> Clean out the riders pockets, and let downtown off scot-free...
> Is this really what Rescue Muni has become?
Both of these statements are simplistic, at best. As I've argued
before, MUNI is rediculously cheap compared to other transit agencies,
and we MUNI riders are certainly getting about what we pay for. There
is no reason to keep MUNI cheap across the board. It makes far more
sense to target low fares to the poor, than to subsidise the suit and
computer crowd at the cost of bad service for everyone.
Yes, downtown gets more than their share of service. What you are
ignoring is that most of us work downtown, and have to get there. There
will always be more ridership to downtown than to other parts of the
City, and MUNI must cater to that.
In addition, downtown is a huge net contributor of cash to the City's
budget, since we tax employment (which is another idea "so dumb it could
only happen in San Francisco"). We already tax businesses far more than
the competing suburbs, increasing those taxes will only encourage more
companies to leave, or to send their back-office jobs to Sacramento and
Pleasanton, which will decrease the City's net income. Since the vast
majority of MUNI's budget comes from the general fund, this would likely
lead to a net decrease in MUNI's budget.
I am not saying that Mr. Norton is absolutely wrong, but at the very
least, these are not the "no brainer" decisions that Mr. Norton
suggests. Rescue MUNI should think long and hard about our policies in
these areas.
-- Donald
_________________________
Donald F. Robertson
San Francisco
donaldrf@hooked.net
76217.2066@CompuServe.com
Donald's Space Exploration page:
http://www.hooked.net/~donaldrf/index.html
The known is finite, the unknown is infinite; intellectually
we stand on an islet in the midst of an illimitable ocean of
inexplicability. Our business in every generation is to
reclaim a little more land. -- Thomas Huxley.