Official: Repaint 'hideous' parking garage

DUBLIN, Calif., March 10 (UPI) -- An Alameda County, Calif., official has demanded Bay Area Rapid Transit repaint a "hideous" new parking garage before the structure can be opened.

Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty, who sits on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, demanded officials give the garage, which he has branded "the tower of torture," a $500,000 paint job before its grand opening, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Monday.

Haggerty threatened to veto the transport organization's $30 plan for new trains unless the paint job goes forward on the gray slab structure.

"Now they have this monster of a parking garage sitting there in what is truly the gateway to Dublin ... and it's a disaster," Haggerty said. "If they were an influential community like Walnut Creek, they would have no problem having brick" on the facade.

BART spokesman Linton Johnson conceded that the building may not be the prettiest structure around, but "it's not like county officials weren't part of the planning committee from day one."