With Friday’s landmark vote at the Transbay Joint Powers Authority (TJPA) to move forward with a two-phased development approach that will deliver the train-ready Transit Center by 2014, Proposition C proponents suspended campaign activity this weekend. “The decision to finally move forward with the region’s most important transportation project was a long time coming,” said Prop C spokesperson and BART Director Tom Radulovich of Livable City. “Prop C made that possible. Now we have to maintain this forward momentum, and work together towards securing full-funding for the downtown extension of Caltrain.”

Proposition C author and TJPA Director Chris Daly stated that the measure has been the main impetus in getting the project back on track. “Proposition C was intended to force Gavin Newsom into a leadership position on Transbay. He’s since held a high-profile press conference to announce his support of high-speed rail. Now his proxies on the TJPA have left behind their delay tactics and are acting responsibly to move the project forward. Prop C has won 4 days before the election!”

According to filings at the San Francisco Ethics Commission, the No on C, “Stop the Power Grab,” campaign has spent over $100,000. A bulk of this money has come from the Committee on Jobs Government Reform Fund, BOMA SF Ballot Issue PAC, SF Chamber of Commerce 21st Century Committee, Nibbi Bros. Construction, and Golden Gate Restaurant Association PAC. “Stop the Power Grab” posted street signs and sent mail featuring a masked train robber with pistols and the slogan, “Don’t Let Chris Daly Hold Up the Transbay Terminal Project,” despite the fact that Daly has been aggressively promoting the project for the past 3 years. It is widely speculated that this smear campaign is mainly about unseating Supervisor Daly in his November reelection effort.

Transbay advocates point to Newsom’s inaugural address, a Call for Common Ground, as a blueprint for moving forward…

"We know how to stop things - that's for sure… It's easy to be against something. It's easy to blame. It's easy to stop. The easiest thing in the world is to decide we are right and they are wrong. What's hard is to listen. What's hard is to hear that maybe to come together, we need to leave behind old ideas and long-held grudges. But that's exactly what we need to do."