"The policy of Rescue Muni is no increase in fares
at this time."
The vote was 3 in favor, 4 against.
Rescue Muni co-founder George Musser was recently quoted in the
press saying that he would lie down on the tracks if Muni tried
to push through a fare increase at this time. Unfortunately,
George wasn't at the January 12 Steering Committee meeting.
One would think that opposing unnecessary and unwarranted fare
increases would be a no-brainer for an organization whose
justification for existence is the of support public transportation.
But not so. Apparently keeping public transportation affordable
for the thousands of San Franciscans who have no choice but to
depend on Muni isn't an issue for certain members of the Steering
Committee.
(At this same meeting, the Steering Committee REJECTED, by a vote
of 0 to 4, any support for making the downtown crowd pay its fare
share for Muni through the establishment of a downtown transit
assessment district.)
Clean out the riders pockets, and let downtown off scot-free...
Is this really what Rescue Muni has become?
Actually, both of these policy decisions by the Steering Committee
are completely contrary to the positions advocated by the
Governance Committee, which spent the last two months discussing
and debating Muni funding issues. More importantly, it is highly
doubtful that many rank-and-file Rescue Muni members and
supporters would find fare increases acceptable at this time.
I think that the discussion of fare increases and Muni funding
should be broadened to include the general membership of
Rescue Muni, which is (or at least should be) the real
policy-making body of Rescue Muni. To this end, I have
suggested to the Steering Committee that some time be set aside
at the next general membership meeting for a discussion about
fare increases and Muni funding.
I also propose that the next general membership meeting adopt the
following resolution:
"It is the policy of Rescue Muni to oppose any fare increases
at this time."
The next general membership meeting, originally scheduled for the
last week in January, is currently scheduled for some time in
February.
-Marc Norton