OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) --
BART management, passengers and a state senator are responding today to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle revealing that more than a third of BART employees called in sick on Christmas Eve, costing BART 406 hours of overtime.
The California Senate passed a bill last week to allow BART to develop housing on station parking lots it owns throughout the Bay Area. Supporters of AB 2923 say it could generate up to 20,000 residential units and alleviate commuter traffic. But opponents say the bill overreaches and robs cities of the power to make land-use decisions.
California needs a statewide system that tracks student performance from pre-school to college and beyond, several experts and lawmakers said at a state Senate hearing on Tuesday.
The state, which trails most states in providing such a system, needs to be able to answer questions about education quality and how students progress from K-12 to college and the workforce, speakers said.
The annual homeless count in Contra Costa County has begun. Workers and volunteers traipsed through brush and visited transients on the streets, encampments and at shelters to get an accurate tally of how many people may be in need of resources.
By Candice Nguyen
Oakland, Calif. (KTVU/Candice Nguyen) - BART's new “Fleet of the Future” was supposed to be the biggest public transit remedy seen in years to address the Bay Area gridlock. Instead, 2 Investigates discovered that the multi-billion dollar project -- described as a “slow motion train wreck” by one lawmaker -- is facing more delays, missed deadlines, and undelivered promises by Canadian supplier Bombardier.
The state Senate passed legislation on Sept. 14 that will give Bay Area voters a chance to create an independent inspector general for BART to hold the sprawling transit district accountable for its spending, service to riders, and timely delivery of capital projects. East Bay Times Columnist Gary Peterson has his take here.
