The peninsula of San Francisco has produced another hero than Jane Stanford. (See an earlier blog.) Quentin Kopp.
What did Quentin do? (I know Quentin Kopp.)
First it has to be understood that the main subsurface rail line in the San Francisco area is BART the Bay Area Rapid Transit. It covers only San Francisco and the two counties of the East Bay (Alameda and Contra Costa) because the vote to fund this rail line was rejected by the two adjacent counties (San Mateo and Marin). The three counties that were and are the counties served by BART approved an $800 million bond issue in 1962. Work was begun three years later and completed in 1972, ten years later.
The system had one good feature and two bad. The good one was that BART connected to the San Francisco surface rail system. The bad was that it didn’t connect to either nearby Bay Area Airports.
Since San Mateo County voted itself out of BART even before it started, there was no one to pay for a line from San Francisco to the San Francisco Airport which is in San Mateo County.
Nothing was done, nor could it be done for the next 30 years to amend these two serious mistakes. San Mateo has a jealous and malicious relationship to San Francisco.
One man, changed that. Quentin Kopp had been a popular Democrat supervisor in San Francisco for 15 years in the 1970’s and 80’s. He was a State Senator for the next twelve years and then was appointed a Superior Court Judge in San Mateo County.
Quentin is a gregarious, polished and highly competent politician. He knew everyone in public life in San Francisco, Sacramento and San Mateo.
He was in the unique position to get a BART line connecting San Francisco to the Airport, which he did by 2003 when it opened.. The line was partially paid for by San Mateo County which got 6 stations on a 9 mile extension.
One man is responsible for the convenience that 40,000 people a week enjoy. Thank you Quentin Kopp.