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The Federal Transit Administration spent the better part of last year doling out money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to projects around the country. Now, one of those projects could lose the it was supposed to receive because its owner, Bay Area Rapid Transit, failed to follow the rules.

BART received the financial rebuke – and a rather – after community activists filed complaints that the agency’s project put a certain group of people living in one neighborhood at a disadvantage. The Oakland Airport Connector, by the way, is a fancy name for what’s basically an extension of the existing BART light-rail system.

More specifically, the activists said, BART violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Let’s just say that’s a really bad idea if you’re trying to build a 3-mile stretch of light-rail track with federal money.

BART’s Title VI problems may run deeper than the connector project. Consumer advocates claim this isn’t the first time BART has failed to play well with others. The FTA is actually finishing up an on-site, agency-wide compliance review of the rapid transit agency – results expected within a few months.

In the meantime, Angela Glover of the nonprofit group PolicyLink says the FTA decision to hold back stimulus money from BART should send a clear message to any party that has a project being paid for with a share of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

“We must look at the question of who benefits,” Glover said, “and the answer must be everybody.”