Editorials

OAKLAND – A developer is proposing a $45 million tram system to connect Alameda’s former Navy base to the West Oakland BART station. 

Randy Woolwine, a vice president with Doppelmayr, the company that would build the system, said it will be faster than driving. 

The sky gondolas would go up within five years, with 200 high-speed trams. 

But the project has numerous hurdles, including approval by at least eight agencies. It must also consider how the 300-foot towers would affect birds such as peregrine falcons, red tail hawks and the protected California least tern. 

Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown has already given the idea his support.