This is really cool! this made me think I should tell my BART representative how much I appreciate this. But how?

Live thread of me finding the following information (or at least how far I can get):

- Who is my BART representative?
- How did they vote on this? https://twitter.com/lorakolodny/status/1348003594310586368

"Who is my BART rep" seems easier to answer. If I know who my BART rep is, I'll know (1) who to reach out to, and (2) hopefully figure out how they voted on the issue. If they voted for it, I thank them. If they voted against them, I tell them how wrong they are.

BART's website has an "About" header that says something about a Board of Directors, that sounds like an elected official probably:
https://www.bart.gov/about/bod 

Shows the stations represented by each Director, but I'll double check who my elected official is:

http://www.acgov.org/ms/addresslookup/Default.aspx

http://www.acgov.org/ms/addresslookup/Default.aspx
says I'm in DISTRICT #4, BART

https://www.bart.gov/about/bod  says District #4 Director is Robert Raburn
https://www.bart.gov/about/bod/bodMembersDetail_04

Here's his website:
http://www.robertraburn.com/accomplishments 
His interests include bikes, expensive fare evasion countermeasures, and body cams.

OK so I know my BART elected is Robert Raburn.
But how did he vote when the BART Board decided to fund social workers instead of cops?

My #oakmtg experience taught me I had a city councilmember who talked differently than how she voted, so my trust of words is low.

Back to the BART website!
That innocuous "About" header shows me "Agenda and Minutes". Promising!
https://www.bart.gov/about/bod 

There's also an archive for the same; 2020's is here:
https://www.bart.gov/about/bod/meetings/2020

Let's start with 2021:
https://bart.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx 

Meetings are scheduled for Jan 14, 13, 11, and 6.
If the social-workers-not-cops decision happened in 2021, it would've been Jan 6.
The Jan 6 meeting was "Audit Ad Hoc Committee" and the agenda -- oh, it was canceled.

Back to 2020!

https://www.bart.gov/about/bod/meetings/2020

I click the only link ("Notice") for the most recent meetings: Dec 31 and 24. Both are PDFs that say "NO MEETING".

So I'm guessing any links that say "Notice" are going to be cancelled meetings, and any that say "Agenda" might have had a meeting.

Out of the most recent agendized meetings, I see
12/18 - Bond Oversight
12/17 - Board
12/14 - Police Citizen Review Board
12/10 - Special Board

All seem likely candidates for deciding social-workers-not-cops, so I'll start reading the agendas in reverse chronological.

If I'd ever read these minutes before or attended a few different BART meetings, I'd be able to tell pretty quickly which of these four meetings would mostly have a social-workers-not-cops decision. But I haven't, so slow learnings it is.

Dec 18 Bond oversight
https://www.bart.gov/sites/default/files/docs/agendas/12-18-20%20BOC.pdf

Social workers cost money, so maybe a bond was used to fund social workers?

https://www.bart.gov/sites/default/files/docs/agendas/12-18-20%20BOC.pdf

Agenda item 6(B) is $$ for human resources/staffing - are these the social workers I'm looking for??

This doc is just the agenda - how do I find out more?

Back to https://www.bart.gov/about/bod/meetings/2020
See the link to "BART Board meetings online (live and on-demand)"?

https://www.bart.gov/about/bod/multimedia

Wow ok so to find my answer - who voted social-workers-not-cops - I'm going to have to watch video of the meeting.
There are only vids of Board meetings, and not for committees like the agenda I was reading.

This helps narrow things down!

I'm back on https://www.bart.gov/about/bod/meetings/2020 and looking at ONLY Board meetings that have an agenda. Looking for any (likely recent) Board meeting agenda that says something about social-workers-not-cops.

12/17 agenda:
https://www.bart.gov/sites/default/files/docs/agendas/12-17-20%20Board%20Packet_1.pdf

Toy drive looks like the only thing of interest on this one. Next!

12/10 SPECIAL board agenda:
https://www.bart.gov/sites/default/files/docs/agendas/12-10-20%20Spl%20Bd.pdf

2020 was so much, I can't remember what happened beginning of December that might warrant a special BART board meeting.

*reads*

OMG IT'S PERF REVIEW SEASON AT THE BART!!!

But not my query: social-workers-not-cops decision

12/3 agenda:
https://www.bart.gov/sites/default/files/docs/agendas/12-03-20%20Board%20Packetrev.pdf

lots of stuff about $, likely answer in here
lots of budget PDFs that could bury the answer
minutes are posted! text minutes I can search!!

https://www.bart.gov/sites/default/files/docs/minutes/12-03-20%20Minutes.pdf

I was overly optimistic about how much the minutes would help :(
They're very brief summaries, though they do include a single roll call vote, and I do see my elected Director Raburn voted with the majority, so that's possibly good? No idea what he said leading up to that vote.

OK here's what I've got so far:
- My BART elected is Robert Raburn
- Deciding social-workers-not-cops is probably a $$ decision
- There was a big $$ decision board meeting on Dec 3

Here's where I can go next:
- Robert Raburn, ask his opinion on social-workers-not-cops, give my opinion as his constituent
- See if local media covered any of this, including noting who was for/against
- Read all the budget docs, compare with last year's budget, find the diff

Oh and option #4: load up BART Board TV from Dec 3 and watch meeting:
https://www.bart.gov/about/bod/multimedia

I'll probably pick Option #1 and call Director Raburn and talk about his views and share mine, since I'm at the limits of my regular-everyday-constituent-research abilities.

Which is ok! I learned a bit from this, and I hope you did too!

Thanks for coming with me!

haha oh man this is a little embarrassing: I found the next step forward

I... I actually read the SF Chron article from the original tweet:
https://twitter.com/jtu/status/1348036836266975233

There are some answers.

ok so IF one actually READ the lovely journalism beyond the titleone might know this social-workers-not-cops plan "will be presented to the board on Thursday and doesn’t require a vote to move forward".

Which means the right next step is for me to call my elected BART rep!

If you also like the idea of social-workers-not-cops on BART, consider joining me!

Before Thursday, call your elected!

Reminder: how to find your BART Director:
https://twitter.com/jtu/status/1348040460468580352

Phone numbers:
https://www.bart.gov/about/bod 
Click "Read full bio" for "Contact Phone"

Oh no I am on a new adventure: how to reach BART Director @RaburnForBART

https://www.bart.gov/about/bod/bodMembersDetail_04
Contact Phone:
(510)464-6095

^ I get the message "Ext 6095 does not answer" when I call. I guess I could try Monday morning... but what happens if I get the same message then?

There's a "Financial Information" form linked from the same BART site:
https://www.bart.gov/about/bod/bodMembersDetail_04

Scanning the doc there's a phone number - I guess I could try that? Is that weird? I mean he IS my elected and a public figure not private, but it still feels kinda weird!

I mean it's probably a business phone number and not his home or personal cell, right. So it'd be fine to call.

This is silly, I didn't have this much hesitation calling regular Georgia voters at this hour on a weekend. I'm doing it. It's probably going to be a dud number anyway.

LOL I REACHED MY BART ELECTED OFFICIAL AT HIS HOME PHONE

He uhhh would like me to know that - no it's ok I serve the public - but I do use email you know:
[email protected]

We had a nice chat about social-workers-not-cops, he is very pro-SWNC and listened to my thoughts.

I have now sent a follow-up email to BART Director Raburn in support of replacing BART cops with social workers!

Thanks for sticking with me to the twist ending of this twitter thread!

~ FIN ~