The biggest winner in Tuesdays election was transportation in San Francisco. As our city continues to grow, we have to get it right, or we will have a future of worse gridlock, worse transit, and more dangerous streets. We need aggressive transit investment, improved street safety for all users, and diverse alternatives to driving for those who dont want to drive or dont need to drive. The voters firmly showed their understanding of these transit needs: -Prop A - the transportation bond - passed with over 70% of the vote despite a campaign against it. Prop A will provide long overdue capital investment for various aspects of our transportation system. -Prop B - which I authored and which ties transit funding to population growth - passed with over 60% of the vote even though we didnt raise one penny to promote it. Prop B will help expand Munis capacity and reliability, accelerate the purchase of new vehicles, and keep the system in better shape. -Prop L - which wouldve diverted funding for Muni to build parking garages - was resoundingly defeated. Prop L would have reversed our transit-first policy, and the voters understood that despite everyones legitimate frustration with transportation in our city, increasing the number of cars in the city isnt the answer. -Nick Josefowitz was elected to the BART Board, ousting a long-time incumbent. Nick is a strong advocate for public transportation, including late night transportation. He will be a breath of fresh air for a transit agency thats critical to our city. We have a lot of work to do to get our transportation system on track. This election isnt the end, given the magnitude of the challenge ($6.3 billion in unfunded capital needs over the next 15 years). Over the coming decade, the voters will see other measures to improve transit. Tuesdays results give me optimism that, over time, we can get this done.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 16:15:02 +0000
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