Rescue Muni

The Rescue Muni Board would like to cordially invite our members to our biannual Candidates’ Forum on Monday, September 13th, 2010 @ 6:30pm in the SF County Fair Building.

Where does your district’s candidate stand on the proposed service restoration, crime, POP, Prop AA, and Prop G? Rescue Muni members are invited to vote for their preferred candidates for endorsement – we have invited the leading candidates from districts 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 to speak and take your questions. Supervisor Elsbernd will also attend to discuss Prop G. If your membership has expired, you can renew at the meeting.

Details:

Monday, Sept 13th
Refreshments at 6:30 pm
Program PROMPTLY 7:30 pm – 9:15 pm
SF County Fair Building, Garden Club Room
9th Ave and Lincoln Way
(In the park, nearby suggested routes N, 6, 43, 44, 66, 71)

The Board of Supervisors did the right thing yesterday and rejected a proposed charter amendment that would have changed the makeup of the SFMTA Board, and would have been in effect a takeover of the SFMTA by the Board of Supervisors. (Rescue Muni members spoke several times in opposition.)

Instead, a task force is being created that will review MTA governance issues, including the important question of whether the current split between the SFMTA and SF County Transportation Authority is effective or not, and whether the “work orders” currently used to transfer SFMTA money to other city departments are being handled properly. (We have objected to these in the past.) We will be following this task force closely – there have been many of these in the past, not all effective, but with proper citizen participation it might lead to useful (rather than counterproductive) reforms.

Thanks to Board President David Chiu for being the key vote to kill this misguided proposal, and thanks also to our members who wrote or spoke in opposition! Now back to the real work of improving SF transit.

Update: The SF Weekly covers this, as does Streetsblog.

The Board of Supervisors postponed until next week a vote on the controversial proposed charter amendment we wrote about yesterday.  Board of Supervisors president David Chiu said me might be willing to put off the amendment until next year, depending on the outcome of discussions with Mayor Newsom’s office about Muni service.  Postponing the amendment (or forgetting about it entirely) would be a positive development for Muni riders.

The law allows supervisors to place only one more charter amendment on the November 2010 ballot between now and Friday, July 30th.  Let’s hope it isn’t this one.

We urge Muni riders to call their supervisors between now and next Tuesday’s meeting and urge them to shelve the SFMTA amendment indefinitely.  All of their phone numbers and e-mail addresses are here.  The SFMTA isn’t perfect, but we believe strongly this measure would move the agency and Muni service in exactly the wrong direction.

Update: Greg Dewar of N Judah Chronicles has a thoughtful commentary on this issue.

Today, the Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote on whether to place a charter amendment on the November ballot dramatically changing how the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which runs Muni, is governed.  We’re urging our members to contact their supervisors and urge them to vote against placing this measure on the ballot.

You can read the proposed text here.

This well-intentioned proposal moves Muni in the wrong direction in several important respects:
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This past Friday, the Rules Committee of the Board of Supervisors met to consider a proposed charter amendment that would, among other things, split the appointees to the MTA Board between the Mayor and Board (as has been done for several commissions including Planning and Police). Rescue Muni members urged a no vote at the hearing; Chair Andrew Sullivan submitted the following comment.

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