Below
is the statement read by President Charlene Johnson to open the
inaugural meeting:
Welcome
everyone and thank you for coming. I call this inaugural meeting
of the San Francisco Bay Water Transit Authority to order.
Today we will act on procedural
matters that will allow us to prepare for work on a San Francisco
Bay Area Water Transit Implementation and Operations Plan as
called for in Senate Bill 428, which created the Authority. In
this bill the legislature instructs us "the plan shall
include all appropriate landside, vessel, and support elements,
operational and performance standards, and policies. In preparing
the plan, the authority shall review and consider, in addition to
other materials and information, the findings presented in the
document entitled "San Francisco Bay Area Water Transit
Initiative, dated February 1999, and prepared by the Bay Area
Council and the Bay Area Economic Forum, and shall include, but
need not be limited to, all environmental standards and conditions
set forth in that initiative".
But first I’d like to say a
few words about the people and the process that have gone before
us to make this day possible.
Ferry service is nothing new to
the Bay Area. In the 1930’s over 50 million people a year made
maximum use of an integrated rail and ferry commuter network
stretching from Santa Rosa to San Jose and beyond. With the
opening of the Bay, Golden Gate and Richmond-San Rafael bridges
the ferry and rail system fell into disuse. Indeed, public policy
so favored automobiles that a law was passed making it illegal to
operate a ferry within 10 miles of the Bay Bridge.
This law was repealed in short
order when the 1989 Loma Preita Earthquake brought about the
collapse of the Bay Bridge to make way for emergency ferry service
from Vallejo, Berkeley, Alameda and Oakland. These temporary
operations, conceived as stopgaps while the Bay Bride was being
repaired, along with the ongoing success of the Golden Gate
Transit ferry service, served to reacquaint the people of the Bay
Area with the advantages of regional ferry service. So much so
that even after the Bay Bridge reopened sufficient demand existed
to sustain permanent ferry service from Alameda, Oakland and
Vallejo.
Transportation and mobility
rank among the Bay Area’s most significant challenges. Rated the
"Number One" concern year after year in the Bay Area
Poll, transportation problems and traffic congestion diminish the
region’s economic vitality, erode the quality of life, and
threaten competitiveness in the global economy. In 1996, in an
unprecedented show of unity, major business associations and
economic development organizations throughout the Bay Area
collaborated on what they called a Call to Action and adopted a
Transportation Action Plan. A new regional water transit system is
featured prominently in the Transportation Action Plan.
Recognizing the potential that water transit has for regional
mobility and quality of life, the Bay Area Council and the Bay
Area Economic Forum cooperatively convened a wide spectrum of
regional experts, stakeholders, and key decision makers in a
series of symposia, interviews, and fact finding sessions during
1996 and 1997. These sessions were conducted in cooperation with
the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, Golden Gate National
Recreation Area, Bay Conservation and Development Commission, and
CalStaart.
These cooperative efforts
culminated in September 1997, when the California State Senate
under the leadership of then California State Senator, now
Attorney General, Lockyer unanimously passed Senate Resolution 19,
authored by then California State Senator, now United States
Congressperson Barbara Lee directing the Bay Area Council and the
Bay Area Economic Forum to form a Blue Ribbon Task Force to study
and explore the feasibility of greatly expanding water
transportation.
None of these developments
would have been possible without the pioneering efforts of then
State Senators Quentin Kopp and Bill Lockyer. And from the start,
State Senator John Burton, currently President Pro Tempore of the
California Senate, has provided dedicated leadership to advance
the concept and potential for water transit in the region. Senator
Don Perata, Chair of the Senate Select Committee on Bay Area
Transportation, has also played a crucial role. Thanks are also
due Assemblyman Tom Torlakson, now a member of the State Senate,
for his leadership support.
The Blue Ribbon Task Force,
chaired by Ron Cowan and co-chaired by Mayor Willie Brown of San
Francisco and Mayor Jerry Brown of Oakland, was made up of 52
distinguished Bay Area civic and corporate leaders. They
diligently held public meetings all over the Bay Area along the
way to producing an action plan prompting introduction of Senate
Bill 428. With passage of that bill, and the subsequent passage of
Senate Bill 1662 providing funding, the stage was set for the work
that we begin here today.
I want to pay special thanks to
Ron Cowan for the singularly important role he played throughout
the Blue Ribbon Task Force process. Without his dogged
perseverance and selfless dedication we would very likely not be
meeting here today. I also want to thank the Bay Area Council and
the Bay Area Economic Forum. These splendid civic organizations
provided administrative and staff support for the work of the Blue
Ribbon Task Force and, most valuably of all, the clear-headed
leadership of their leaders Sunne McPeak and Sean Randolph
