Thank you, San Francisco.

The final votes are still coming in, and I now know that 87,000+ San Franciscans cast a vote for me in my unopposed re-election campaign. I’m honored to serve another term on the BART Board and am grateful for the broad support I received from all sides of the political spectrum.

At the end of the day, I’m on the BART Board because I care deeply about our region’s public transit systems and know that a high-functioning, clean, safe, and reliable transportation network makes the Bay Area a great place to live and work for everyone. And it takes someone willing to do the work to get there and build the relationships and coalitions needed.

So what does that look like?

First, I saw some questions about my commitment to new fare gates. I am 100% on board with new fare gates, which is a consensus opinion amongst the BART Board. Over the past two years, I have been advocating at every level of government to secure San Francisco’s share of the funding for this project, and I’m grateful that after speaking up at a recent SF Board of Supervisors meeting, we have a commitment from the City to fund this. BART looks to award the contract early next year and we’ll then have a better understanding of the implementation timeline.

Second, BART is quickly approaching its fiscal cliff, meaning we need to find new revenues or else our operations will struggle to continue. I have begun conversations with BART leadership to develop a real funding strategy, and I know BART can’t go it alone. For me, all options are on the table and we have to be collaborative and creative as we think about federal/state funding support, ballot measures, and other revenue streams.

Third, we will figure out what it takes to increase late weeknight and weekend service especially to and from SFO Airport. The reality is that no significant service increases will be possible without a funding strategy, but the majority of the BART Board is very aware that our system needs more service if we want to rebuild ridership.

Fourth, I promise to continue leadership on our massive capital projects, particularly Link 21 (our pathway to a second transbay tube) and BART to downtown San Jose. The success of these projects hinges on collaboration with local advocates and agencies, and I'm already in those conversations and have taken a board leadership role in the BART-VTA relationship.

There is so much more I can say, though I will leave my priorities there.

I want to say a few more things about my campaign. After it was clear I was running unopposed, I cut all my fundraising efforts and pivoted my energy to passing Proposition L, which is on path to victory with over 71% approval. Keeping our transportation funding going will be critical to the future of BART, Muni, and our transportation systems in San Francisco.

I also worked to pass Proposition J to keep JFK Drive car-free, a place that I enjoy nearly every day with my rescue pup Whimsey. This measure is over 62% approval while the counter-measure Proposition I will be soundly defeated with over 64% of voters in opposition.

Lastly, I want to thank my campaign advisers and friends who helped get my re-election campaign off the ground this year: Chris Arvin, Charles Deffarges, Bevan Dufty, Megan Imperial, Roan Kattouw, Rebecca Saltzman, Dan Nguyen-Tan, Danielle Thoe, and Oliver Truong.

I want to thank you all for your hope that we can make transportation work for all communities in San Francisco and beyond. Now, let’s keep doing the work.