The MUNI Disaster: Inequity, How We Got Here, and How to Get Out

by Beyond Chron (reposted)

Thu, Feb 10, 2005 9:39AM

Michael Burns began a full-court press yesterday to get his proposed MUNI budget passed, meeting with several members of the Board of Supervisors to request their support. MUNI representative Stuart Sunshine told the Chronicle they’re “looking at a balanced way to share the solution” to their current budget crisis. Yet Burns’ proposal balances the budget squarely on the backs of the working class, raising the yearly cost of a Fast Pass $109 and only upping the yearly cost of a residential parking permit by $23. It’s time to examine how MUNI reached this current crisis, why they proposed a budget full of inequity, and how we can fix the situation.

First off, how we got here. It’s time to recognize that the Municipal Transportation Authority (MTA) Board of Commissioners, which oversees MUNI, has been asleep at the wheel for years. According the Section 8A.109 of the City Charter, the MTA “diligently shall seek to develop new sources of funding for the Agency’s operations…” Unfortunately, the MTA has done anything but.

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