Measure B Fails To Provide Transportation Solutions & Neglects Safety

Today California State Assemblyman Don Perata announced his opposition to Measure B, a June ballot proposal calling for the renewal of Alameda County’s half-cent transportation sales tax. Perata charged that Measure B should be used to make BART earthquake safe before further expanding the system.

Donning hard hats with other members of the No On Measure B campaign, elected officials including BART Director Roy Nakadegawa and Hayward City Councilman Ron Hulteen pointed to the real public safety risks of BART collapsing in an earthquake. Measure B opponents urged voters to defeat the transportation sales tax because it ignores immediate transit service needs while fueling sprawl through highway expansion.

“A vote against Measure B sends a message to BART to improve existing service before expanding a system that the agency currently can not maintain,” said BART Director Roy Nakadegawa.

“We already made this mistake once, let’s not make it again,” said Chair of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and Emeryville City Councilman Greg Harper. “Eleven years and over a billion dollars after the passage of the original Measure B, traffic congestion is worse than ever and BART has failed to make critically needed service repairs.”

“Measure B won’t solve Alameda County traffic problems. It proposes to expand highways and waste funds on BART projects that few will use, instead of giving people better transit options,” said Environmental Defense Fund policy analyst and No On Measure B Coalition member Meg Krehbiel.

“User fees that make a direct connection between what people pay for and what they get are needed to solve our transportation problems,” said Pleasanton Mayor Ben Tarver.

Opponents of the measure include: California Assemblyman Don Perata, Former California Assemblyman Tom Bates, Mayor of Pleasanton Ben Tarver, Hayward City Councilman Ron Hulteen, Chair of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and Emeryville City Councilman Greg Harper, BART Director Roy Nakadegawa, the Environmental Defense Fund, Sierra Club, Greenbelt Alliance, East Bay League of Conservation Voters and others.