Crazy Train II: This time, it’s personal
Brushing aside misgivings and the federal Transportation Administration’s reneging on a promise of some $70 million in funding, politicians and transit bureaucrats gathered in Oakland Wednesday to break ground on a half billion dollar, 3.2 mile automated people-mover linking a San Francisco area commuter rail station with Oakland’s airport, reports Henry K. Lee of the San Francisco Chronicle.
The Oakland Airport Connector, as it’s called, has long been pushed by local officials, but the project was nearly derailed when the Federal Transit Administration ruled that planning officials and public agencies failed to consider the project’s impact on minority communities and pulled $70 million committed to it a year ago. (more…)