Less than two weeks before the election, the SF Bay Guardian has published a detailed editorial urging voters to vote for transit, not traffic - Yes on A and No on H.
We agree! Don’t forget to mail in your absentee ballot or vote on November 6, and get involved at the Transit not Traffic campaign.
John Diaz of the Chronicle slams Prop H in Sunday’s edition and points out the dealing in bad faith that has led to No on A mailers being sent to voters despite a supposed deal between proponents of better Muni service and opponents of San Francisco’s transit-first policy, led by Republican billionaire Don Fisher.
If you agree with us that SF does not need massive increases in auto traffic, vote NO on H, and get involved! The campaign needs your help in the last two weeks before the election.
The Transit Not Traffic campaign, led by SPUR and many other community groups supporting better public transit, has launched. This campaign supports Proposition A (Muni Re-Reform), which would dedicate additional funding to Muni and improve many work rules that today make it very difficult to improve service reliability, and opposes Proposition H, the so-called “Parking For Neighborhoods” initiative that would dramatically increase parking downtown and allow new parking spaces and garages to block Muni lines and remove street trees citywide. If you agree that better transit should be SF’s priority and not huge increases in auto traffic, get involved! (Comment here or sign up at SPUR’s page.)
The State Senate approved a bill that would allow SF and other municipalities to mount bus lane cameras on vehicles to crack down on double parkers. In London, such a system has led to a 92 percent drop in double parking violations that block buses. Rescue Muni urges the Governor to sign the bill immediately, and urges Muni and other transit systems to install such cameras asap!
The Examiner reports today a compromise between the campaign for the so-called “Parking for Neighborhoods” initiative and Supervisor Aaron Peskin, sponsor of the Muni re-reform measure that recently was approved for the November ballot. In exchange for the anti-transit, anti-rider parking campaign suspending work now, the supervisors will put a new “Sensible Parking Initiative” on the ballot in February. We’ll see how bad it is for riders, but it’s good news anyway that there will not be a six-figure campaign against Muni reform this fall.
Meanwhile, Matt Smith of the SF Weekly wonders why Mayor Newsom didn’t take a stand for transit riders against the downtown interests (notably Gap founder Don Fisher) who sponsored the anti-rider Parking for Neighborhoods plan. And the Bay Guardian has a comment as well.