be crucial to ensure support remains above that level. To support the BART bond campaign and engage in the Council’s transportation policy work, please contact Senior Vice President Michael Cunningham.