C. J. retweeted
"Smoke and mirrors": former BART director slams transit tax.
📰 Measure RTM, the transit tax on the ballot is "more smoke and mirrors meant to dupe voters into paying more taxes," says former BART director Deborah Allen.
📰 She notes that the "independent" oversight committee would be appointed by the transit agencies themselves.
📰 The measure allows agencies to get credit for "cost savings" even when overall costs go up, which she describes as, "if I were planning to buy a Lamborghini this year but decided to buy it next year instead."
📰 She notes BART's operating costs increased well beyond the rate of inflation, though the system carried only 46% of its pre-pandemic ridership.
📰 Major tax recipients (like Santa Clara County's VTA) wouldn't be subjected to key accountability provisions at all.
oaklandreport.news/x/h-smoke…
C. J. retweeted
Humor is always the best way to make the point to voters!
Here's the final TV ad for Yes on Prop 39 for CA Voter ID.
Watch and share!
C. J. retweeted
@mercnews opposes RMT. This is huge. "Endorsement: No on Measure RTM transit tax. BART created crisis; VTA doesn't have one." mercurynews.com/2026/10/09/e… @hjta.
C. J. retweeted
Mercury News/East Bay Times Editorial: “Opposing the initiative is not a vote against public transit. It’s a demand for responsible financial management.” mercurynews.com/2026/10/09/e…
C. J. retweeted
It goes deeper than that. SPUR, the Bay Area Council, and the Yes on RTM campaign are all receiving funding from Jacobs Engineering, a subsidiary of Jacobs Solutions.
Jacobs Solutions has gotten $120 million in contracts from BART and local transit agencies.
There is also direct personnel overlap. Devyani Kar of Jacobs Solutions is a committee chair for the Bay Area Council.
On @KQED, our local NPR & PBS station, they "interviewed" Laura Tolkoff of SPUR, former Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf of the Bay Area Council, and Murphy McCalley of AC Transit, a local transit agency.
It was never mentioned that SPUR and the Bay Area are co-leading the Yes on RTM campaign - or how all of these groups are financially interconnected with Jacobs Solutions and its subsidiaries.
kqed.org/forum/2010101915410…
C. J. retweeted
AC Transit is one of the agencies on the receiving end of the RTM sales tax.
While they don't send their compensation reports to the State Controller, they did comply with @Transparent_CA public records act request, so we now know how much they overpay their execs.
C. J. retweeted
Cities around the Bay Area are seeking sales tax hikes ON TOP OF the transit sales tax this fall.
In Contra Costa, two cities could see total sales tax rise by 1.5%.
Vote NO on all of them.
eastbaytimes.com/2026/10/02/…
C. J. retweeted
Truth from @Steve_Glazer:
“Voting against Measure RTM is not saying no to transit; it’s saying no to irresponsible leadership and the new tax burdens BART and other transit agencies want to place on those who can least afford it. “
I am proud to join former State Senator Glazer is in opposing Measure RTM.
eastbaytimes.com/2026/09/25/…
C. J. retweeted
My response to Libby Schaff's (@BayAreaCouncil) claim that raising sales tax rates for transit with Measure RTM "will require the agencies to reduce costs while improving service.":
NO, IT DOESN'T! 📢
Accountability without enforcement is just another empty promise.
ALT Letter to the Editor of Bay Area News Group by Debora Allen, former BART Board Director. "Voters are being asked to approve billions in new taxes while being told RTM will force agencies to control costs. It doesn’t. Accountability without enforcement is just another empty promise."
C. J. retweeted
In 2 billion years our sun will burn out. Meaning that California will have to finish the High Speed Rail in the dark.
RT @Susan_Shelley: New op-ed for the Bay Area News Group about Proposition 43, which will make it harder to pass sales taxes, extra real es…
C. J. retweeted
Opposition is growing in all five Bay Area counties against Measure RTM, one of the largest transit tax measures in the U.S.
“Over the past six years, regional transit agencies burned through billions of dollars in emergency federal and state bailouts without making permanent reforms.
Commute patterns have fundamentally shifted with hybrid and remote work, yet transit leadership refused to rightsize bloated cost structures or eliminate redundant administrative overhead.”
opportunitynowsv.org/blog/th…
ALT Measure RTM stands in radical contrast to the rest of the nation. This proposed regional sales tax will extract roughly $1 billion every single year, siphoning nearly $17 billion directly out of local pockets across Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties over 14 years. It is by far the single largest transit tax measure on any ballot in the entire country. It is not even close.
C. J. retweeted
The pro-transit tax squad claims--falsely and without evidence--that the only way to solve Bay Area transit agencies' chronic mismanagement is to raise sales taxes yet again. Gregg Dieguez sets the record straight: It is 100% possible to reallocate funds from hopeless boondoggles like High Speed Rail and BART-to-SJ to bail out local transit ops It's been done before and can be done again. No new taxes needed. @marcjoffe @debora_allen1 @ThunderParley @joelpollak @Susan_Shelley
opportunitynowsv.org/blog/de…
C. J. retweeted
🚨WOW. Child Dramatically Rescued in Santa Cruz yesterday
A 16yr old Lifeguard went VIRAL for the rescue, exhibiting STUNNING lifesaving skills
As onlookers attempted to help, they too were almost swept away, the young lifeguard telling them to save themselves
C. J. retweeted
Your current and new transit tax dollars at work: Caltrain awards deputy executive director a $1.4 million contract.
Reason #412 to vote NO on the November transit tax.
smdailyjournal.com/news/loca…
C. J. retweeted
Zohran Mamdami lecturing Americans about how our country is terrible on the anniversary weekend of our founding is exactly the type of thing that drives anti-immigrant sentiment.
The guy became a citizen of the greatest country in the world less than a decade ago. That has allowed him the opportunity to have incredible success. But instead of gratitude, he shows only disdain for the country that welcomed him and his family.
He never really adopted the ideals that make this country what it is, and instead spends his time bashing the country and trying to impose the same backwards policies that have failed elsewhere. Including the country his family escaped from.
C. J. retweeted
It’s so strange how states like CA and NY can increase their spending 2x-3x, achieve worse outcomes for the people, then somehow convince millions of people they just need more money.
C. J. retweeted
@Elex_Michaelson these are questions you should be ask. Instead, you let them dog walk you through the “process”. Yes, they verify signatures but to what level of accuracy? No mechanism in the system to tell where votes come from. How many witness delivered ballots? Do your job.