Rescue Muni

From our friends at the N Judah Chronicles: Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi and MTA Director Nat Ford will be holding a town hall on Muni, parking, pedestrian safety, and related transportation issues on Wednesday, December 3, from 7-9 pm, at the SF County Fair Building at 9th and Lincoln (71 Haight/Noriega, N Judah, 44 O’Shaughnessy).

Bring your tough questions, recommendations, advice, compliments, complaints, etc. – this is a good chance to advise your Supervisor and MTA Director on issues that matter to you.

Today’s Chronicle reports on a proposed $3 congestion charge for downtown San Francisco, proposed by the SFCTA as part of the congestion pricing study we discussed earlier.

The options being considered for the charging zones are a small downtown core and a much larger section of the city (one suspects the downtown area is the more likely option).

If this happens, some specifics need to be done right, in particular the revenue from congestion charging must actually go to increasing service to and through the zone. This can’t be another source of revenue that just allows transit funding to be cut elsewhere!

Don’t forget to provide your comments to the SFCTA.

Want to help SF reduce congestion downtown? Participate in an upcoming meeting about the confusingly named Mobility, Access and Pricing Study that is evaluating options for congestion pricing and downtown parking fees as well as other means to improve traffic flow and speed up mass transit downtown. Meeting times and locations:

Tuesday, December 2, 5:30 – 7:00 pm, San Francisco Main Library, 100 Larkin Street at Grove
Monday, December 8, 5:30 – 7:00 pm, San Francisco Ferry Building, Port Commission Hearing Room, 2nd Floor

You can also comment online – follow the SFCTA link for details on how.

Update: The SFCTA Board (aka the Board of Supervisors) will hear about the proposal this week.

Today’s Chronicle reports that the SF Transit Effectiveness Project plan was approved by the MTA board. This means that the plan can proceed over the next two years.

For details on how the plan affects the line you ride, please look at the summary on the SFTEP website. Rescue Muni supported the plan as amended, but of course we will watching the MTA closely as they implement the plan over the next couple of years, particularly as decisions are made on how to prioritize transit on major corridors citywide.

At Wednesday’s meeting, members heard from the candidates and voted on our endorsements for the November election.  The following candidates have been officially endorsed by Rescue Muni:

Board of Supervisors

District 1 – Sue Lee

District 3 – Joseph Alioto, Jr.

District 5 – Ross Mirkarimi

District 7 – Sean Elsbernd

District 11 – Ahsha Safaí

BART Board of Directors

District 9 – Tom Radulovich

YES on Proposition 1A (High Speed Rail Bonds)

YES  on Proposition P (Transportation Authority Reform)

Thank you to everyone—members and candidates alike—who participated in our endorsement process.  An additional endorsement may be forthcoming, pending Rescue Muni Board of Directors action.