Governor Signs Law Funding San Francisco
Bay Water Transit Authority; World Class Water Transit System on Its Way to Bay
Area
Governor
Gray Davis signed Senate Bill (SB 1662 – Burton) allocating $12 million
appropriation to fund the San Francisco Bay Water Transit Authority.
The appropriation will allow the Water Transit Authority to initiate the
detailed environmental planning, technical analysis, and public outreach that
will lead to a dramatically expanded system of high-speed water transit on the
Bay.
The
new Authority was created last year by Senate Bill 428 with and given a mandate
to “design, build, and operate” a regional ferry system to alleviate Bay
Area traffic woes.
Harried
commuters will have to wait for expanded ferry service until planning and
environmental studies required by the Legislature are completed, a process that
could take several years. Nonetheless
funding of the Water Transit Authority represents a significant victory for
ferry advocates.
“We’ve
been waiting for this appropriation, and now that it’s passed we’re going to
focus intensively on making high-speed water transit a reality for the Bay
Area,” said Charlene Johnson, appointed President of the Water Transit
Authority by Governor Gray Davis. “With
traffic congestion getting worse every day, expanding water transit on the Bay
is our best opportunity to improve mobility quickly, and in a cost-effective and
environmentally friendly way.”
The
Water Transit Authority is charged with conducting the planning, environmental
analysis, intergovernmental coordination, and public outreach necessary to
develop a comprehensive Bay Area Water Transit Implementation and Operations
Plan. Following approval of the Plan by the California Legislature,
the Water Transit Authority will begin operating world-class high-speed water
transit on the Bay.
Board
President Johnson reported that the first meeting of the Authority will be
scheduled soon. The Water Transit
Board is composed of 11 members, 8 of whom have been appointed.
In addition to Ms. Johnson, they are:
Vice President Captain Nancy Wagner, Tony Withington, Gavin Newsom,
Marina Secchitano, James Fang, and Joe Freitas. The Assembly Rules Committee has yet to make one its
appointments, and 3 seats are reserved for representative of regional ferry
services.
Johnson
noted that some observers wrote off the Water Transit Authority when Governor
Davis vetoed funding in July, but she knew that common-sense of a water transit
system would shine through. “I
knew from conversations with the Governor and legislative leaders that the
earlier veto was based on a purely technical objection and that Sacramento
strongly supports expanding water transit in the Bay Area,” confirmed Johnson.
Historically,
the Bay Area Water Transit Authority was preceded by the Bay Area Water Transit
Task Force, a multi-stakeholder partnership co-convened by the Bay Area Council
and the Bay Area Economic Forum at the urging of the California State Senate.
The Task Force completed its work in May 1999 with the release of an
Action Plan that outlined a conceptual water transit system that could be
implemented within 5 to 10 years, linking up to 28 terminals and carrying at
least 15 to 20 million passengers annually.
Following the release of the Action Plan, State Senator Don Perata
introduced SB 428 to create the new Bay Area Water Transit Authority; the bill
was signed into law on October 10, 1999. The
Water Transit Authority is a public agency led by an 11-member board that is
appointed by the Governor, the Assembly and Senate, and local government.