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Utah Transit Authority New Utah Transit Authority Executive Director Carolyn Gonot SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Transit Authority has chosen Carolyn Gonot, the chief planning and engineering officer for a San Jose-area transportation agency, to serve as executive director. Gonot is set to take over for UTA's interim executive director, Steve Meyer, who delayed his retirement for the six-month nationwide search to fill the position created as part of a legislative overhaul of the transit agency. UTA's new three-member board of trustees will vote Wednesday on her appointment, including a $221,423 base salary and benefits including moving costs plus up to an additional $16,200 for housing and other relocation expenses. Gonot has worked for the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority in San Jose, California, since 1996 in a variety of positions. Most recently, she oversaw planing and programming as well as engineering and construction. UTA Board Chairman Carlton Christensen … [Read more...] about UTA hires new executive director from Silicon Valley

By Tara Sreekrishnan | April 15, 2018 at 8:50 am Decades too late, California is finally waking up to the fact that the state is too expensive for too many people. Legislation ostensibly aimed at alleviating California’s affordability crisis and housing shortage is barreling through the Legislature. Many of these efforts propose that to fix our broken housing market, we must deregulate it further. A signature piece of legislation that is working its way through committee is Senate Bill 827. It is designed to strike at the heart of California cities’ zoning regulations in highly coveted transit-rich corridors by streamlining the permitting of 45 to 100-foot-tall high-rises. On its face, the legislation’s housing-and-transit focus is good for working people and the environment. Most importantly, it promises desperately needed housing across the state. But while building housing near transit is smart, we have to be careful not to intensify displacement, threaten … [Read more...] about Opinion: SB 827 will exacerbate California’s housing crisis

By Erin Baldassari | [email protected] | Bay Area News Group PUBLISHED: May 22, 2018 at 7:00 am | UPDATED: May 22, 2018 at 7:12 am LIVERMORE — One driver describes it as “hell on wheels.” Every weekday, interstates 580 and 680 through the East Bay and into the South Bay turn into seas of red brake lights as some 83,000 commuters cross the Altamont Pass from San Joaquin County into the Bay Area. For more than a decade, residents and elected officials on both sides of the county line have dreamed of an alternative: a rail line linking the Central Valley, where land is plentiful and rents are cheap, to BART and the jobs-hungry economic engines of San Francisco and Silicon Valley. On Thursday, BART’s governing board is expected to make a pivotal decision that will determine how that dream becomes a reality. But, it won’t be an easy vote. The directors have five options to choose from — including doing nothing at all — but … [Read more...] about BART’s long-delayed, $1.6 billion Livermore extension faces looming deadline

WASHINGTON — Late last month, two new job listings appeared on a congressional bulletin for staffers to help Democrats conduct investigations into a variety of topics, from energy and the environment to cybersecurity. The listings were a small but significant clue about Democrats’ strategy for the 116th Congress, which will be sworn in next January. Last night’s election means that as the party in control of the House of Representatives, the Democrats will chair all 21 of that chamber’s committees. With that control comes the power to launch investigations. Democrats — should they wish to do so — can investigate the president’s finances, his 2016 presidential campaign’s relationship with Russia and ethical transgressions by members of his cabinet. For the first time in the Trump era, the president’s opponents will have subpoena powers. But these new powers could also be a trap, according to interviews with multiple Democratic … [Read more...] about House Dems likely to launch wide-ranging probes into Trump administration

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — The Democrats who want to be president are swarming California, competing for campaign cash and media attention while courting longtime allies of home-state Sen. Kamala Harris on their rival's own turf. Former Vice President Joe Biden swooped in to Los Angeles on Wednesday to raise money and snack on tacos with Mayor Eric Garcetti, who has yet to offer an endorsement despite backing Harris in the past. Biden held three events over two days, including one that netted $750,000 and was attended by Hollywood powerbrokers, as well as "Miracle on the Hudson" pilot Sully Sullenberger. Pete Buttigieg met with labor activists and LGBT donors, and promised to "vigorously contest California." The mayor of South Bend, Indiana, also attended at least six fundraisers in the Bay Area and Los Angeles, including one hosted by actress Gwyneth Paltrow. "We are consolidating our position as one of the top candidates in the presidential race," he told a sold-out crowd Thursday … [Read more...] about White House hopefuls swarm rival’s home turf of California