In his newest blog post, Dylan Fabris, SFTR's Community and Policy Manager, reflects on the most recent election. This includes federal and local recaps, as well as plans to continue growing our transit advocacy community, building on the work from the YES on L: Community Transit Act Campaign.
Read excepts below:
By now, we’ve all seen the outcome of the election last month. Donald Trump is once again our president-elect, Muni funding failed at the ballot, and Daniel Lurie will San Francisco's new mayor. What does this all mean for public transit in San Francisco as Muni and BART face major budget deficits in the next few years?
Federal
History shows that we can expect the Trump White House to be actively hostile to public transit. In his previous term, Donald Trump proposed multiple cuts to public transportation in the federal budget, including cuts to city transit projects and Amtrak, and he shifted federal grants to highly prioritize road projects over public transit projects.
The incoming Trump administration highlights the need for transit organizers here in San Francisco to come together to prepare for potential cuts and rally around new sources of local and state funding for transit.
Local
Proposition L, the grassroots measure to fund Muni by taxing ride-hail corporations like Uber and Waymo — won majority support with 56.9% of the vote, but failed to gain more “yes” votes than Proposition M, a tax-reform measure that contained a “conflict clause” which cancelled out Prop L. Because of Proposition M, the 210,375 votes in favor of Muni funding were overruled.
Naturally, the outcome of the campaign was rough for us and the hundreds of volunteers who poured their hearts, time, and money into this campaign. Harder still will be the service cuts we expect to face as soon as next year if additional funding isn’t identified — the first cuts have already been announced. (Future SFTR blog posts will cover the Muni “doomsday” service cuts scenario that the agency recently unveiled at the city’s Muni Funding Working Group, which shows what Muni service will look like if the full fiscal cliff is left unaddressed.)
San Francisco Transit Riders is looking forward to working with the Lurie administration to help the Mayor understand the needs of transit riders and the importance of a full and thriving Muni system in achieving his vision for San Francisco.
Continue reading at the link below.
