BART

Press, advocates and politician gathered at 8:30 this morning in front of Oakland City Hall for a final push for the $3.5 billion BART bond, Measure RR. As Streetsblog readers will recall, the bond is intended to rebuild and upgrade BART's aged infrastructure, focusing on the exiting tracks, trains, tunnels, signals and electrical systems.

WMATA, the DC region's transit agency, is in crisis.

Yesterday evening, the San Francisco Transit Riders held a "BART Board Director Candidate Forum" at the Mission Pool & Playground Clubhouse in the Mission District.

While the rest of the Bay Area was heading to the beach this Labor Day weekend, BART was working around the clock between Glen Park and Daly City, repairing tracks and switches. This was the fourth weekend closure necessary for the work. As before, bus bridges were provided between Daly City, Balboa Park and Glen Park stations.

20-year BART board veteran and current board president Tom Radulovich announced yesterday that he will not seek re-election this November. Additionally, he endorsed a replacement: Lisa Feldstein, an attorney with a PhD in City and Regional Planning. She's also an instructor at the University of San Francisco. It looks as if Feldstein is going to have quite a bit of competition for Radulovich's seat. That said, Streetsblog figured it worth talking with Feldstein to find out what she's all about and to learn her vision for BART. Streetsblog caught up with her yesterday afternoon at a coffee shop near the Balboa Park BART station.

For years now, civil engineers have given America's aged infrastructure a "D" grade and warned that if we don't do something soon, it's simply going to fall apart.

Tomorrow, Thursday, January 28, the BART Board of Directors will review environmental documents for Phase I of the proposed Coliseum Transit Village, which will bring 110 housing units to a parcel that's in walking distance of the Coliseum station. The hope is construction will start in November of this year, with completion two years later.

BART planners presented their ideas for renovating the 19th Street Station last week during two in-station events, seeking public comments on a plan to “improve the look, feel, and usability” of the station.