Recent Streetsblog SF posts about Public Advocates

FTA Probes MTC Civil Rights Policy, Casts Shadow on Funding Practices

By Matthew Roth | Aug 18, 2010 | 13 Comments

MTC’s Executive Director Steve Heminger, foreground, listens to public testimony against MTC’s plan to use federal stimulus funds for the Oakland Airport Connector last year. Photo: Matthew Roth The Federal Transit Administration has increased the likelihood the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), the Bay Area’s regional transportation planning and funding body, will undergo a full civil […]

FTA Won’t Fund BART Airport Connector, $70 Million to Go to Transit Ops

By Matthew Roth | Feb 12, 2010 | 76 Comments

Image: BART In a stern letter to BART [PDF], Federal Transit Association (FTA) Administrator Peter Rogoff informed the agency that it would not be able to develop a suitable action plan by March 5th to comply with equity and race requirements for the $70 million in stimulus funds for the Oakland Airport Connector (OAC), a […]

Advocates File Appeal in MTC Discrimination Case

By Bryan Goebel | Apr 23, 2009 | No Comments

Transit justice advocates at a 2004 rally nine months before the suit was filed. Photo by Public Advocates Inc. Nearly a month after a San Francisco federal judge ruled against a discrimination lawsuit against the MTC on behalf of AC Transit riders of color, attorneys representing a broad coalition of riders, labor and environmental justice […]

Despite Setback, Advocates Claim Partial Win in MTC Discrimination Suit

By Bryan Goebel | Apr 2, 2009 | 3 Comments

Seventy eight percent of AC Transit riders are people of color. Flickr photo: jlnriang In 2005, with frustration and anger mounting over service cuts and fare hikes for AC Transit riders, who are mostly people of color, a coalition of riders, labor and environmental justice advocates filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the Metropolitan Transportation […]