Light-rail in SF and the sad state of affairs - first Third Street and now Central Sub-way

The San Francisco - Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA) is a joke.

More so under Nathaniel Ford who has been hood winking decent San Franciscans and providing this City and County of San Francisco with third class transportation.

Pandering to Clear Channel and thinking that some of us are NOT cognizant of the "thugs" that will do anything to make a fast buck.

Our MUNI buses are dirty and hundreds of complaints are tossed into the waste bin and no action taken.

The dirtiest buses are found on the 14 Mission Line. The 9 San Bruno and other lines too stink as MUNI fails to keep our buses - clean. This is health and safety issue.

Public transportation south of San Francisco is good and the buses kept clean. Why not San Francisco?

This City and County of San Francisco spent $700 million to build the Third Street Light Rail. It starts at 4th and King and ends in the middle of no where at Visitation Valley. Not much has been written about this line - that is doing badly and has huge delays.

The Third Street Light Rail cars are dirty and the windows have graffiti all over the place.

The brand new Light rail cars are filthy and the complaints sent to MUNI are not taken seriously.

The system has soft ware problems and the operators are not happy with the scheduling and the training given. The operators are going through hell and no one in their right mind - at MUNI is paying attention.

To date no thorough analysis has been done of the Third Street Light rail.

Every one wants to cover the faults and practically every day - there are delays and no amount of reporting does the Third Street Light Rail - any good while the authorities laugh all the way to the bank.

Once there was the MUNI 15 that took you from City College all the way to Pier 39 at Fisherman Wharf. One bus took you to so many places - now, one has to jump from Light Rail to bus to another bus - and it still does not take you to the place on time.

Of course ONLY the idiot planners would know what they are doing. And now some newer - Power Point idiots are spreading the "hoodwinking" - creating job security for themselves and screwing the public - royally.

There is talk about the Central sub-way that is supposed to help the constituents living in China Town and the many tourists that visit our great City.

Well, the blue print linked to the Central sub-way is clouded in hurdles and the there is no money - available to start this very expensive project.

The MTA is all set to waste millions of dollars mostly on consultants - these consultants will take the money and leave the stench for those that have no common sense.

Do we really need the central sub-way - some say yes - but those in the know - given the unique financial circumstances say - NO.

At the recent MTA meeting in Room 400 at City Hall - you had City Building, Local Union 22, other idiots come and make vague statements - about jobs.

The Unions and City Build has failed thousands of San Franciscans to provide jobs. Folks come in all the way from Tracy, Stockton, and get all the good jobs. Developers build and most of the time they employ those they deem likable.

Our SF Human Rights Commission and the so called Compliance Officers are impotent.

City Build - in all the time it has been in operation has wasted over $8 million dollars.

Leading this mess one Rhonda Simmons. This inept woman has nothing to show. The little training done - imparting basic skills - permit the youth and those that complete the training - compete for low paying jobs and down the totem pole.

Local 22 is a mess. Sal who once did a good job has been replaced by Manny - Manny loves his drink and often is found taking a snooze at City Hall.

Then you have the sell out Union Representatives - one said sixty percent of his Union Members are unemployed - and this jerk is looking forward to the Central sub-way - that has no money in the kitty. Lots of hot air, diatribe, and more of the same - nonsense at the MTA.

The MTA should come out with an in depth audit linked to all the equipment MTA has on its inventory. We, the constituents that live in San Francisco want to know - how well is the funding - linked to our operations? Is all the money - spent on operations - or is money taken from the Operations and spread elsewhere?

How many millions have we spent on accidents and Safety issues? How much of our MUNI infrastructure is sound and how many millions do we have for a huge - emergency?

Not much precise and in depth thought has gone into the central sub-way Light Rail planning.

Those that had rosy stuff to say about the Central sub-way - were bused in and prompted to say - the right things - not having read the documents and having little if no concrete knowledge - on matters linked with Transportation.

Less with an Environmental Impact Report and a Transportation Document that our SF Planning does not have.

Bottom line this present Economic Crisis will hit MTA squarely in the jaw.

With little help from Sacramento and even less from Washington DC - the present MTA authorities better is very careful about hoodwinking San Franciscans - with this Central sub-way crap.

Right now the MTA is in deep hole.

Upper Management are hoodwinking us - spending money on charades like the Culture Tour.

Some Upper Management making over $200,000 yearly - the Director himself making over $350,000.

Others who have jumped from other agencies - creating 5 year plans so that they have job insurance. Wanting to cut lines such as the MUNI 56 line - and suggesting other lines - without any sound empirical data. Time will tell.

The Third Street Light Rail is a joke - and now we really do not want another stupid Light Rail Street Project - to follow in these time - when there is no money around. The Third Street Light Rail is glaring at us - and no one is paying attention.


Francisco Da Costa
Director
Environmental Justice Advocacy