BART statement on FTA letter on Oakland Connector

BART has received FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff's letter stating that the FTA has rejected BART's plan to meet the FTA's standards of full compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. This letter cites no substantive deficiencies in BART's latest draft action plan to correct Title VI deficiencies identified in a December 2009 audit. Instead, the basis of the FTA Administrator's rejection rests solely on the fact that BART's plan contains a timetable with an end date beyond September 30, 2010-the deadline for awarding stimulus fund grants.

BART’s original draft
action plan, which was submitted to the FTA on January 28th committed to
complete all required tasks well before September 30, 2010, but following its
review, FTA staff directed BART to plan for a longer timetable.

Additionally, today’s
letter from the Administrator referred to a September 30 funding disbursement
deadline. The Federal Register (Vol. 79, No. 42) of March 5, 2009 states that
ARRA funds need only to be awarded to specific project by that date. Grant
recipients have five years to draw down-or spend-these federal funds.

"BART is extremely
disappointed and dismayed that FTA will not use its discretion to allow
stimulus funding to the Oakland Airport Connector while BART is working to
remedy Title VI deficiencies," said BART General Manager Dorothy W. Dugger. "BART’s
commitment to Title VI and Civil Rights is strong and abiding and we are fully
committed to completing and correcting any deficiencies in our program. The
action plan we submitted to FTA makes that clear.

Under Title VI
implementation regulations, the enforcement of Title VI relies on voluntary
curing of deficiencies with the denial of funding as a final, not first, step
in the process.

"Longtime opponents of this
project are using the Civil Rights Act to stop the Oakland Airport Connector
project and the thousands of jobs it will bring to this region, many of which
would be held by minority workers. Access to jobs is also a Civil Rights issue,"
said Dugger. "The Oakland Airport Connector contractor has committed that 20
percent of the construction work and 33 percent of the professional services
work will go to Disadvantaged Business Enterprises."

The FTA does not cite any
deficiencies in BART’s last action plan other than it contains a timetable with
an FTA-imposed deadline of September 30, 2010. BART is fully committed to
completing and executing a final plan to FTA’s satisfaction.

The total cost of the
project is $492 million – or $60 million less than the $552 million BART
estimated in April 2009.  A
competitive bidding environment led to lower than projected costs.

BART notes the OAC project
does exactly what Congress asked of Stimulus funded projects – and that is it
will create between 2,500 and 5,200 job opportunities for the area, which are
of vital importance to the region’s economic recovery. These include jobs in
the construction, electrical, steel fabrication and other building trades that
are experiencing unemployment rates in excess of 30 percent. The OAC will also
leave a legacy transit connection that would carry thousands of daily riders to
the Oakland regional airport, on time and without pollution and traffic
congestion. Finally, the project is aimed to significantly enhance the airport’s
national prestige as one of the few in the country with a coveted world-class, transit
connection, which will allow the airport to attract the businesses that will
help drive the East Bay’s future economic growth.