Episode 23: Opportunities to Listen and Lead
We’re joined by Grace Crunican, who most recently led Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART). Having worked on both coasts and with cities, states, the federal government and agencies, Grace has experience to share. Listen for her stories about coalition building, breaking down “stove pipes,” women in leadership, and how she has tried to give her staff “exposure to a bigger picture” so that they can be “pulled toward” the next opportunity.
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Did you know? The withdrawal of the Mt. Hood freeway from the Oregon interstate plan freed up funds to build Portland’s first light rail line?
Sharing that story, Crunican says she learned early in her career how transportation decisions could be tools of transformation for cities. On the podcast, she talks about other tools for transformation, including policy changes to shift control and money to the local level – and the more “integrated” transportation thinking that took root as a result. “We all live in a community. We don’t live in a community where the air is separate from the roads, which are separate from the transit and the trees. When you live in a community, it’s a holistic approach.”
Don’t miss her stories of getting out and listening, including a trip to a remote maintenance facility. And, in these times of partisan divide, take note of coalition building at the state level and with the Surface Transportation Policy Project.
“You have to keep an open ear no matter which job you’re in – to criticism or good ideas and whatever people have to say. Without that you will lose touch with where people are, where they are trying to head, what they’re worried about and what issues you need to fight for them.” — Grace Crunican