Oct 6, 2009 6:42 am US/Pacific
Oakland Council To Take Position On Airport Link
OAKLAND (CBS 5 / BCN) ―
The Oakland City Council was set to vote Tuesday on a resolution expressing opposition to BART's connector from the Coliseum station to the Oakland International Airport.
The resolution was introduced by City Council members Nancy Nadel and Rebecca Kaplan at a Public Works Committee meeting in September, when committee members questioned BART about the 3.2-mile connector.
A coalition of transit, social justice, labor, environmental, and business advocates are urging the City Council to pass the resolution at Tuesday's meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m.
John Knox White, the program director for TransForm, an Oakland-based transit advocacy group, said in a statement, "This project has become a shell of the project that was promised to voters and offers no benefits to the city of Oakland."
White said, "The City Council has a chance to stop a terrible waste of stimulus and taxpayer money in favor of creating jobs, providing real transportation improvements and actually benefiting Oakland."
The resolution, in part, urges that the Metropolitan Transportation Commission reconsider using the $70 million in federal funding currently slated for the connector project for local bus system improvements and "a more cost effective and environmentally sound airport connector alternative."
City Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan said in a statement, "To use these funds to build an over-priced and questionable project - when we desperately need these funds to save vital local transit service - is bad for our economy, our environment, and the public."
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