Blue Ribbon Panel Cedes Leadership to Transit Not Traffic CoalitionRazzu Engenbyline‚ Mar. 11‚ 2008Last week, MTA Chief Financial Officer Sonali Bose gave a presentation to the newly minted Board on the Operating Budget for the next two years. While not as grim at it might have been without the shot in the arm provided by Proposition A in November, there is no doubt that MUNI needs more funds to meet the needs of transit riders in San Francisco. Labor and fuel costs are rising; there are unfunded operating costs from new capital projects in the pipeline; and a long-term structural deficit has made it all but impossible for MUNI to reach the voter-mandated on-time performance. A “Blue Ribbon” panel convened by Mayor Newsom last summer was to develop recommendations to fill the gap between costs and revenues for MUNI, but so far their effort has fallen short of providing the specific recommendations that our transit-first city needs. |