Subject: San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District

• 24 Hour BART Means Vomit, Systemic Hangover

  August 23, 2007

• Water World -- San Francisco Style

  October 2, 2007

• BART’s ‘SCREEECH’ Problem: Dustin Diamond Must Be Stopped

  October 30, 2007

• BART Map Revamp: Getting Better or Worse? You Decide

  November 7, 2007

• New Year's Eve BART Running Till 3 a.m. for $6 R-T

  December 17, 2007

• BART Cards Due to Suck Less

  February 15, 2008

• BART’s Babbling Brook

  September 17, 2008

• BART Erases Graffiti About Oscar Grant's Killing

  By Lauren SmileyIt seems riders' camera phones are BART's second worst nightmare these days. Second, of course, to Johannes Mehserle, the BART cop involved in the shooting death of Oscar Grant III on New Year's Day. BART officials bemoaned in the Chron that the footage captured by passengers of the killing now circulating on the web and replayed on TV would taint witnesses' independent recollections of the event. As we reported last week on the Snitch, the BART Facebook page was asking for peopl

  January 8, 2009

• Pantsless BART/Muni Riders Surprise Few, Arouse Many

  The plan, as announced on urbanprankster.com, was simple: Meet up at 2 p.m. Saturday with a few dozen strangers at Dalva in the Mission. Get liquored up. Take pants off and ride public transportation. But it didn't happen quite that way. Although about 50 people showed at Dalva, the bar happened to be closed. The prepared attendants took swings of pocketed flasks, while others stole furtive glances at each other and waited for a leader to emerge. Finally, one did. He was a shaggy-looking guy in

  January 10, 2009

• Shoot First: Mehserle Likely Only Bay Area Cop Ever Charged With Murder for On-Duty Killing

  Just like Johannes Mehserle, we can't give you a straight answer -- but the former BART police officer appears to be the first Bay Area cop to ever find himself charged with murder following a job-related shooting. Jim Chanin, a veteran Berkeley attorney who has prosecuted more than 20 police shooting incidents and is currently handling two in Oakland, couldn't recall a similar instance. The closest he could come was a policeman last year convicted of murder in Ohio -- but that man killed his pr

  January 14, 2009

• Too $hort Speaks at Oakland Oscar Grant Protest

  My buddy Jonathan Cunningham attended last night's Oakland protest of the handling of the alleged murder of Oscar Grant by BART policeman Johannes Mehserle and said the cause has pulled in voices beyond the political arena. Too $hort stepped up to the mike and apparentlyencouraged the crowd to stay involved, albeit peacefully. 

  January 15, 2009

• Two Gallants, Trash Talk Perform in Benefit for Oscar Grant's Family

  The community support for the friends and family of BART shooting victim Oscar Grant has spread to the music community. First Too $hort spoke at an Oakland protest on Jan. 14, and now representatives from the indie and metal world are getting involved. Sacramento hardcore faves Trash Talk will take the Gilman stage on a bill with local folksters Two Gallants on Sunday, Feb. 8. The show is a benefit, and proceeds from the $12 door fee will go to Grant's family. Show starts a 3:30 p.m. sharp and "

  January 27, 2009

• Never Mind Oscar Grant: Cell Phone Cameras May Be TERRIBLE for Social Protest Movements

  The only aspect of Oscar Grant's death that inspired cheering was the fact that it was caught on a cellphone camera. Bay Area commentators generally heralded this as a new day for the wonders of technology -- which, we were assured, would be socially empowering. "I have to say, I love cell phone videos. Best thing that's ever happened to the BART police," said the Guardian's Tim Redmond. Brittney Gilbert, of Eye On Blogs, was similarly enthused. "Sure, the BART station has security camera

  January 28, 2009

• BART Accused of Being Late -- in Paying Out to Survivors of Track Inspector Killed by Train

  When it rains, it pours -- and, right now, BART is in the middle of a veritable monsoon. Atop the ongoing unrest that comes with BART police beating and shooting an unarmed man (and, more tellingly, video of said offense hitting the news), now the widow and child of a former BART employee killed by a speeding train are accusing the agency of putting the brakes on survivor payments. A terse release sent to Bay Area media outlets accused BART of not yet paying dollar one to the family of James Str

  February 2, 2009

• Oscar Grant's Buddies File $1.5M Worth of Charges Against BART

  Five pals of the man shot dead by BART police on New Year's Day have filed a claim accusing the rapid transit system of illegal search and seizure, excessive force, and false arrest and are demanding $1.5 million. The claim was filed by lawyer John Burris, who earlier sued BART for $25 million on behalf of the family of Oscar Grant, and was brought about at the behest of Nigel Bryson, Jackie Bryson, Michael Greer, Carlos Reyes, and Fernando Anicete.  In addition to watching the mortal wound

  February 4, 2009

• Oscar Grant Protesters Hope to Shut Down Fruitvale BART Station Next Week

  More on the wayA group of East Bay residents protesting BART officials' handling of the shooting death of Oscar Grant on New Year's Day say they plan to shut down the Fruitvale station on Thursday, March 5, during evening rush hour. The effort will mark the first organized attempt by protesters to disrupt the commuter train's operations -- though, last month, BART service was disrupted by riots in response to Grant's death. George Ciccariello-Maher, an Oakland resident and spokesman for the pr

  February 26, 2009

• Comparing Public's Anguish -- and Reaction -- Regarding Police Murders, Oscar Grant Killing Is Natural, Justified -- and Wrong

  As the Bay Area's mood shifts from shock and horror over the senseless weekend murders of four Oakland police officers into a desire for the community to rise up and repudiate this sickening act, we can only measure the moments until some well-meaning soul utters the phrase "a teachable moment." This repudiation is all the more necessary, some elements within the community and media claim, because of the popular fervor surrounding the call for "justice" surrounding the Jan. 1 death of unarmed BA

  March 23, 2009

• Cartology: From the Inside Looking Out

  July 16, 2008

• Caltrain allows drinks - see seat stains for proof

  July 2, 2008

• Big BART Brother

  The transit system's bosses know when you're sleeping, know if you're awake ... or singing Christmas carols

  September 5, 2007

• Stranger in a Strange Land

  March 28, 2007

• Outrageous Beauty

  June 7, 2006

• Uprooted

  September 28, 2005

• Pig Government

  The politics of pork has real victims. Just look at New Orleans, or commuters on the Bay Bridge.

  September 21, 2005

• Best BART Stop for Buskers

  May 19, 2004

• Journey to the Center of BART

  BART officials scare the shit out of us; local rock legend Paul Kantner says S.F. tap water tastes like shit

  April 21, 2004

• Gimme Shelters

  After mortgaging our future in an orgy of budget-related borrowing, the Legislature hatches new orgiastic plans: sleazy tax shelters

  August 13, 2003

• Goop and Its Pleasures

  Blackberry Ginger

  November 29, 2000

• No More Free Ride?

  January 20, 1999

• Take BART, Please

  We make Henny Youngman answer hard questions about regional transit and his mother-in-law

  December 24, 1997

• Letters

  May 7, 1997

• The Grid

  May 7, 1997

• Letters

  April 30, 1997

• The Grid

  April 16, 1997

• State and National Candidates

  October 30, 1996

• The Grid

  October 2, 1996

• Bay Area Flush With Exciting Plans to Blow Money on Useless Transit Projects

  The ongoing slow motion debacle that is San Francisco's Central Subway just got a little competition from across the Bay -- last night the BART board approved a $550 million version of the Disney monorail to connect the Coliseum station and airport. While we're outspending our East Bay neighbors by nearly three-fold -- hey, this is San Francisco! -- the potential BART extension will not have the federal government picking up the majority of its ever-expanding price tag. Sure, the BART folks hav

  May 15, 2009

• Leave Your Cell Phone On BART -- On Purpose -- To Benefit the Environment

  Time to recycle that museum piece, Mr. Gekko...Anyone who has left behind a scarf, umbrella, or electronic device on a BART train and actually managed to recover it deserves the level of awe and adoration from the general public Harry Potter received after surviving Voldemort's death curse. Harry was The Boy Who Lived, and you would be The Person Who Got Their Blackberry Back. Yet all of you who inadvertently left your cell phone on the 5:05 to Dublin/Pleasanton may have fallen, ass-first, into

  June 15, 2009

• The naan, the bitch, and the mall bar at Straits

  June 17, 2009

• BART, Unions Have a Max of 34 More Hours to Settle Their Differences. Expect Them to Use Most of Them.

  Last call?​Cabdrivers picking up fares at 1 a.m. at the Pittsburg-Bay Point BART station don't greet them with a "Hello," "Where to?" or even "What's going on?" It's always "So, you fell asleep on the train, eh?" It's a uniquely unpleasant -- and financially unenviable -- situation to be roused by a BART worker at a terminus station when the hour in which one could catch a return train has passed. And yet, the ongoing BART negotiations are brewing a potential new meaning for "last train."Tomor

  July 29, 2009

• Transit Train Wreck Turned Aside: Winners and Losers in Tentative BART Settlement

  http://world.nycsubway.orgGuess who's still here?​If you rode BART to work this morning and came to the horrible realization that not only was your seat cold, but wet, too -- congratulations! You're still a winner. You can still go get a new pair of pants at Ross or Old Navy and get to work in less time than it would have taken to drive your car into the city and find parking. Obviously commuters are the biggest winners in this averted strike. Like Joni Mitchell warbled, "You don't know what y

  August 17, 2009

• Great News: You Can Still Ride BART. If You're Partly Blind, You Can Still Suffer.

  If you can't make out this sign, then riding BART is even more hazardous than you might have thought​ Many riders have been pissed off of late about BART's ongoing labor soap opera. But two riders with bad eyesight may hold BART in special contempt now that the the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed an earlier ruling in their favor that BART was violating the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. Vision-impaired riders Sheron George and Sharricci Fourte-Dancy sued BAR

  August 18, 2009

• SF Weekly Letters

  August 19, 2009

• *You* Again? BART Vigilantes' Latest Scheme to Storm Board Meeting Fizzles.

  Goodbye vigilantism, hello public comment​Few causes have had the momentum of the outcry for justice that followed the killing of Oscar Grant. The unarmed, 22-year-old black man was shot to death by then-BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle (who is white) on a station platform on New Year's Day of this year. Riots in the streets of Oakland followed Grant's death, and the Alameda County District Attorney's Office took the unusual step of charging Mehserle with first-degree murder.Nevertheless,

  August 27, 2009

• Organ Donor Network Thankful Bay Bridge Woes Didn't Force Them To Leave Hearts in San Francisco

  'I left my heart, in San Francisco. High on a hill, it calls to me...'​The Bay Bridge's long weekend closure -- which could have been longer -- may have killed your commute. The people at California Transplant Donor Network, meanwhile, are thankful, however, that it didn't literally kill someone. The non-profit's community affairs supervisor, Cathy Olmo, told SF Weekly that the span's closure was not a factor -- they didn't need to hustle any organ into or out of the city in the past few days.

  September 8, 2009

• Inside BART's lost-and-found: Porn, prosthetics, and pot

  September 16, 2009

• Gloomy Bloom’s brings out the cynic

  September 30, 2009

• Free Chocolate Giveaway Moved Away from BART Stations

  Amit Gupta/FlickrNot super close to 24th Street BART, but free is free.​Oops! Due to -- uh -- especially high traffic on BART, the locations for this evening's chocolate giveaway have been changed. It's still happening from 5 to 7 p.m. this evening, but at the following spots: Bittersweet Chocolate Café 5427 College (at Hudson) Oakland Berkeley Bowl Main 2020 Oregon (at Shattuck) Berkeley Rainbow Grocery 1745 Folsom (at 13th St.) Fog City News 455 Market (at Front) The Divine street

  October 29, 2009

• BART Contract With Controversial Builder May Result in Loss of $800K in State Funds

  ​In a definite candidate for the ironic hall of fame, the BART board last week awarded part of a multi-million dollar contract to Nedar Bey -- who had earlier accused that very board of being "servants of the devil." Fittingly, hundreds of thousands of dollars in government money may be going straight to hell, as Bey has been unable to line up the necessary bonding -- insurance, basically -- required of BART contractors. In a flurry of distressed memos and in interviews with SF Weekly, several

  October 30, 2009

• With Last-Minute Contract, BART Staves Off Loss of $800K In State Funds -- For Now

  ​On Friday we reported that BART's decision to split a multi-million dollar "emergency contract" was in jeopardy of leading to an unforeseen emergency of a different sort. With the contractor for a job installing lighting at North Berkeley station unable to come up with the proper bonding by the state's mandated deadline of Oct. 31, BART stood to lose nearly $800,000 in government grants. Thanks to ink finding its way onto a hastily assembled contract Friday evening, BART escaped the specter o

  November 2, 2009