{"id":8923,"date":"2018-06-20T10:19:53","date_gmt":"2018-06-20T17:19:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=8923"},"modified":"2018-06-20T10:25:05","modified_gmt":"2018-06-20T17:25:05","slug":"barts-fiscal-year-2019-budget-addresses-homelessness-fare-evasion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2018\/06\/20\/barts-fiscal-year-2019-budget-addresses-homelessness-fare-evasion\/","title":{"rendered":"BART\u2019s fiscal year 2019 budget addresses homelessness, fare evasion"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Note from Mike Zint:\u00a0\u00a0It does not address homelessness, it addresses the homeless. No shelter allowed. Get back out in the rain!<\/h2>\n
\n
\n
\n

\"budget_danielkim_ss-copy\"<\/p>\n

DANIEL KIM \/STAFF<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

BY\u00a0ANJALI SHRIVASTAVA<\/a>\u00a0| STAFF<\/p>\n

June 19, 2018 (dailycal.org)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n

<\/div>\n
\n

BART\u2019s board of directors approved a $2.3 billion budget for fiscal year\u00a02019 starting July 1, addressing issues ranging from homeless encampments to fare evasion, according to a press release issued Thursday.<\/p>\n

The budget allocates $1.6 million to increase security measures and reduce encampments on BART properties,\u00a0as well as $300,000 to hire two additional BART police dispatchers. Mike Zint, co-founder of homeless rights activist group First They Came for the Homeless, said these measures are targeting homeless individuals.<\/p>\n

\u201cFencing is about restricting access to people BART approves of,\u201d Zint said in an email. \u201cHomeless (people) are not approved of. Cops are there to make sure you pay, and to make sure you aren\u2019t a homeless person sitting in a hallway.\u201d<\/p>\n

BART spokesperson Chris Filippi, however, said BART is taking a multifaceted approach to homeless encampments on BART properties, and BART\u2019s goal is to \u201cpromote public safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

BART helped create \u201cHomeless Outreach Teams\u201d through a partnership with the city of San Francisco to get support for homeless individuals living in downtown San Francisco stations, according to Filippi. He added that BART is looking to establish similar partnerships in other communities that BART serves, including Berkeley.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we\u2019re talking about the homeless issue, it\u2019s something that we see impacts of in the BART system, but this is a broader problem \u2014 not just in the Bay Area, but in the nation,\u201d Filippi said. \u201cTo deal with it in an effective way, we have to partner with communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Filippi said the teams build relationships with homeless individuals and help them find appropriate supporting services. Zint, however, said they are \u201csweeping the homeless away\u201d in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll they did was remove,\u201d Zint said in an email. \u201cThe official responses to homelessness are never about a solution \u2014 they are about punishment, public humiliation, demonizing, and scapegoating.\u201d<\/p>\n

The budget also allocates $1.2 million to design and construct \u201c \u2018hardening\u2019 \u201d improvements to prevent fare evaders from bypassing the fare gates, according to the press release. An additional $1 million is allocated for purchasing fare gates and other equipment to reduce fare evasion.<\/p>\n

Filippi said reducing fare evasion is a \u201clong-term\u201d project and BART is currently researching and developing a plan for implementing new fare gates. Lateefah Simon, a BART district director, previously\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0The Daily Californian that BART loses millions of dollars annually to fare evaders, and the issue continues to worsen.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a giant dollar drain,\u201d said Berkeley City Councilmember Kriss Worthington.<\/p>\n

Worthington added that he sees people avoid paying the fare by using the accessible elevators in the Downtown Berkeley BART station. Filippi said BART installed fencing near the elevators at South Hayward BART station in order to combat a similar problem, and is considering the fencing approach for other stations as well.<\/p>\n

BART\u2019s budget will also fund the \u201cPit Stop Program,\u201d which provides public restroom facilities at the downtown San Francisco stations, according to Filippi. Worthington said that City Council asked BART to reinstate a public restroom at the Downtown Berkeley station, and BART is\u00a0currently working on including one in the renovated station.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, this budget highlights quality of life issues that our riders have made it clear to us,\u201d Filippi said. \u201cWe want them to feel comfortable.\u00a0We want them to feel safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contact Anjali Shrivastava at\u00a0ashrivastava@dailycal.org<\/a>\u00a0and follow her on Twitter at\u00a0@anjalii_shrivas<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Note from Mike Zint:\u00a0\u00a0It does not address homelessness, it addresses the homeless. No shelter allowed. Get back out in the rain! DANIEL KIM \/STAFF BY\u00a0ANJALI SHRIVASTAVA\u00a0| STAFF June 19, 2018 (dailycal.org) BART\u2019s board of directors approved a $2.3 billion budget for fiscal year\u00a02019 starting July 1, addressing issues ranging from… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8923"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8923"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8925,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8923\/revisions\/8925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}