BART GM Grace Crunican Announces Pending Retirement
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- BART General Manager Grace Crunican announced late Thursday morning her plans to retire from her position as the head of the Bay Area transit agency.
Crunican made the announcement during a Thursday BART Board of Directors meeting.
"It has been my honor to have served BART for nearly eight years. Today, I am announcing my plans to retire from BART and to begin the next chapter in my life," Crunican said in a statement to the Directors. "This announcement has inspired many conflicted emotions - as you can imagine."
The announcement caught BART board members off guard, but they praised Crunican for being a strong leader and a "straight talker."
"This is a big surprise to us but at the same time you've served this district with tremendous distinction and worked incredibly hard," said BART Board President Bevan Dufty.
"Leading a transit agency is one of the most difficult jobs anywhere because our federal policies don't really provide the resources to run the type of system that our customers deserve. You're always trying to make it work somehow," Dufty said.
Crunican has worked in the position since being appointed GM by the BART Board of Directors on August 31, 2011. She took over the job from predecessor Dorothy Duggan.
Crunican was hired based on her previous experience as Director of the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) and the Director of the Oregon Department of Transportation. She had also worked as the Deputy Administrator for the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) from 1993 to 1996 during the Clinton Administration.
She has faced several challenges during her tenure as BART General Manager, including the BART workers strike in late 2013 that shut down the transit system for four days.
BART management was heavily criticized after the deaths of two BART workers in an accident in Walnut Creek that happened during the strike when the workers were hit by a train being driven by an operator trainee.
Last year, the California Public Utilities Commission fined BART a record $1.348 million for the accident because of the violation of several safety protocols.
Crunican also presided over the reform of the BART Police Department's use of force policy in the wake of the early morning New Year's Day fatal shooting of Oscar Grant on January 1, 2009 by BART officer Johannes Mehserle.
In addition to creating civilian oversight, BART police changes included wearing body cameras, crisis intervention training, and the department publicly sharing crime-mapping data.
More recently, BART police have been criticized for not curbing the number of violent incidents on the system, including the fatal stabbing of 18-year-old Oakland teen Nia Wilson by transient homicide suspect John Lee Cowell last July.
Crunican also helped push the agency towards replacing the entire aging fleet of trains and the passage of Measure RR in 2016 that authorized BART to issue bonds for $3.5 billion to rebuild the system.
"I've stayed a long time. We've accomplished a tremendous amount. It's time to go," Crunican told KPIX.
Aside from Crunican, five other executive leaders have retired or about to retire from the head of operations to the police chief.
Chief Carlos Rojas will be retiring next month, after just two years on the job.
"I'm very proud of the fact that since I've been here, we have become a much more proactive police department," said Rojas.
State Senator Steve Glazer (D-Orinda) says BART has been dysfunctional under Crunican's leadership.
"Riders know it. they see it, whether it's safety, cleanliness," said Glazer.
He points out drug use and violence have made many BART passengers feel unsafe.
"I think the grade would be below average," said Glazer. "I think the customer survey were at the lowest level in customer satisfaction in decades."
Crunican's last day will be July 5th. The BART Board will likely do a national search for her replacement.
