Political Notes: Queer SF BART director Li launches reelection bid
With the support of her two out colleagues on the board that oversees the Bay Area's regional transit agency BART, board member Janice Li is officially kicking off her bid for reelection Monday.
The first queer woman of color and the first Asian American woman on the board, Li is the only Asian member of one of the country's three elected transit boards.Li, 35, was first elected to her District 8 seat on the BART board in 2018 and is currently serving as the oversight body's vice president.
Should she win reelection to a second four-year term in November, Li would be poised to become board president in 2023.Speaking to the Bay Area Reporter by phone June 10, Li said she wants to remain on the BART board to ensure a number of pilot programs she pushed for, and were part of her first campaign platform, became a permanent part of the transit agency.
They include the system's low-income fare program and its ambassador program, where unarmed police officers assist people on BART trains who are unhoused or in some form of crisis to connect to services."I didn't want to just be the start-up person.
