Completing the BART system to the South Bay requires vision, commitment and persistence — as most transformative infrastructure projects that have created this nation and supported the economies of our cities do.
These projects must be planned and built a half century in advance of their full need. But here’s their challenge: It’s always easy for short-term critics of BART, such as former Mayor Tom McEnery and developer Lew Wolff, to find fault today, because no one knows exactly what our world will look like in 50 years.
McEnery and Wolff have called, yet again, for more studies and thus more delay. Yes, you always must have solid analysis and thorough and as accurate as possible engineering studies. You must always look at long-term projections and trends and make informed — but never certain — guesses about the future. And of course, you should regularly reassess your assumptions at key milestones.
But common sense says that eventually you must actually commit and build, with knowledge and courage, with funding and partnerships, to create a better future for our community and our region. Our local voters in several elections have repeatedly agreed, and they have endorsed their investment to complete the BART system.
If visionaries had listened to the critics in 1870, we would not have a national park system. If we had listened to them in 1900, New York would not have a subway system. If we had listened to them in 1930, we would not have a Golden Gate Bridge. If we had listened to them in the 1950s, we would not have an interstate highway system, a California water system or any BART at all.
Since BART to San Jose was conceived more than 40 years ago, we have endured several massive recessions, the scourge of COVID, and radical changes in the technologies that have shaped the way we live and work.
Should we base our plans and investments for the long-term future on any one of those unpredictable moments? Especially now that we have seen the remarkable resilience, creativity and growth that have followed them? Should we wait until there is no more change in the world to anticipate and build for our future needs?
When, exactly, does that happen? The future doesn’t stay put.
I’ve been present from the beginning of this discussion about bringing BART to San Jose. Over several decades I have participated at countless meetings, hearings, debates, compromises and breakthroughs that have helped us plan a regional transit system that will serve the South Bay, the population and economic center of our Bay Area.
Along with the meetings, there have also been endless engineering, environmental and financial studies, all required to secure government funding and to help the public understand their alternatives. But calling for more studies can be merely an excuse to delay, which increases costs, which then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy for critics.
I’m disappointed by McEnery’s and Wolff’s pessimism about BART to San Jose. They both have been visionary gamblers in their past days, whether as a bold real estate developer on the one hand, or on the other as the spark plug for a speculative downtown arena that had no business plan and no tenant.
Leaving the BART system incomplete now brings little benefit to anyone, except perhaps to a handful of people who will never be persuaded. It would be like leaving a shoeshine stand after just one of your shoes has been polished.
But BART to San Jose is not a gamble; it isn’t speculative. The system has already proven invaluable for regional transportation, and completing its full expansion to the South Bay will make BART an essential component for our future residents and businesses.
Ron Gonzales is a former mayor of San Jose.
