Many tenants at the Alameda Point former navy base are behind in their rent owing the city some $900,000. The biggest deadbeat is the USS Hornet that owes some $370,000 for its $8,500 a month berth with parking. That puts the Hornet some 3.6 years behind on its rent. But the city views the WWII vintage aircraft carrier as an attraction and is not eager to boot the former warship out in the cold. Both the city and representatives of the Hornet are in negotiations to find a resolution for this problem.

Jerry Cochran Appointed to the GGBH and T District
Jerry Cochran represents Del Norte County and replaces James Hooper, the Crescent City attorney who died after only three months service to the board. Cochran is a firm believer in highways and in particular widening 101 to provide more commercial and tourist access to Del Norte County.

Feds Approve Chinatown Subway
Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta has tentatively approved funding for the proposed $764 million new downtown San Francisco subway. The new line would run from the ballpark to Chinatown and include three new stations. However, MUNI has been asked to refine its traffic projection issues in order to justify the expense.

BART Adjusts Airport Schedules
In Early February, BART adjusted its airport service and in particular service to Millbrae. BART’s “Experts” had expected thousands to transfer from Caltrain to BART for a more convenient ride into the city rather than continue on Caltrain to the awkwardly located 4th Street station. But for whatever reason, commuters are sticking to their old ways leaving Millbrae seeing more use as a southbound station, not northbound. The new schedule adjustments are designed to make this service more compatible with the connecting southbound Caltrain service. It is interesting to note that the huge ridership increases projected for the airport extension have not materialized, particularly between Millbrae and San Francisco. Bay Crossings staff has analyzed the two services and quickly concluded why there were so few riders. (Hint: Caltrain takes 29 minutes and costs $1.75 while BART takes 32 minutes and costs $3.55.)

Amtrak’s President Warns of a Shutdown
Amtrak President David Gunn warned that President Bush’s proposed funding for Amtrak was about half of what had been requested and characterized it as a “shutdown number.” Gunn threatened last year to shut down Amtrak and the government provided an emergency $100 million loan. Should Amtrak shutdown, it would affect long distance service from San Francisco (Emeryville) to Seattle, Los Angeles and Chicago, as well as service in the San Joaquin Valley, Sacramento Capitol corridor and Caltrain Peninsula Commute service. The Altamont service would not be affected.

Golden Gate Bridge Toll Hike?
Officials scrambling to cover a $139 million shortfall are not ruling out an increase in tolls on the Bay Area’s most expensive toll bridge.

No Blue Angels for Fleet Week
The Blue Angels have published their schedule and San Francisco is not on it. The air show is a key event that draws millions of viewers to the waterfront and without the Blue Angels, it will draw fewer visitors. Reportedly, the Navy will be flying F-18 jets and there may be other entries as well. The Blue Angels are scheduled to be in Hawaii on October 10 and 11, when normally they would be scheduled for San Francisco.

MV Vallejo to be Down for Repairs
Starting in mid-February, the MV Vallejo will be out of service for at least three weeks, eliminating backup availability. Should there be a problem with one of the remaining vessels, bus substitution will have to be arranged.

Fare Increase for Vallejo
April 1st (and we are not fooling) will see an increase in the price of the monthly Vallejo book from $200 to $215. In addition, the Fairfield-Vacaville monthly book will increase from $227 to $245. No other rates are affected by this change.

New Vallejo Ferry Named
The Vallejo City Council continued its practice of giving the new ferry a regional name, similar to the practice of the Southern Pacific Golden Gate Ferries, the predecessor service to Vallejo. Hence, the MV Solano will likely be launched in April and delivered sometime in May. Reproduction posters advertising the earlier Southern Pacific Vallejo runs are available for sale at the Bay Crossings store in the Ferry Building.

Golden Gate Ferry Rate Increase
The rates for special event ferry service to the former PacBell Park from Larkspur have been increased from $11.20 to $13.00.

Golden Gate Directors Support RM-2
The Board of Directors of the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District have taken a position to support Regional Measure 2 (RM-2), a traffic relief plan. RM-2 is an effort to fund transportation projects with a $1 toll increase on state-owned Bay Area toll bridges (not including the Golden Gate Bridge).