Two supervisors are set to introduce an amendment to the charter of The City to split up the SFMTA, an unusual coalition of local transit advocates announced its opposition to the plan. SPUR, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, San Francisco Transit Riders and Walk San Francisco issued a joint letter voicing opposition to the upcoming charter amendment proposal by supervisors Ahsha Safai and Aaron Peskin.
The organization wrote, “The SFMTA is an imperfect institution, and we acknowledge that much must be done to improve its responsiveness and performance. Rather than fixing the SFMTA’s shortcomings, however, this charter amendment will compound them.”
On this, Safai told the SF Examiner, “More micro-neighborhood issues are overlooked and forgotten. The way this agency was set up was intended to create efficiencies, but it drowned out the voices of the neighborhood.”
The joint opposition letter unites groups that seldom partner together on city transit issues. SPUR, an urban policy think tank, has rarely advocated alongside the politically separate bike coalition, Walk SF and Transit Riders. The joint letter claims Peskin and Safai’s proposal would raise government bureaucracy, create “unnecessary politics” and contradict San Francisco’s “transit first” law.
Jim Lazarus, vice president of public policy at the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, said “it’s clear to me” supervisors want more input into SFMTA’s decision making. But the question is, “how do you do that that maintains a quasi-independent transportation agency and doesn’t flood the supervisors with lengthy appeals?”
Safai denied that critique. And also said, “I think we’re open to the conversation about how much input the Board of Supervisors would have in minor street changes”.
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