Rescue Muni

The 14L-Mission Limited buses that used to stop tantalizingly close to the Daly City BART station finally will take people the rest of the way during AM and PM commute hours.  Temporarily, the morning runs will be connected by a shuttle between Daly City BART and the 14L at Goethe Street, though eventually the 14L will make morning and evening runs available both ways.  Free transfers will be available inside the paid area of the BART station.

Muni is also promising better maintenance and supervision of the 14L buses.

Today the SFMTA announced that Ed Reiskin will be taking over as CEO. Reiskin comes to the SFMTA from the city’s Department of Public Works, where he has served as director since 2008. Before that he ran the city’s 311 center, and in the past has worked for the city of Oakland and the District of Columbia.

Reiskin is held in high regard with the board of supervisors, and has a strong working relationship with Mayor Lee from his years of working for Lee while he was city administrator.

The new CEO’s has signed a 3 year contract with a yearly salary that will be $294,000, which is $15,000 less than former CEO Nat Ford.

Thanks to the N Judah Chronicles for this notice: Supervisor Chu has called a hearing on the annoying, inconvenient, and often unannounced short turns that plague LRV service in the Sunset. Unfortunately it’s during business hours, but if you can attend on short notice please do. The hearing is at 10:30 am TODAY, City Hall, Room 250.
Also please congratulate RM endorsed Supervisors Carmen Chu, Scott Wiener, and Mark Farrell on their first day in office after being elected last fall!

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.