NOVEMBER 2024 VOTER GUIDE
BART BOARD OF DIRECTORS
What is the BART Board of Directors?
The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Board of Directors oversees the rapid transit system in the San Francisco Bay Area, which comprises over 131 miles of line and 50 stations spread throughout four counties, servicing an average of 149,574 weekday passengers.
The Board of Directors has nine elected members, each of whom represents one of the nine districts that comprise BART’s service area from San Francisco to Brentwood and Livermore in the East Bay.
Members of the BART Board of Directors receive about $1,300 a month in compensation, and serve four-year terms with no limit on the number of terms served.
Why You Should Care
BART is a pillar of the area’s public transportation system, providing almost 50 million annual rides for Bay Area residents. But BART is facing an enormous, $300 million budget deficit, and unless new revenue streams are identified, the agency’s budget is expected to run out of funding starting in 2026. The Board of Directors needs pragmatic leaders who can make difficult decisions when confronted with serious financial challenges, to make sure public transit continues to serve Bay Area residents for decades to come.
Our Vision for This Office
Public transit is the key to unlocking economic growth and opportunity for a region, and there’s no reason that a tech capital like the Bay Area shouldn’t have a world-class transit system. BART’s ridership may have dipped after new work-from-home policies made office work less necessary, but riders still deserve a system that’s efficient, accessible, affordable, clean, and safe at all times of the day. We need people on the Board of Directors who are competent and committed to guiding BART back to financial health.
✅ Joe Sangirardi | District 9 Director
Joe Sangirardi knows his way around budgets and fundraising, and he’s a transit and housing geek, which is kind of a prerequisite to be a BART Director. Sangirardi has been the Director of Development for pro-housing advocacy group California YIMBY since July 2023, and worked in multiple development positions at the Human Rights Campaign and the LBGTQ Victory Fund prior to that. He’s also incredibly engaged in San Francisco’s civic life, on more boards and volunteer organizations than almost seems possible. A brief, but not exhaustive, list: Sangirardi won his March 2024 election for the SFDCCC, is the Vice President for the Eureka Valley Neighborhood Association, is the Secretary for Alice B. Toklas LGBTQ Democratic Club, and he’s a certified member of SF’s Neighborhood Emergency Response Team. But maybe more important than Sangirardi’s experience is his understanding of just how important BART is to the Bay Area. Good public transit is frequent and reliable—Sangirardi wants to improve BART’s performance in both aspects. He understands the dire financial straits BART is facing, supporting State Senator Scott Wiener’s recently-paused transit rescue package. And Sangirardi supports improving BART’s fare enforcement efforts, with improved fare gates throughout the system. These are all necessary steps to bring riders back to the largest public transportation system in the Bay Area. We’re endorsing Joe Sangirardi because he has the political experience and leadership skills needed to advocate for BART and transit riders’ best interests.
😐 No Endorsement | District 7 Director
District 7 mainly covers Alameda, Emeryville, and Oakland—the only parts of San Francisco it includes are Bayview and Treasure Island. Unfortunately, no one running for the Board of Directors in District 7 seems up for the job. Victor Flores is currently the frontrunner, but he lacks the fiscal expertise or policy experience needed to manage BART in a time of financial crisis, with no clear plan to address the agency’s impending fiscal cliff. Flores’ policy focuses on adding quality of life amenities and small businesses to BART stations, and he advocates for “collaborating with our county partners to provide social workers and resources to people in distress and unhoused community members.” These are fine ideas, but not ones that BART can afford to focus on in its current financial crisis. BART’s Board of Directors needs to be laser focused on running a well-functioning, safe, efficient train system. No candidate for District 7 meets that standard.
Paid for by TogetherSF Action. Not authorized by any candidate or a committee controlled by a candidate. Financial disclosures are available at sfethics.org.