Four seats on the BART board of directors were on the ballot Tuesday, and incumbents appear to have prevailed in every race as of Wednesday afternoon. That includes Contra Costa County board member Debora Allen, who was actively opposed by six of her eight fellow directors.
Allen, a conservative Contra Costa County Republican on a largely progressive board, has insisted the agency needs tougher policing in response to rider concerns about crime, fare evasion and passengers experiencing homelessness or behavioral health problems on the system. She has been critical of efforts to refocus agency resources to have uniformed but unarmed staff deal with nonviolent issues.
Allen has also pressed the board and agency management to consider deep budget cuts, including layoffs, to survive the fiscal crisis brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. She calls the current crisis, in which BART has suffered a decline of more than 85% of weekday riders, an opportunity to “right-size” the agency. Agency managers, with board support, have instead shifted workers from operating to capital projects, instituted a hiring freeze and redirected some planned expenditures to try to avoid a large-scale dismissal of employees.
Allen’s differences with other board members led half a dozen of them to endorse Jamie Salcido, a member of the Walnut Creek transportation commission. The latest campaign finance reports show Salcido was able to out-raise Allen by about $93,000 to $65,000 — thanks in large part to a $20,000 contribution from San Francisco board member Bevan Dufty.
But with more than half the expected ballots counted, Allen racked up what appears to be an unbeatable lead — 64% to Salcido’s 26%.