Guess who’s coming to Alameda?

And bringing the big guns, figueratively speaking of course,  all over a little thing called the “San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority.”   Why none other than this shining roster of political stars: Governor Schwarzenegger, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, as well as Senators Perata and Torlakson.   I assume that by default of the press conference being in Alameda, that our own City Council will be there, but will Vallejo’s mayor be there?   And why are we being blessed with such folks in our midst, well apparently the Governor signed last night the BAWETA bill, from the San Francisco Chronicle:

…The governor also signed a bill to create the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority. The action will turn over control of most of the ferry service on San Francisco Bay to the new state authority, a consolidation that is expected to better serve the region in the event of a large earthquake or other disaster. The Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District ferries are not included in the consolidation…

 So, while our own Transportation Commission is slated to have a Special meeting about the bill, the inevitable has finally come and now we as a city need to talk about what we want to make sure gets into the “clean-up” language for the bill.  The most important items are what has been discussed by practically everyone, but certainly bears repeating: compensation for our facilities and an assurance that the levels of services and quality of the ferry will be the same if not better than now.   And it should be an assurance that lasts for a considerable length of time, a number of years that one can count on two hands is simply not sufficient. 

If there is any place to vent your frustration, give your input, or simply try and understand what the heck just happened, it’s at Wednesday’s TC meeting…which by the way, apparently the webcasts have yet to be uploaded on to the website for the TC meeting.  Hint hint city staff!   Evidently someone on Senator Perata’s staff is supposed to be there as well. 

I imagine this is how the press conference will go, the Governor will offer some platitudes about how signing this bill will protect our economy during the next BIG ONE.   

Speaking of the Big One, anyone watch the new show Journeyman which takes place in San Francisco?   Last week’s episode was all about the 1989 earthquake, I still remember where I was and what I was doing during that earthquake, and personally, the rippling streets as recreated on Journeyman was a bit excessive, but I digress.  

And the Governor will be surrounded by the other superstar politicians, advance staff, and business type folks from the Bay Area Council.   Perhaps large poster boards will be trotted out as they are every few years when discussing a regional ferry network with colorful pastel renderings depicting fast ferry boats zipping all over the Bay waters shuttling happy ferry folks to and fro.  But hey, since we are talking about the world of “what-ifs,” how about this one: solar powered ferries.   If the state is going to pony up some cash to help fund this new regional ferry system, might as well make it not reliant on oil during a “state of emergency” when we might not be able to get oil to the terminals where the ferries are, right? 

But honestly, with all the machinations that have happened in Sacramento to get this bill through, it looks like we aren’t too far off from this.