Oakland Wastes $6.6 Million, Celebrates

"All Chamber members and guests are welcome to attend the groundbreaking ceremony for the $6.6 million Oakland Coliseum Intercity Rail Station on Wednesday, Sept. 24 beginning at 11 a.m. at the 73rd Avenue cul de sac off San Leandro Street. Located in the Coliseum Redevelopment Area, the rail platform will provide easy access to BART, Oakland International Airport, AC Transit, and the Coliseum Complex."

Residents of Oakland, you should be spitting mad at this boondoggle.

Instead of retrofitting stoplights and buses with little buttons and doodahs, so that buses would automatically get a green light and deliver patrons from Coliseum BART to Oakland Airport with speed and efficiency, this is what the Oakland City Council voted to do a few years ago.

I opposed it when I was writing as a Montclarion columnist, and I still despise it.

Oakland Airport users now will be able to go from the Airport to BART and _never see_ the new, City funded Lexus dealership on Hegenburger. Nor will passengers ever have to see signs at the Coliseum. The whole point of this project is to get people to and from Oakland Airport without ever having to acknowledge that you're in Oakland.

This type of civic pride was heavily touted by Larry Reid, councilmember from District Seven, which includes the Coliseum area.

As for helping people reach AC Transit -- what baloney. This project starved AC Transit and will perpetually encourage BART use at the expense of AC ridership.