Rescue Muni

This afternoon, the Board of Supervisors voted to put Board President Aaron Peskin’s Muni charter amendment on the November ballot. A very big thank you to everyone from Rescue Muni who called the supervisors to let them know we support the measure.

Seven supervisors voted to put the measure on the ballot: Aaron Peskin, Tom Ammiano, Chris Daly, Bevan Dufty, Sean Elsbernd, Sophie Maxwell, and Ross Mirkarimi. All seven deserve our thanks for letting this go forward now. Voting against the measure were: Michela Alioto-Pier, Ed Jew, Jake McGoldrick, and Gerardo Sandoval.

The vote was a bit different from last week’s, when supervisors considered various amendments which would, effectively, kill the measure. We should extend a very special thanks to the five supervisors who not only voted to put the measure on the ballot today, but also voted against all of the attempts to deep-six it with amendments. They are: Board President Aaron Peskin, and Supervisors Tom Ammiano, Bevan Dufty, Sean Elsbernd, and Sophie Maxwell. All five of them deserve a very big thank you from supporters of better transit; all five, incidentally, carried Rescue Muni’s endorsement in their most recent elections.

Now for the hard part: This measure, because of the parking limitation language, which runs counter to the pro-parking, anti-transit ballot measure also appearing on the November ballot, will be more controversial than was Prop E. The supporters of the parking measure will surely be out in force to oppose Muni Reform II. Passing this measure will require a major effort on all our parts.

-Daniel M.

Update: The Chronicle and Examiner report on the measure going to the ballot, and the Guardian comments.

Please take a moment TODAY to contact your Supervisor to urge him/her to put the Muni Reform amendment on the ballot!

Last week, as we noted, a consensus was reached at the Board of Supervisors on the proposed Muni reform package sponsored by Supervisor Peskin. (Ex Editorial.)

Supervisor Alioto-Pier and Mayor Newsom have both expressed concerns about the measure after a provision was added to block the so-called “Parking for Neighborhoods Initiative”, strongly opposed by Rescue Muni, because increased parking would be a disaster for Muni and highly counterproductive to Muni reform.

However, Rescue Muni supports this measure, and also strongly opposes the Parking for Neighborhoods measure. We urge the supervisors to pass it tomorrow and place it on the ballot this fall. We also encourage Mayor Newsom to take a strong stand in opposition to this anti-rider parking measure that threatens to undo Muni reform and push more San Franciscans into their cars.

To keep San Francisco a Transit First city, please contact your Supervisor to encourage a YES vote, and also call Mayor Newsom’s office to urge him to oppose the parking measure! The Supervisors vote tomorrow, so a call today is essential.

Thanks!

Today’s Chronicle discusses a compromise that is supported by Mayor Newsom and union leaders. Also the Examiner discusses it. As we understand it this is based on the Peskin measure that we support, with some changes, notably one fewer Supervisorial vote required to reject the budget, and many fewer employees (2.75% instead of 10%, but up from the current 1.5) that can actually be hired and fired at will by the director. Additional funding for Muni is retained. We’ll have an analysis when we can see the text.

The following letter (also in pdf) went out to the Supervisors tonight, who are tomorrow considering proposals to further reform Muni. Rescue Muni supports the Peskin amendment (Re-Reform) and opposes the McGoldrick amendment (Un-Reform).

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Some news this week: