BART: Bechtel's Baby - Revision history

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2022-06-09T05:43:15Z

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	Of no concern to the sole public body that would have any control over how the engineering fee grew from $47 to $150 million?		Of no concern to the sole public body that would have any control over how the engineering fee grew from $47 to $150 million?

			[[Image:Market near 7th August 1970 wnp25.2117.jpg\|800px]]

			'''Market near 7th Street, August 1970, during the tunnel-and-trenching of Market Street to build the BART/MUNI tunnel.'''

			''Photo: OpenSFHistory.org wnp25.2117''

	And yet that amounts to a relatively small sum compared to the money Steve Bechtel and his friends are earning from the successful conclusion to their plan of using BART as part of a scheme to convert San Francisco into Manhattan West, the powerhouse gateway to the Eastern Hemisphere.		And yet that amounts to a relatively small sum compared to the money Steve Bechtel and his friends are earning from the successful conclusion to their plan of using BART as part of a scheme to convert San Francisco into Manhattan West, the powerhouse gateway to the Eastern Hemisphere.

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2021-05-12T19:23:52Z

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	[[Bernal Cut \|Prev. Document]] [[The Bay Area Council: A Business Lobby of BART Contractors \|Next Document]]		[[Bernal Cut \|Prev. Document]] [[The Bay Area Council: A Business Lobby of BART Contractors \|Next Document]]

	[[category:Transit]] [[category:Power and Money]] [[category:1940s]] [[category:1950s]] [[category:1960s]] [[category:1970s]]		[[category:Transit]] [[category:Power and Money]] [[category:1940s]] [[category:1950s]] [[category:1960s]] [[category:1970s]] [[category:BART]]

Ccarlsson: swapped in new abstract

2019-03-28T19:42:36Z

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	{\| style="color: black; background-color: #F5DA81;"		{\| style="color: black; background-color: #F5DA81;"
	\| colspan="2" \|'''~~This 1973 exposé argues that~~ the ~~construction~~ of the ~~Bay Area Rapid Transit system was a scheme by wealthy~~ and ~~powerful men to create a gateway to a large business center that would rise in San Francisco. Steve~~ Bechtel and ~~other company heads are introduced as using their influence and company resources~~ to ~~exert control over the BART Board of Directors~~ and ~~to gain popular support for~~ the ~~mass transit project~~ that ~~would centralize commerce in~~ the ~~City~~ and ~~to benefit their enterprises~~. '''		\| colspan="2" \|'''Investigative journalist Burton H. Wolfe presents an alternative narrative of the founding of San Francisco’s underground transit system, BART. Wolfe outlines the financial entanglements between BART’s public board and Bechtel, the family-owned firm which built and maintained the system. Investigating these entanglements, Wolfe connects the project to ethically questionable businesses and politicians around the globe, ultimately asserting that the Bechtel family intentionally deceived the public into funding an unnecessary and potentially damaging public transit system while profiting off of taxpayers’ money. '''
	\|}		\|}

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2019-03-27T22:44:37Z

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	''by Burton H. Wolfe originally published in the ''San Francisco Bay Guardian'', Feb. 14, 1973''		''by Burton H. Wolfe originally published in the ''San Francisco Bay Guardian'', Feb. 14, 1973''

			{\| style="color: black; background-color: #F5DA81;"
			\| colspan="2" \|'''This 1973 exposé argues that the construction of the Bay Area Rapid Transit system was a scheme by wealthy and powerful men to create a gateway to a large business center that would rise in San Francisco. Steve Bechtel and other company heads are introduced as using their influence and company resources to exert control over the BART Board of Directors and to gain popular support for the mass transit project that would centralize commerce in the City and to benefit their enterprises. '''
			\|}

	''"There's no reason for people to hear of us. We're not selling to the public."'' --Steve Bechtel, Jr., president, Bechtel Corp., quoted in ''Newsweek''.		''"There's no reason for people to hear of us. We're not selling to the public."'' --Steve Bechtel, Jr., president, Bechtel Corp., quoted in ''Newsweek''.

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2018-11-13T01:31:52Z

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	''Photo: Shaping San Francisco''		''Photo: Shaping San Francisco''

			[[Image:BART-Construction-Cave-In-on-Market-and-12th-Streets March-12,-1971 SFMTA M1051 7.jpg]]

			'''March 12, 1971 BART Construction cave-in on Market near 12th Streets.'''

			''Photo: SFMTA M1051-7''

	Now it can be told, as it could have been any time in the last 15 years if anyone in the mass communications media had been willing to do so: The hidden master planner, the carefully concealed czar of BART, is Stephen D. Bechtel, 72-year-old potentate of the most colossal engineering dynasty in history.		Now it can be told, as it could have been any time in the last 15 years if anyone in the mass communications media had been willing to do so: The hidden master planner, the carefully concealed czar of BART, is Stephen D. Bechtel, 72-year-old potentate of the most colossal engineering dynasty in history.

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2016-03-22T05:22:34Z

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	While daily newspaper and television reporters in the Bay Area have fun kicking BART General Manager Bill Stokes around, the man who actually runs the fledgling mass transit system and makes the most money from it remains unknown to the taxpayers who foot the bill. It's time that everybody met him, because he is the individual responsible more than anyone else for the scandals that are emerging, and Stokes, basically a newspaper reporter and public relations agent, has never been anything more than his front man.		While daily newspaper and television reporters in the Bay Area have fun kicking BART General Manager Bill Stokes around, the man who actually runs the fledgling mass transit system and makes the most money from it remains unknown to the taxpayers who foot the bill. It's time that everybody met him, because he is the individual responsible more than anyone else for the scandals that are emerging, and Stokes, basically a newspaper reporter and public relations agent, has never been anything more than his front man.

			[[Image:BART-construction-Market-Street-near-4th-June-1970-via-fb.jpg]]

			'''BART construction on Market Street near 4th, June 1970. This massive trench-and-tunnel operation permanently drove many mid-Market mid-level department stores out of business during the several years it took to complete.'''

			''Photo: Shaping San Francisco''

	Now it can be told, as it could have been any time in the last 15 years if anyone in the mass communications media had been willing to do so: The hidden master planner, the carefully concealed czar of BART, is Stephen D. Bechtel, 72-year-old potentate of the most colossal engineering dynasty in history.		Now it can be told, as it could have been any time in the last 15 years if anyone in the mass communications media had been willing to do so: The hidden master planner, the carefully concealed czar of BART, is Stephen D. Bechtel, 72-year-old potentate of the most colossal engineering dynasty in history.

	<~~embed~~ src="~~http~~://~~www.~~archive.org/~~flow~~/~~flowplayer.commercial-3.2.1.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash~~" width="640" height="~~506" allowfullscreen="true~~" ~~allowscriptaccess~~="~~always~~" ~~cachebusting~~="true" ~~bgcolor~~="~~#000000" quality="high" flashvars="config={'key':'#$aa4baff94a9bdcafce8','playlist':['format=Thumbnail?.jpg',{'autoPlay':false,'url':'ThreetoG1967_512kb.mp4'}],'clip':{'autoPlay':~~true,'baseUrl':'http://www.archive.org/download/ThreetoG1967/','scaling':'fit','provider':'h264streaming'},'canvas':{'backgroundColor':'#000000','backgroundGradient':'none'},'plugins':{'controls':{'playlist':false,'fullscreen':true,'height':26,'backgroundColor':'#000000','autoHide':{'fullscreenOnly':true}},'h264streaming':{'url':'http://www.archive.org/flow/flowplayer.pseudostreaming-3.2.1.swf'}},'contextMenu':[{},'-','Flowplayer v3.2.1']}"> </~~embed~~>		<iframe src="https://archive.org/embed/ThreetoG1967" width="640" height="480" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="true" mozallowfullscreen="true" allowfullscreen></iframe>

	'''Shows stages in the construction of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit system, 1967.'''		'''Shows stages in the construction of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit system, 1967.'''

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2013-11-05T00:23:26Z

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	[[Image:Tours-redev.gif\|link=Diamond Heights]] [[Diamond Heights\| Continue Redevelopment Tour]]		[[Image:Tours-redev.gif\|link=Diamond Heights]] [[Diamond Heights\| Continue Redevelopment Tour]]

	[[Bernal Cut \|Prev. Document]] [[~~Glen Park~~ BART ~~Station Design~~ \|Next Document]]		[[Bernal Cut \|Prev. Document]] [[The Bay Area Council: A Business Lobby of BART Contractors \|Next Document]]

	[[category:Transit]] [[category:Power and Money]] [[category:1940s]] [[category:1950s]] [[category:1960s]] [[category:1970s]]		[[category:Transit]] [[category:Power and Money]] [[category:1940s]] [[category:1950s]] [[category:1960s]] [[category:1970s]]

Ccarlsson: added block quotes throughout

2013-07-02T21:20:33Z

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2012-02-04T00:21:53Z

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	'''<font face = Papyrus> <font color = maroon> <font size = 4>Historical Essay</font></font> </font>'''		'''<font face = Papyrus> <font color = maroon> <font size = 4>Historical Essay</font></font> </font>'''

	''by Burton H. Wolfe''		''by Burton H. Wolfe originally published in the ''San Francisco Bay Guardian'', Feb. 14, 1973''

	''"There's no reason for people to hear of us. We're not selling to the public."'' --Steve Bechtel, Jr., president, Bechtel Corp., quoted in ''Newsweek''.		''"There's no reason for people to hear of us. We're not selling to the public."'' --Steve Bechtel, Jr., president, Bechtel Corp., quoted in ''Newsweek''.
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	We will have the Bay, of course, if that is not filled in, too. But you won't be able to see it for the highrises and air pollution. You will be walking on streets where the sun, blotted out by gigantic buildings, never shines, one of a million ants on the anthill, one cog in a machine that keeps churning with no purpose other than to grow bigger and make more money for the multi-millionaires who run it.		We will have the Bay, of course, if that is not filled in, too. But you won't be able to see it for the highrises and air pollution. You will be walking on streets where the sun, blotted out by gigantic buildings, never shines, one of a million ants on the anthill, one cog in a machine that keeps churning with no purpose other than to grow bigger and make more money for the multi-millionaires who run it.

	~~''--Burton H. Wolfe,'' originally published in the ''San Francisco Bay Guardian'', Feb. 14, 1973~~

	<hr>		<hr>

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	In 1945, when you and I were young or unborn or living blissfully in a rather small city that was giving birth to a United Nations at the end of a great war, Steve Bechtel, then 45, was plotting the development of San Francisco into a second Manhattan that would be the gateway to the Far East.		In 1945, when you and I were young or unborn or living blissfully in a rather small city that was giving birth to a United Nations at the end of a great war, Steve Bechtel, then 45, was plotting the development of San Francisco into a second Manhattan that would be the gateway to the Far East.

			[[Image:BART-near-Balboa-Park 1808.jpg]]

			'''BART streaks along near Balboa Park in the southern part of San Francisco, 2011.'''

			''Photo: Chris Carlsson''

	He was not plotting alone by any means. Right in there with him were the corporate heads of Bank of America, Kaiser Industries, Standard Oil of California, U.S. Steel, and other giants. But Steve Bechtel, though he was talking to the heads of some of the biggest corporations in the world, was confident he could run the $792 million bond issue for the financing of BART. The organization was called Citizens for Rapid Transit. It was run by a three-man committee of common ordinary citizens: Carl Wente, who by this time had become chairman of the board of Bank of America, Kendric Morrish of Wells Fargo, and Mortimer Fleishhacker of Crocker-Citizens. By coincidence, these were the same three millionaires who formed the original Bay Area Council Rapid Transit Committee.		He was not plotting alone by any means. Right in there with him were the corporate heads of Bank of America, Kaiser Industries, Standard Oil of California, U.S. Steel, and other giants. But Steve Bechtel, though he was talking to the heads of some of the biggest corporations in the world, was confident he could run the $792 million bond issue for the financing of BART. The organization was called Citizens for Rapid Transit. It was run by a three-man committee of common ordinary citizens: Carl Wente, who by this time had become chairman of the board of Bank of America, Kendric Morrish of Wells Fargo, and Mortimer Fleishhacker of Crocker-Citizens. By coincidence, these were the same three millionaires who formed the original Bay Area Council Rapid Transit Committee.

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:20, 2 July 2013
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	''Newsweek'' once published a brief story about Bechtel under that title after everyone on that big weekly magazine's staff failed to gain an interview. Steve Bechtel, Jr., explained to ''Newsweek'' in turning down approaches to himself and his father:		''Newsweek'' once published a brief story about Bechtel under that title after everyone on that big weekly magazine's staff failed to gain an interview. Steve Bechtel, Jr., explained to ''Newsweek'' in turning down approaches to himself and his father:

	"There's no reason for people to hear of us. We're not selling the public."		<blockquote>''"There's no reason for people to hear of us. We're not selling the public."''</blockquote>

	That comment is only typical of an egregiously arrogant, incredibly wealthy family that views a public mass transit system as a private Bechtel project.		That comment is only typical of an egregiously arrogant, incredibly wealthy family that views a public mass transit system as a private Bechtel project.
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	In view of these friendly Bechtel/Ebasco business relations, it wasn't surprising to find Ebasco submitting a report agreeing with Parsons, Brinckerhoff-Tudor-Bechtel:		In view of these friendly Bechtel/Ebasco business relations, it wasn't surprising to find Ebasco submitting a report agreeing with Parsons, Brinckerhoff-Tudor-Bechtel:

	"It is sometimes argued that commuting is wasteful, and that the solution to moving traffic during the rush hours is to eliminate centralized interurban peak-hour trips. Proponents argue that this can be done by staggered work hours or by decentralization, in which the journey to work for multitudes becomes a neighborhood job.		<blockquote>''"It is sometimes argued that commuting is wasteful, and that the solution to moving traffic during the rush hours is to eliminate centralized interurban peak-hour trips. Proponents argue that this can be done by staggered work hours or by decentralization, in which the journey to work for multitudes becomes a neighborhood job.''</blockquote>

	Ebasco's conclusion: There must be "increased centralization."		Ebasco's conclusion: There must be "increased centralization."

	"We are convinced ... that the large volumes of daily commuter traffic are not a mere accident of growth. [Ebasco's writer was not trying to be funny.] They are a necessary part of our economy and must be provided for efficiently. This requires the planning of improvements in transportation facilities.		<blockquote>''"We are convinced ... that the large volumes of daily commuter traffic are not a mere accident of growth. [Ebasco's writer was not trying to be funny.] They are a necessary part of our economy and must be provided for efficiently. This requires the planning of improvements in transportation facilities.

	"Without transportation improvements to accommodate the mass movements of daily traffic between our low density residential areas and centers of employment, we can expect an inhibition of growth in the Bay Area. And the Rapid Transit System which would permit free flow of traffic would therefore bring an increase in growth."		''"Without transportation improvements to accommodate the mass movements of daily traffic between our low density residential areas and centers of employment, we can expect an inhibition of growth in the Bay Area. And the Rapid Transit System which would permit free flow of traffic would therefore bring an increase in growth."''</blockquote>

	Once the Ebasco report was in hand, Citizens for Rapid Transit distributed hundreds of thousands of propaganda leaflets throughout the Bay Area describing BART as the only way "to solve the Bay Area's automobile congestion problem." The "first transit lines would begin operating in 1966, " CRT's literature stated. Among the benefits of BART advertised were "reduced automobile congestion ... access to new jobs ... smog reduction ... new leisure opportunities ... preservation of scenic beauty ... better city planning." And for the crowning touch to this string of outrageous lies, CRT proclaimed:		Once the Ebasco report was in hand, Citizens for Rapid Transit distributed hundreds of thousands of propaganda leaflets throughout the Bay Area describing BART as the only way "to solve the Bay Area's automobile congestion problem." The "first transit lines would begin operating in 1966," CRT's literature stated. Among the benefits of BART advertised were "reduced automobile congestion ... access to new jobs ... smog reduction ... new leisure opportunities ... preservation of scenic beauty ... better city planning." And for the crowning touch to this string of outrageous lies, CRT proclaimed:

	"Extensive transportation studies have established that rapid transit is the only feasible solution to the region's future congestion problems -- and by far the most economical solution, as well."		<blockquote>''"Extensive transportation studies have established that rapid transit is the only feasible solution to the region's future congestion problems -- and by far the most economical solution, as well."''</blockquote>

	Who wrote that for Bechtel and BART? Why, BART publicity agent Bill Stokes, who by this time had been boosted to the job of BART's assistant general manager.		Who wrote that for Bechtel and BART? Why, BART publicity agent Bill Stokes, who by this time had been boosted to the job of BART's assistant general manager.
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	Three weeks after the bond issue passed, BART's board of directors awarded Parsons Brinckerhoff-Tudor-Bechtel a spectacular contract to manage the design engineering and construction of the mass rail system. Among the supreme, ungovernable powers turned over to PBTB in this contract were the following:		Three weeks after the bond issue passed, BART's board of directors awarded Parsons Brinckerhoff-Tudor-Bechtel a spectacular contract to manage the design engineering and construction of the mass rail system. Among the supreme, ungovernable powers turned over to PBTB in this contract were the following:

	-- Location of routes and stations, decisions on the methods of train operation, determination of amounts of money to be spent on undetermined millions of dollars worth of job contracts, preparation for taking of bids on job contracts, inspection of contractors at work; in short "organization, planning and management of the construction program as a whole," to quote the PBTB contract's working.		<blockquote>-- Location of routes and stations, decisions on the methods of train operation, determination of amounts of money to be spent on undetermined millions of dollars worth of job contracts, preparation for taking of bids on job contracts, inspection of contractors at work; in short "organization, planning and management of the construction program as a whole," to quote the PBTB contract's working.</blockquote>

	-- No limit was set in the contract on the amount of people PBTB could hire, or the amount of money the firm could spend on its own work or on contracts let to other companies. An estimate was set for the total fee to be awarded PBTB: $47,250,000. But every six months a new budget could be arranged to replace the previous one. PBTB had the right to run up costs of this budget plus 10%. PBTB was also to be paid 1.25 times the cost of any money spent on services and supplies. The more money that PBTB would spend, the more money it would make.		<blockquote>-- No limit was set in the contract on the amount of people PBTB could hire, or the amount of money the firm could spend on its own work or on contracts let to other companies. An estimate was set for the total fee to be awarded PBTB: $47,250,000. But every six months a new budget could be arranged to replace the previous one. PBTB had the right to run up costs of this budget plus 10%. PBTB was also to be paid 1.25 times the cost of any money spent on services and supplies. The more money that PBTB would spend, the more money it would make.</blockquote>

	How did Steve Bechtel manage to wrangle such an amazing boondoggle out of BART's directors?		How did Steve Bechtel manage to wrangle such an amazing boondoggle out of BART's directors?