There’s been a lot of press recently about the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s $180 million dollar decision to relocate from Oakland to San Francisco. The MTC oversees transit planning for the 9 counties that touch San Francisco Bay. Why should that decision concern us?

The answer is because:
1) We have two commissioners on the board – Contra Costa County Supervisor Federal Glover and Orinda Councilmember Amy Rein Worth.

2) Commissioners didn’t wait for the results of a state audit to determine if it’s legal to use toll money ($6 just to cross a bridge) on real estate speculation.

3) They had to rescind their first vote to move because it violated the state open meeting law.

4) No public agency should be EXPANDING in this sour economy; rather they should be trimming staff and cutting costs.

5) Their idea to combine MTC, the Bay Area Area Quality Management District, the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) and the Bay Conservation and Development Commission under one roof backfired since ABAG declined to take part in the move.

I queried MTC in regard to the vote of moving offices from the Oakland location, which is right next to a BART station, to a new building in San Francisco that is not located near transit. Here’s what I learned. On the first vote our representatives Federal Glover and Amy Rein Worth voted against acceptance of the findings and recommendations of the ad hoc report.

Following the closed session, on a vote concerning the bidding process for that building, commissioners Cortese, Green, Haggerty, Liccardo and Amy Rein Worth voted no.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 3rd, 2011 at 11:52 am and is filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.