Tomorrow, an assortment of elected officials, advocates and so on will be holding a “Transit Justice” rally over at City Hall at 3pm. Sup. John Avalos has been working with an assortment of folks concerned about the MTA budget, and who want to craft some sort of charter amendment. An assortment of sources inside indicate that this isn’t some flaky thing, that Serious People are getting involved to try and come up with a better budget in bad times. For that, Sup, Avalos and the folks involved deserve some praise for their efforts. (UPDATE: You can read about some of the ideas at BeyondChron this morning before the rally).
I, however, won’t be there. Aside from the obvious reason (i.e. I have a day job that requires my attention, esp. now as we’re on the verge of a cascade failure of that special election thing Tuesday), I’m a bit leery of putting my name forth on anything without reading the details or knowing what exactly is being proposed.
I don’t expect to be consulted by every human at City Hall on all things MUNI (God help us all if that happens), but I also never intended this blog to be a Big Political Blog, nor do I want it identified as being solely a part of any one faction either. The whole point is to bring to light the point of view of that of the ordinary owner/rider from a common sense POV. I’m simply someone who wants to get around town with a minimum of drama. That’s all.
As I’ve said before, I started this blog (and its associated supplemental Twitter feed as a fun side project, primarily for my own enjoyment. It has been a lot of fun, overall, and I’ve had the chance to meet so many awesome people, and learn more about the community, all things that I might not have been able to do, had I not started it. Plus, it’s been kind of fun to see this thing evolve over time without really doing anything but what I’d do anyway – it’s just in print online, that’s all.
As soon as it becomes a chore, or something that’s all dreary and serious or in the middle of a lot of fights, I’ll quit and do something else with my time. Likewise, I don’t need to be lectured by poorly disguised allies of certain candidates for office about how I “should” or “should not” use this site. I’m not stupid, and I can figure out when I’m being trolled by people paid by or allied with a large enterprise that apparently feels threatened by some guy’s blog in the Inner Sunset.
In the meantime, I urge people to check out tomorrow’s events and see what Sup. Avalos and others have to say, and I’d invite Sup. Avalos, or anyone involved in the effort, to educate readers in the comments section as well. The most important thing is that more people get involved, so that those in City Hall stop treating the owner/riders of MUNI as unwanted guests, and instead give us a fair shake, even in crummy economic times.