WTA
People
Steve Castleberry
Manager of Systems Planning, Bay Area Water Transit Authority
What made you want
to work at WTA?
I had worked in
transportation in the Bay Area for the last thirteen years. It’s
always been on the planning and design end though. I think
transit designers are really on the front line. They’re the
front line soldiers in the transportation war. WTA provides an
opportunity to do some fairly important regional planning as
well as benefit the public on a more direct level as a
potential transit provider.
What did you do
before?
Most recently, I was
the Deputy Director of the Alameda Transportation Authority,
an organization of which I’m quite proud. Over the past
several years, ACTA has worked extensively with business,
labor and environmental groups to craft a consensus around an
extension of Alameda’s one and a half cent sales tax for
transportation. The ACTA board of directors as well as local
representatives in the East Bay really provided leadership in
the development of an expenditure plan that was essential to
maintain the transportation system in Alameda County. The
effectiveness of that effort can be measured by the 81.5%
support it received from Alameda County voters last November.
I credit much of the success of that effort to Christine
Monsen, who is ACTA’s Executive Director, and her commitment
to community input and consensus building. I think that model
of active public input and consensus building is very
applicable to the work of the WTA.
