What a Shock: the MTA Board Withdraws Requirement Its Employees Pay for Parking Like You Do!

To everyone’s surprise (but mine), the SFMTA Board withdrew, without discussion, a proposal to make the MTA and Muni’s employees pay for parking, the way every single San Franciscan does, instead of enjoying taxpayer-subsidized free parking. This, as the MTA wants to jack up parking ticket revenue like crazy and jack up meter rates.
Listening to the whining of Muni’s employees was bad enough. But even worse was that SFMTA Board Chair Tom Nolan withdrew this from discussion, without allowing other board members to comment on it at all. He later said his reasoning was based on how the MTA’s employees were “feeling.”
News flash, Mr. Nolan: you’re supposed to be serving the people of San Francisco, not the well paid employees of a dysfunctional transit agency. Mayor Newsom isn’t around to pull your strings anymore, so you do have the option to act in the public interest once in a while. But, as a former suburban politician who has made poor decisions since you were first appointed, one wonders if perhaps it’s time you resigned so that Mayor Lee can appoint someone more qualified to the job.
Folks, this is why it is SO important in 2011 you select a Mayor who will do serious things about transit, and other Really Big Issues That Need To Be Dealt With, instead of showboaty politics like we’ve had for the last seven years. Muni doesn’t have to be a national joke – it is that way because we’ve elected people who don’t care, or simply aren’t qualified to serve in office. Let’s try something different for a change.