By Kevin Truong, The San Francisco Standard, February 28, 2023
“A California state Senate committee pushing for more funding for Bay Area Rapid Transit and other regional agencies has lost a member, with East Bay representative Steve Glazer calling it quits in a letter on [February 28th].
“Glazer, whose district spans Alameda and Contra Costa counties, wrote in a resignation letter addressed to Sen. Scott Wiener that Bay Area leaders have failed to hold BART financially accountable.
“[On February 21,] Wiener formed the Senate Select Committee on Bay Area Public Transit to help study regional public transit challenges in the Bay Area and drum up support for funding from the state’s budget.
“[As a principle reason for his resignation, Glazer] cited a 2022 report from the Alameda County Grand Jury that found that BART’s board, management and unions engaged in a ‘pattern of obstruction’ against its Office of the Inspector General.
“In a statement, Wiener said he was ‘disappointed’ by Glazer’s resignation and added that Senate Bill 1488, Glazer’s BART accountability bill, passed the legislature with ‘near-unanimous’ support from the Bay Area delegation before being vetoed.
“BART Board Member Bevan Dufty said he and Board President Janice Li spoke with Glazer about his concerns during a recent trip to Sacramento and are working with lawmakers to find a consensus.
“ ‘We will certainly continue working with the senator and appreciate his important role,’ Dufty said.
Local transit agencies including BART, Muni and Caltrain face serious fiscal cliffs as federal relief aid runs out and ridership fails to recover to pre-pandemic levels. BART alone could see deficits totaling more than $1.1 billion from 2023 through 2028.