Fix Muni First | Meter Madness

By Stuart Cohen, Leah Shahum, Rob Boden, and Elizabeth Stampe : SFBG – excerpt

We are finally facing up to the reality that our declining transportation system hurts us all. OPINION Every day, San Franciscans pay the price of an underfunded transportation system. We have all experienced painfully overcrowded bus rides … or, worse yet, the bus that never shows up. Now, Muni is reducing service during Christmas week, as it is faced with a $7 million deficit this fiscal year...
We should be investing more and expecting more from our transit system. Our organizations are proud to be doing just that. It’s time to help San Francisco finally live up to its transit-first policy — because that means putting people first.
Stuart Cohen works with TransForm, Leah Shahum with the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, Rob Boden with the San Francisco Transit Riders Union, and Elizabeth Stampe with Walk San Francisco... (more)

Putting transit first starts with a moratorium on all non-Muni related activities, until the Muni system functions for those who need it.

By: Will Reisman : sfexaminer.com – excerpt

On a day when lawmakers celebrated a $942 million grant approval for the Central Subway, opponents of the project announced plans Thursday to put a ballot initiative before voters that would give the electorate a chance to nix the massive undertaking.
The Fix Muni First Initiative would stop the $1.6 billion Central Subway project dead in its tracks if approved by more than 50 percent of The City’s voters in the November 2013 ballot, according to Quentin Kopp, a backer of the measure.
Kopp, a former Superior Court judge and San Francisco supervisor, said the measure would be an ordinance initiative, meaning its authorizations would overrule all the numerous approvals that the Central Subway project has secured at the local, state and federal levels… (more)

This is a very unpopular project among the residents of Chinatown and North Beach who are most effected by it. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the city feels.

Lawsuit filed – Muni’s Central Subway Project is still not a Done Deal
…Tomorrow’s execution of the federal grant agreement for the Central Subway will formalize the refusal of San Francisco’s politicians to seriously consider the obvious major flaws in the project. For this reason SaveMuni.com is seeking redress before the SF Superior Court to force these politicians to let the people of San Francisco decide whether or not they want to proceed with the Central Subway project as currently configured.”… (more)