For Immediate Release Contact: Wynn Hausser
January 26, 2010 415-431-7430, ext. 304

Transportation Agencies in Cities across the Country Now on Notice
They Must Follow the Rules or Risk Losing Federal Funding

San Francisco, CA – Today, civil rights advocates, transportation equity experts and local leaders held a
telephonic press conference to discuss the decision by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), to
withhold $70 million in stimulus funds from the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) agency. The FTA action
was based on BART’s disregard of federal civil rights obligations. This action marks the first time the
Obama Administration has held back stimulus funds based on non-compliance with Title VI of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination by recipients of federal funds.

Bay Area transit policy experts and community advocacy groups Genesis, TransForm and Urban Habitat,
represented by Public Advocates Inc., filed a Title VI Civil Rights administrative complaint with FTA
against BART last fall. The complaint cited BART’s failure to evaluate whether the half-billion dollar
Oakland Airport Connector project would provide low-income and minority communities with a fair share
of the project’s benefits.

“By slamming the brakes on the $70 million for the connector project, FTA is essentially saying ‘yes,
shovel ready, but fairness first,’” said Guillermo Mayer, Staff Attorney, Public Advocates. “When the
federal government ensures that disadvantaged communities get a fair share of the benefits of public
funds, it promotes the well-being of the entire metropolitan region.”

In a letter to BART and Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) officials, FTA Administrator Peter
Rogoff threatened to pull these federal funds from the Bay Area entirely if BART does not come into full
compliance before the March 5th statutory deadline. FTA is giving MTC a chance to reallocate the money
to other transit uses within the Bay Area region to avoid losing it altogether. FTA’s letter noted “serious
concerns” about providing federal funds to the project and said that BART’s failure has put the $70 million
at “considerable risk” of being taken away from the region.

“This is not a choice between civil rights and jobs. It is really about holding decision-makers accountable
for ensuring all residents receive their fair share of benefits from investments like the stimulus,” said Bob
Allen, Transportation & Housing Program Director, Urban Habitat.

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 bars recipients of federal funding from discriminating in their
programs and activities. These laws ensure that recipients of federal funds do not spend those funds in a
way that unfairly benefits some at the expense of others. Under the Obama Administration, the U.S.
Department of Justice has urged “more aggressive enforcement of regulations that forbid recipients of
taxpayer money from policies that have a disparate impact on minorities” by every federal agency.

“The FTA, by halting the spending of $70 million because of Title VI violations, is government at its
best—listening to the concerns of low-income people and people of color, and then using the power of the
purse to make transportation agencies accountable. It signals seriousness on the part of the Obama
administration to work consistently and courageously to expand opportunity for all,” concluded Angela
Glover Blackwell, CEO, PolicyLink.


For more information visit, www.publicadvocates.org