You cast your vote, and the news is good: California voters rejected Proposition 6, and approved Measure FF protecting parks and trails in northern Alameda and western Contra Costa counties. Proposition 6 sought to repeal SB1, a 2017-approved gas tax increase that provides needed funding for public transportation improvements and to fix crumbling roads. SB1 doubles state funds for walking & bicycling and provides much-needed money for new transit and road repair. The funds are already being put to work repaving streets in your city.
Measure FF, also endorsed by Bike East Bay, passed easily with over 80% voter support. This parcel tax provides funding for East Bay Regional Parks District in northern Alameda and western Contra Costa counties, including much-needed fire prevention.
While Bike East Bay cannot endorse candidates for office, we can look forward to working with newly elected officials, as well as eager returning council members. At a quick glance, we expect more supportive leadership in Berkeley, Oakland, Alameda and Fremont, all of whom will hear from us how to put their now secure SB1 funds to work for you repairing streets.
We know having bike advocates in office makes for more collaborative planning, and look forward to strong leadership from the BART Board. Our colleague at the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition—Advocacy Director Janice Li—has been elected to one of San Francisco’s BART Board seats, preserving solid leadership at BART and joining our former Executive Director Robert Raburn, who was re-elected to the BART Board for a 3rd term. And our partner with Save Our Hills—Elizabeth Ames, who we worked with in defeating the East West Connector Project in Union City last March, has won the BART seat in south Alameda County, replacing Tom Blalock. Ames brings multimodal, smart growth planning perspectives to the BART Board. We look forward to working with all newly elected and re-elected public servants to build a stronger, more bikeable East Bay for everyone.