Alert alert! The transit agencies the Bay Area depends on – BART, Muni, AC Transit, and Caltrain – face massive service cuts unless Governor Gavin Newsom follows through on his promise of a $750M emergency loan from the state. In July, Governor Newsom and the state legislature committed to provide an emergency loan to prevent service cuts until a longer term funding source from a regional measure could go into effect.

The Bay Area needs transit for its economic recovery, and without this emergency loan, our region will suffer massive cuts to our ability to get around. But the deadline for the state to issue the loan is in the next few days, and although it has been nearly two months, the Bay Area’s emergency relief loan is nowhere in sight.

Join us for a rally and march to send the message loud and clear: This is an EMERGENCY and Governor Newsom needs to make good on his promise to the Bay Area.

We encourage you to bring signs and costumes that help highlight that the life and health of the Bay Area is on the line and we need Governor Newsom to provide this essential lifeline!

  • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
    61·
    10 days ago

    Why does the state as a whole need to cover it? Only part of California benefits from it, and that’s the Bay Area. Why would the Bay Area not be able to cover it?

    kagis

    https://www.sf.gov/information--why-san-francisco

    San Francisco’s $250 billion Gross Domestic Product (GDP) accounts for nearly a quarter of total economic output in the Bay Area, placing it at the center of the fastest growing regional economy in the United States in 2022.

    We’re a trillion-dollar economy in the Bay. We aren’t a charity case. 90% of the world’s countries have smaller economies. Why ask some Central Valley farmers to be covering our costs?

    If we want to have mass transit, it seems to me that we should also be paying the bill for it. Either we want mass transit and are willing to pay for it, or we don’t. If we are unwilling to pay for it, then I don’t see why we should expect anyone else to be more willing to do so.

    • zabadoh@ani.socialOPEnglish
      82·
      10 days ago

      If I don’t have kids, why should I pay local taxes that pay for schools?

      If I don’t fly on airplanes, why should my taxes pay for an airport?

      Why should I pay taxes for someone else’s welfare check or food stamps?

      • antlion@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        2·
        9 days ago

        Why should I have to pay for war and ICE agents? Why should we be subsidizing water that’s used to send alfalfa and other products overseas?

    • LibertyLizard@slrpnk.netEnglish
      3·
      10 days ago

      Is there a regional entity capable of raising this kind of money? BART’s extension across multiple counties makes this a little difficult since the US typically has limited government between county and state scale.

      Personally, I don’t live in BART territory but I would support this. It’s a great amenity when visiting the bay and we need more transit funding in general. The state is the main vehicle right now through which that can happen.

    • scarabic@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      9 days ago

      It’s all connected, though. Central Valley farmers benefit from having a massive metropolitan market not far away, with millions of consumers for their products. You can’t have a massive metropolis without a transit system.

      If you follow this “people who use it can pay as they go” logic, you run transit into the ground. State isn’t paying the entire bill. They’re contributing. And they’re getting a hell of a lot more back from the Bay Area in tax revenue for their investment.