The petition provides an opportunity for the people to speak with one voice. If placed on the ballot, voters can decide whether they want the city to uphold the preexisting plan of BART to be located on the freeway or go with the BART downtown plan, which was opposed by 75% of the people who responded to the downtown station EIR.

McPartland is backing a plan that will cost three times more than locating BART on the freeway. In the report on Alternative 2B, the ridership is stated as ridership will increase with the 2B alignment by 31,900 and Alternative 1 will increase ridership by 31,700, which means for the estimated increase of possibly 200 riders, BART will build a transit system that cost 3 times as much. Even if the predictions were rock solid rather than estimates and projections, is BART showing fiscal responsibility by building a plan that will increase ridership only by an estimated 200 people? Isn’t it time that we demand that governments show fiscal responsibility and keep BART on 580?

"He noted that if the downtown option is eliminated, the environmental review process will have to start again, delaying the BART extension for another few years."

Good. We don't need it out here anyway. Liveremore citizens have been paying for years on this. What's another few years to wait and do it right? Hopefully the voters do the right thing.

I am glad that Mr McPartland will honor the results of the vote on the initiative. The people of Livermore are clearly opinionated on this issue.

It is unfortunate that McPartland does not know that the "environmental" issues that could keep funding from BART on the freeway are, with one small exception, city self-imposed ordinances and can be changed. I think that Livermore will support this change because they want to do what is best for Livermore residents.

Look at what the board said.

The board member said a station near downtown would serve the most people as well as reduce the number of cars on the freeway and Livermore's major roads.

The only people it's going to serve are those leaving Livermore, now let's go deeper into that thought.. To leave Livermore via BART you must first get to the downtown station and park your car. So of all the traffic on 580 how much of that is Livermore residence leaving and how many of those cars coming from other cities e.g. Tracy, Stockton and so on. I'm willing to bet it's 20x. Now let's consider that number and cut it in half, that would mean that 10x would be driving to downtown Livermore to park their cars and get onto BART leaving Livermore. Can someone explain the benefit of that??

Think about this:

For BART to come downtown the city of Livermore is required to add 1100 homes within a 1/2 mile of the downtown BART station.

For BART to come downtown the city of Livermore is required to add 2500 parking spaces to support all of the cars leaving Livermore. That revenue goes to BART.

For BART to come downtown the city of Livermore will have to add an 8 lane road from 580 to Livermore to support the traffic flow.

For BART to come downtown the city of Livermore must dig a tunnel from 580 to downtown.

3x the cost to bring BART to downtown...

20 years to bring BART to downtown...

KEEP BART ON 580!!

It cost 3 times less and we'll get it in a few years!!!

Good at least one decision maker is using his noggin. Can't say the same for the Livermore City Council. I have NOT noticed a decrease in freeway traffic since either station opened in Pleasanton/Dublin. And where will those cars then go if the downtown station is approved? That's right....the streets of Livermore. No thank you.

Thank you to the Livermore Patch and the residents of Livermore for addressing and sharing their veiws. Together the citizens will decide the Livermore Bart station future. Keep it on 580.

What a smart decision on the matter. It is people who ride Bart and it is people who vote. Makes sense. However due to the sensitivity of the matter, "for us to go forward we need to speak with a single political voice. Right now, we are not" said John McPartlan.

I am not sure we will ever speak with a single political voice on this matter even with a vote.

Don't the BART board members get it? Livermore residents have been paying the extra sales tax for 44 years now. They are fed up with other towns getting service ahead of Livermore, which was one of the original parties to the BART agreement. If they had just continued the line down US 50 at the time they were building the original line it would have cost *billions* less than this hair-brained scheme to benifit a few real-estate speculators that are behind the downtown station, and would have been in service for at least 30 years.

BILL

BART director McPartland is misleading when he claims that BART down the freeway will add several years due to additional environmental reviews. Both the freeway and downtown alignments were given comparable environmental reviews in the BART 2009 "big picture" EIR. Either alignment would require additional detailed environmental revew before a project could proceed.

I am not sure what Mr. McPartland means about "the environmental review propcess will have to start again". There have been no specific environmental reviews conducted dealing with proposed route through downtown Livermore to Vasco Road or about those station locations. The previous study was to select a route and included data about all of the routes. According to BART the nest step would be an environmental review dealing with the end-of-line mainenance yard. That study is not scheduled to start for about 5 years. the only thing that would have to be redone is the BART board action approving moving the route off I-580.

Why waste our money on Bart when we just need to build a highway from San Jose to Tracy using the back route- 2 lane road going to highway 5 near Tracy that exists. It would accomodate many more commuters and cause less disruptions also cut current traffic on 580. I bet it would be less expensive also. What do I know I am just the 500 pound bear in the room.