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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 07072015 - C.178RECOMMENDATION(S): APPROVE the response to Grand Jury Report No. 1504, "Averting Bay Area Rapid Transit District Strikes" and DIRECT the Clerk of the Board to forward the response to the Superior Court no later than August 30, 2015. FISCAL IMPACT: No fiscal impact, this is an informational report. BACKGROUND: On June 1, 2015, the County received 2014-15 Civil Grand Jury Report No. 1504 entitled, "Averting Bay Area Rapid Transit District Strikes". The report was received by the Board of Supervisors and subsequently referred to the County Administrator on the June 16, 2015 Board of Supervisors agenda (Item no. C.149) who prepared the attached response that specifies: Whether the respondent agrees or disagrees wholly or partially with each finding; If the respondent disagrees with a finding, a statement explaining the portion of the finding that is disputed and the reasons for the disagreement; Whether each recommendation has been implemented, has not been implemented, or requires further analysis; and APPROVE OTHER RECOMMENDATION OF CNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE Action of Board On: 07/07/2015 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER Clerks Notes: VOTE OF SUPERVISORS AYE:John Gioia, District I Supervisor Candace Andersen, District II Supervisor Mary N. Piepho, District III Supervisor Karen Mitchoff, District IV Supervisor ABSENT:Federal D. Glover, District V Supervisor Contact: Lisa Driscoll, (925) 335-1023 I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the date shown. ATTESTED: July 7, 2015 David Twa, County Administrator and Clerk of the Board of Supervisors By: Stephanie L. Mello, Deputy cc: John Kopchik, Department of Conservation and Development Director C.178 To:Board of Supervisors From:David Twa, County Administrator Date:July 7, 2015 Contra Costa County Subject:Response to Grand Jury Report No.1504 "Averting Bay Area Rapid Transit District Strikes" BACKGROUND: (CONT'D) If the recommendation requires further analysis, a statement explaining the scope and parameters of the analysis or study, and a time frame, not to exceed six months, for the matter to be prepared for discussion. CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION: In order to comply with statutory requirements, the Board of Supervisors must provide a response to the Superior Court no later than August 30, 2015 (90 days after receipt). The Board must take action no later than the August 25, 2015 meeting in order to comply with the statutory deadline. CHILDREN'S IMPACT STATEMENT: Not Applicable ATTACHMENTS Grand Jury Report 1504 Grand Jury Report 1504 Response RECOMMENDATION(S): APPROVE the response to Grand Jury Report No. 1504, "Averting Bay Area Rapid Transit District Strikes" and DIRECT the Clerk of the Board to forward the response to the Superior Court no later than August 30, 2015. FISCAL IMPACT: No fiscal impact, this is an informational report. BACKGROUND: On June 1, 2015, the County received 2014-15 Civil Grand Jury Report No. 1504 entitled, "Averting Bay Area Rapid Transit District Strikes". The report was received by the Board of Supervisors and subsequently referred to the County Administrator on the June 16, 2015 Board of Supervisors agenda (Item no. C.149) who prepared the attached response that specifies: Whether the respondent agrees or disagrees wholly or partially with each finding; If the respondent disagrees with a finding, a statement explaining the portion of the finding that is disputed and the reasons for the disagreement; Whether each recommendation has been implemented, has not been implemented, or requires further analysis; and APPROVE OTHER RECOMMENDATION OF CNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE Action of Board On: 07/07/2015 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER Clerks Notes: VOTE OF SUPERVISORS AYE:John Gioia, District I Supervisor Candace Andersen, District II Supervisor Mary N. Piepho, District III Supervisor Karen Mitchoff, District IV Supervisor ABSENT:Federal D. Glover, District V Supervisor Contact: Lisa Driscoll, (925) 335-1023 I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the date shown. ATTESTED: July 7, 2015 David J. Twa, County Administrator and Clerk of the Board of Supervisors By: Stephanie L. Mello, Deputy cc: John Kopchik, Department of Conservation and Development Director C.178 To:Board of Supervisors From:David Twa, County Administrator Date:July 7, 2015 Contra Costa County Subject:Response to Grand Jury Report No.1504 "Averting Bay Area Rapid Transit District Strikes" BACKGROUND: (CONT'D) If the recommendation requires further analysis, a statement explaining the scope and parameters of the analysis or study, and a time frame, not to exceed six months, for the matter to be prepared for discussion. CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION: In order to comply with statutory requirements, the Board of Supervisors must provide a response to the Superior Court no later than August 30, 2015 (90 days after receipt). The Board must take action no later than the August 25, 2015 meeting in order to comply with the statutory deadline. CHILDREN'S IMPACT STATEMENT: Not Applicable ATTACHMENTS Grand Jury Report 1504 Grand Jury Report 1504 Response BOARD OF SUPERVISORS RESPONSE TO GRAND JURY REPORT NO. 1504: AVERTING BAY AREA RAPID TRANSIT (“BART”) DISTRICT STRIKES FINDINGS 4.The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors has not adopted a plan to minimize the effects of a BART strike on residents of the county. Response: Respondent agrees with this finding. RECOMMENDATIONS 5.Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors should adopt a plan to mitigate the effects of any future BART strikes on county residents. Response: The recommendation requires further analysis. There is no single parallel transit service or travel alternative in the County or Bay Area that has the capacity to absorb the ridership displaced by BART in the event of a strike. Transit service, including BART, during the peak commute periods currently run near, at, or above capacity. Major freeways such as Interstates 80, 680 and Highways 4 and 24 all experience congestion during the peak commute periods as well and would not effectively absorb this ridership displacement. The result would be strained infrastructure and underperforming transit services. Appropriate public agencies, employers and employees would need to implement and use aggressive Transportation Demand Management (“TDM”) strategies intended on keeping as many cars off of the transportation network as possible during a BART strike. Given the pervasiveness of the BART system and the interrelated character of the roadway and transit network, addressing the problem on anything less than a broad, Bay Area wide scale is likely to be futile. The most appropriate entity to undertake such an imitative would be the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (“MTC”), the Bay Area’s designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (federal designation) and Regional Transportation Planning Agency (state designation). However, the Bay Area already has a fairly robust existing implementation of TDM strategies due to the existing, high level of baseline congestion. During a BART strike, the encouragement or expansion of these existing TDM strategies would need to take on a level urgency and require resources scaled similarly to a response to a natural disaster or other disruption in the transportation network1. Since BART strikes are somewhat predictable (depending on if the unions indicate exactly when they plan to strike), MTC, employers, and employees, would have time to prepare in advance of a strike and implement expanded TDM measures. 1 Lawmakers Look to Revive Los Angeles' 1984 Olympic Plan to Reduce Traffic http://www.governing.com/blogs/view/gov-one-way-to-reduce-freeway-congestion-overnight.html Carmageddon’ Didn’t Happen http://www.kpbs.org/news/2011/jul/19/carmageddon-didnt-happen/ Typical TDM measures are listed below. Please bear in mind that any single TDM measure offers only an incremental benefit, considered individually they can all be easily dismissed as ineffective. Mitigating for the capacity represented by the BART system will require comprehensive implementation of all strategies: Special Ridesharing Incentives – Approximately 75% of peak commute traffic is comprised of single-occupant vehicles. This is the largest reserve of unused roadway capacity that must be accessed in the event of a BART strike if effective congestion reduction is the goal. Special incentives (monetary, gas cards, free toll, etc.) could be provided to encourage more ridesharing during an extreme traffic event. Subsidized Transit Passes –Reduced price passes or free transit Bay Area-wide. Bicycle Transportation – The Bay Area has a growing network of bicycle facilities and bike share systems. Nationwide, the share of bicycle commuters has grown substantially in recent years with along with additional facilities and more cultural acceptance. A robust encouragement program is likely to help with short term congestion issues as well has have an unintended co-benefit of accelerating a shift toward bicycle commuting. Similar to the free transit approach, encouragement programs could include free bike share, and free or expanded bike parking. Switching to bicycle commuting, compared to switching to public transit, has a higher barrier to entry. A comfortable, convenient bicycle commute requires equipment and expertise/experience. That said, a more broad and robust encouragement program (outside the scope of this memo) would probably be necessary to gain a significant mode shift to bikes. Telecommuting – If appropriate for the job function, employers should provide the technology and infrastructure to allow their employees to work from home during a BART strike. Satellite Work Locations – For employees whose commute includes traveling a major freeway, employers could provide temporary satellite work locations (ideally where their largest concentrations of employees are) to allow employees to keep their commute as local as possible. Depending on the proximity of the satellite work location, some employees may decide to use alternative commute modes to get to the satellite location (e.g. walk, bike, bus, rideshare, etc.). Off-Peak/Flexible Work Schedules – Employers should allow their employees to travel to and/or from work outside of the peak commute period in order to take advantage of a less- strained transportation network.