For all the things Mr. Parks might do right on "his" line, he still is
part of the problem with this attitude of selective duty to his job.
While we might think many drivers are not part of "the problem", Mr.
Parks comments prove that even those so called good drivers still
contribute to the problems we are facing. How many drivers that we think
are the "good Muni drivers" would refuse to be reassigned to another
line if it were needed? Since my concerns are ONLY for the customers of
Muni, I must say that Mr. Parks comments only reinforces my belief that
the drivers and their contract are one of the major problems Muni has
and this must be corrected. Their contract must change to serve the
needs of the City and its citizens. Those drivers that exhibit selective
good service must be eliminated along with the bad drivers. Attitudes
like Mr. Parks don't help the City.
Miss outs and the option to miss out along with the option to refuse
operating a line must go. We cannot tolerate this kind of service. I
agree that Muni management is also a problem and they must be replaced
but here you have a response from a driver supposedly interested in
fixing Muni stating that he would refuse to operate the 14-Mission on a
Friday night. I must ask, is this a driver interested in fixing Muni or
simply interested in the comfort of his own job?
In response to this attitude, RescueMuni must also provide extreme
pressure to SFPD to provide the protection to riders and drivers of Muni
as a priority. While statistics might say that crime on Muni is down, we
should not be satisfied with SFPD's performance in that arena. We must
ask for more from SFPD and we must demand that they recognize that the
majority of SF's citizens are on Muni at some time throughout the day. A
problem on a Muni vehicle has the potential to endanger scores of people
at one time. Problem lines should have round the clock police presence.
However this does not excuse the attitudes exhibited by Mr. Parks in
refusing to service selected parts of the City. Muni's job is to serve
the people not to refuse to serve the people.
Drivers with attitudes like those exhibited by Mr. Parks as much a part
of the problem as the "bad drivers". RescueMuni must be careful to not
condone these comments. RescueMuni must work to eliminate the causes of
these attitudes (Muni, Police, etc) while working to eliminate union
rules that encourage this attitude.
Bryan Ceja