BART Directors Approve Grace Crunican as New GM; Video - Addressing Seattle Snowstorm Snafu

BART directors voted 8-1 today to appoint former Seattle transportation chief Grace Crunican as BART's new general manager.

Crunican has also served as the second-ranking person in the Federal Transit Administration under President Bill Clinton and as head of Oregon's Department of Transportation.

The lone director to vote against appointing Crunican was director James Fang, of San Francisco.

Crunican will succeed Dorothy Dugger, who resigned under pressure earlier this year. Crunican will be paid a base salary of $300,000 per year plus $20,000 in management incentive pay.

Apparently, during Crunican's Seattle tenure, her department did not perform so well during a 2008 snowstorm, leading to her resignation. You can about it read in this delicately titled Seattle Weekly piece:

• How Former Transportation Director Grace Crunican Became Seattle's Most Reviled Department Head

Update 12:25 p.m. Crunican addresses her Seattle woes at a press conference today in this video clip:

Here's the full video of the press conference.