BART Supports Renaming Oakland’s Lake Merritt Station

BART directors plan to move forward with renaming Oakland’s Lake Merritt station, but only after they find a funding source for the estimated $750,000 project and complete a community engagement process.

The unanimous vote Thursday by the transit agency’s Board of Directors delivered a setback to many community members who had hoped to walk away from the meeting with a clear timeline for the station renaming.

“I would ask that it not be called a name change. It really is a name correction,” said Joshua Simon, who showed up to the public comment section of the meeting. “I’ve been getting off at that station now for 40 years, and every time I get off, I look around and say, ‘Where’s Lake Merritt?’ It’s in Chinatown. I think it’s time to fix this.”