If BART board member Zakhary Mallett has his way, his mug and those of all eight of his colleagues will soon be adorning train cars and station platforms throughout the system as part of a Get to Know Your Director promotion.
In an April 17 memo, Mallet told his fellow directors that his idea is to better inform the public about the fact that they are represented by an elected Board of Directors, as well as to inform them about who their BART director is.
BART board member Zakhary Mallett proposed an ad campaign featuring directors faces and bios on all the trains and every station.
Mallet who represents a district that twists from El Cerrito to Oakland to San Francisco suggests the posters of each director be evenly distributed on BARTs fleet of 1,338 rail cars, while the station ads would highlight only the directors serving those areas.
The signs would include the year when each director was first elected, the areas they represent and their occupation and their academic credentials.
Cost: $13,500.
As for the reaction of fellow directors:
Gail Murray told her board colleagues Thursday that she was open to the idea but didnt like the thought of patrons drawing a mustache on her face.
Robert Raburn said that if board members want the public to know who they are, all they have to do is hang around a station and slap a badge on identifying themselves.
And Tom Radulovich said that as far as hes concerned, riders already put up with enough aggravation without a politician staring them in the face while they wait for a train or endure a commute-hour crush load. What more indignities could we heap on them?
