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Battered BART working on its image

Dateline: 
02/26/2010
Source: 
SF Gate
Muni and other Bay Area transit agencies aren't reveling in the Federal Transit Administration's rejection of $70 in stimulus funding for BART's Oakland Airport Connector project, but it's good news for the 19 struggling districts that get to split up the funds.

BART, meanwhile, is tending to its wounds. Even though it won't get the stimulus funds, the transit operator is trying to satisfy the feds' concerns that it didn't adequately study the impact of the project on minority, low-income and limited English-speaking communities.

And its also trying to patch up its image -- both in Washington, and the Bay Area. The administration found BART to be in violation of Title VI, federal civil rights laws, in regard to the transportation planning and review process.

Dorothy Dugger, BART's general manager, said the federal government's rebuff has led to a mistaken belief by some that the transit agency flouts all civil rights laws, including those regarding contracting and employment.

"We have been unfairly criticized in this regard," she said, boasting that BART does well in those areas.

The administration ruling, Dugger said, focused on involving minority and low-income communities in the planning process, and assuring that major projects do not result in changes that disparately affect those groups. BART plans to not only do the necessary studies, she said, but to assemble community panels to help advise the district.

"My objective is not simply to correct the deficiencies found in the compliance review," she said, "but to be the gold standard."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/cityinsider/detail?entry_id=57990#ixzz0ggoaoe5d
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