Category Archives: politics

Hey, SFMTA, please double residential parking fees and introduce traffic congestion fees.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) is a bureaucratic whale, containing, in separate stomachs, the Department of Parking and Traffic (DPT) and the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni) public transit system. Recently, the SFMTA crunched some numbers and said, … Continue reading

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The headline should read, “Mayor signs taxi gate fee increase, lowering pay for City workers.”

Mayor Newsom signed a bill last week that increases gate fees for most cab drivers by $5 (effectively a $.50/hr paycut) and increases the gate fee for Compressed Natural Gas and hybrid cab drivers by $13.50 (effectively a $1.35/hr paycut). … Continue reading

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Teen killed Sunday in bright daylight. Chronicle doesn’t report it?

San Francisco is really a tale of two cities: the yuppie, high income, peaceful facade of the northern and western edge of town, and the rougher, minority majority, low income Bay View/Hunters Point district. But, you’d think that the San … Continue reading

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Ignore the Hillary/Obama charades: NAFTA is good.

Marketplace painted a nice picture of Obama and Hillary’s voracious battle for the crown of ultimate NAFTA hater. This is frustrating. Yes, they’re in Ohio. Yes, they have to cater to the lowest common denominator. Instead, they should rise up … Continue reading

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TEP proposes good things for Muni. Is this good news?

A week ago the Chronicle reported on some promising preliminary recommendations based on findings from the Transit Effectiveness Project (TEP). These recommendations are great. In many ways they are in line with common sense: improve highly used lines using BRT, … Continue reading

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Politicians forget (ignore?) basic economics.

Let’s rewrite a few headlines to illustrate the point. Case 1 The original headline reads, “Supervisor looks to limit liquor licenses.” Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval seeks to add a ballot measure banning any future City liquor licenses. This headline should read, … Continue reading

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Muni’s Nat Ford doing good things?

Wow, it looks like Nat Ford might actually know how to run a municipal transit agency. Let’s hope the Board of Supervisors gets off his back and lets him do it right. Link

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Why is Congress wasting its time (aka our money) with baseball players?

I’ll admit right up front: I’m not sure what Congress actually does at their meetings in Washington. But, what I glean from an ear half-tuned to NPR is that it’s usually a discussion on legislation germane to American citizen’s lives … Continue reading

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When I get mad about employers screwing me over, I think of Robert Reich and then direct that anger at the government. You can too! Here’s how.

When I drive an 11 hour shift and make only fifty or sixty bucks I feel pretty sour. This doesn’t happen often. But, it does happen a few times a month during this time of year when demand for cabs … Continue reading

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Mayor spends thousands of dollars to learn transit user fees are necessary.

Dear Mayor Newsom You didn’t have to spend City taxpayer money on private consultants. Anyone could have told you: Just like any other shared and limited public resource, public transit needs user fees. Offering ‘free’ Muni is a destructive proposal. … Continue reading

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