Mayor Bates Reluctantly Accepts the Primacy of People over the BRT, A.C. Transit, and the Procuring of Federal Monies

City Council Meeting - 10.23.2007 Video here

01:07:45 - Mayor Bates: That concludes the public comment on this item. I want to say that – I had the first item and I did have an item going to the Transportation Commission and then going to the Planning Commission, and I did feel at that time and I still feel the Planning Commission is an important body, but I did feel that also, at the same time, we shouldn’t ignore the role of the Transportation Commission. The compromise that’s been worked out I am going to support for a couple reasons. First reason is they will consult and be involved with the decision. The Planning Commission is going to, by the nature of the way the item is put forward, will consult with the transportation commission. And the other part of it is, you know, we need to move on. We need to get a decision made about this particular process. And so I think that what we have done is collapse it enough that we realistically can get a decision made by March of next year [2008], because A.C. Transit’s sitting there hoping to find out what the route is that we’re going to suggest to them. And also Oakland and also San Leandro. So while we’re fiddling around, San Francisco and other parts of the bay area are moving ahead quite rapidly. So we could find ourselves after a protracted, long, debate knock down drag out for the route, and by the time we do it, the money is not there to even do anything. So if we’re serious about it, we have to get on with it and I think it’s a fair compromise and I am going to support it even though I initially supported transportation first.