Photos from OpBART protests, August 16

We came out of our workplaces on Monday, August 15, 2011, a payday which means groceries had to be bought and bills had to be paid, tired, cold and hungry, and desperately needing to get home. In the cold wind, with the helicopters hovering noisely overhead, people waited for the Powell, Montgomery and Embarcadero BART stations to open, with no one from BART to tell us when the stations might open, if at all. The more energetic walked by the dozens on Market Street to the next station, hoping it would be open. Many of us thought at the very least, they would not close the Embarcadero station since it is the first connection to San Francisco and a major transfer station for the Muni Metro, which were also closed at the same locations. The city's bus service was also slowed down, although it is not clear why, and there was no cable car; people had to crowd onto buses to get up Powell Street, and many simply walked both up and down Powell Street. Most people had no idea there was any kind of protest. Apparently, BART closed these 3 stations around 5:30 p.m. and reopened Montgomery at 6:35 p.m. and Powell and Embarcadero at 7:20 p.m. THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS. We need and pay for our public transportation and IT MUST NEVER BE CLOSED. THE BART POLICE MUST ALSO BE ABOLISHED. AND PHONE SERVICE IS AN EMERGENCY NECESSITY AND MUST NEVER BE SHUT OFF.

What we witnessed last night on the part of BART, closing the stations during the height of the rush hour, was outrageous and must never happen again. BART also does not list the ELECTED Board of Directors in the phone book or give separate phone numbers for this Board on their website. The BART complaint line is 510.464.7134. It has voice mail 24/7. A live person is there 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. The contact information is below. Your demands should include:

1. List BART Board of Directors in the phone book and on the website with separate direct contact phone numbers of each elected director of this ELECTED BOARD.

2. ABOLISH THE BART POLICE as the trains pass through cities and counties filled with police agencies, as well as state police. The deadly gun and taser armed BART police have no business being on BART, always within arm's length of everyone.

3. Never close any BART station. We pay for BART and are entitled to full service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They never close it when the football crowd gets on and has fights; only if they think there are people who have political ideas contrary to BART's fascist outlook.

4. With the exorbitant fares and our tax dollars, build alternate lines so that BART does not have to be closed for 4 hours at night for maintenance as it should be open 24 hours, 7 days a week.

5. Never shut down any phone service as it is an emergency service by definition.

The BART complaint line is 510.464.7134.
Here are the BART Board of Directors:
http://www.bart.gov/about/bod/bodMembersDetail_01.aspx
Contact for all:
Contact Phone: (510) 464-6095
Contact Fax: (510) 464-6011
Contact Email: boardofdirectors [at] bart.gov
Names:
Board Members and District Information
District #1 (Map)
Gail Murray, BART Director

Stations Included: Concord, Lafayette, North Concord/Martinez, Orinda, Pleasant Hill, Walnut Creek

Counties Included: Contra Costa

Read full bio
. District #2 (Map)
Joel Keller, BART Director

Stations Included: Pittsburg/Bay Point

Counties Included: Contra Costa

Read full bio
. District #3 (Map)
Bob Franklin, President

Stations Included: Bay Fair, Downtown Berkeley, Hayward, North Berkeley, Rockridge, San Leandro

Counties Included: Alameda/Contra Costa

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. District #4 (Map)
Robert Raburn, BART Director

Stations Included: Coliseum/Oakland Airport, Fruitvale, Lake Merritt, 12th Street/Oakland City Center (partial), 19th Street (partial)

Counties Included: Alameda

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. District #5 (Map)
John McPartland, Vice President

Stations Included: Castro Valley, Dublin/Pleasanton, West Dublin/Pleasanton

Counties Included: Alameda/Contra Costa

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. District #6 (Map)
Thomas Blalock, BART Director

Stations Included: Fremont, South Hayward, Union City

Counties Included: Alameda

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. District #7 (Map)
Lynette Sweet, BART Director

Stations Included: Ashby, El Cerrito Del Norte, El Cerrito Plaza, MacArthur, Richmond, West Oakland, 12th Street/Oakland City Center (partial), 19th Street (partial), Embarcadero (partial), Montgomery (partial)

Counties Included: Alameda/Contra Costa/San Francisco

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. District #8 (Map)
James Fang, BART Director

Stations Included: Balboa Park, Embarcadero (partial), Montgomery (partial), Powell Street (partial)

Counties Included: San Francisco

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. District #9 (Map)
Tom Radulovich, BART Director

Stations Included: 16th Street Mission, 24th Street Mission, Glen Park, Civic Center, Powell Street (partial)

Counties Included: San Francisco

Read full bio
..

On August 16, 2011, Democracy Now devoted its hour show to the BART crisis. Here are the links:

Bay Area Rapid Transit Accused of Censorship for Blocking Wireless Services to Foil Protests
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/8/16/bay_area_rapid_transit_accused_of

Disguised Member of Hacktivist Group "Anonymous" Defends Retaliatory Action Against BART
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/8/16/disguised_member_of_hacktivist_group_anonymous

Hacktivism’s Global Reach, From Targeting Scientology to Backing Wikileaks and the Arab Spring
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/8/16/hacktivisms_global_reach_from_targeting_scientology

When you call the 510.484.6095, a young clerk gives you a different number to call for each BART director and she cannot transfer you. THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS. Demand that the individual phone numbers be listed on the BART website and in the phone book.
Call SF BART Director Tom Radulovich at 415.282.4930 and read all the demands listed above. BART is operating as a fascist closed private profit real estate development racket gang when it is in fact a public agency, paid for with our tax dollars.

I'm 100% supportive that you all came out for this protest. I was there and had to use BART and made it out of Civic Center Station at a quarter past 5:00. The BART pigs should be disbanded, the fares should also be eliminated with the substantial savings from not having these highly-paid armed thugs, the restrooms should be opened up again and made accessible to EVERYONE. BART workers should have their wages raised and fully-paid benefits should be restored. BART should be FREE!

But 99% of commuters, most of whom are white collar working class office drones, were totally alienated from this action. People weren't clear what the protest was about, most if talked with in more than sound bytes would agree with the free speech issue on the communication shutdown last Thursday. Except for seeing the helicopters, and seeing as many parasites from the corporate media as there were protesters, most riders on BART didn't have the foggiest idea what all this was about.

Organizing something at BART without including BART and Muni workers in solidarity and without drawing in the downtown and Financial District workers won't go beyond symbolism. Just remember the community-wide working class agency and self-organization of the year-long (starting in 1955) Montgomery Bus Boycott against the racist Jim Crow laws on public transportation. Too liberal for you? That's missing the point, because after over a year of struggle the boycott was victorious.

If we want to win we've got to start rethinking our tactics and start thinking about what winning would take.

Lastly, many of us learned long ago that shutting down transit during rush hour AFTER work is doomed to failure. It just pisses people off. Let them get home to their kids, their dinner, and let them unwind from a day of exploitation and misery unmolested. Everyone deserves to get home as quickly as possible to a cold glass of beer after a day of wage slavery.

Do it in the morning instead. Remember the pre-dawn hours of Thursday March 20, 2003 when nearly 20,000 of us tried to shut down San Francisco to stop the war? So many workers were GLAD to have an excuse to be late to work. I remember seeing newsracks and concrete garbage cans knocked into intersections with the help of guys in ties and office clothes. They spent the whole morning participating with the excuse that they had been "tied up in traffic" (which they helped tie up!). People will LOVE you for giving them an excuse to be late -- or to not even come in at all -- to work. And with the chaos that slows them down or prevents them from getting to their awful jobs, we've have time to spell out the issues of the protest and hopefully draw them into joining us.

Then we could attack BART with something more like a strike -- maybe even another general strike with workers shutting down ALL transit (e.g. BART, Muni, SamTrans, AC Transit, Golden Gate Transit, etc., etc.) -- that spreads by working class agency across the entire region, rather that yesterday's symbolism that alienated workers commuting home AFTER work. The point is to prevent anyone from working at all.