Supervisor Jake McGoldrick: The Year in Review, Geary BRT

The end of the year is a time for reflection and review. and 2005 has been a very busy year. With the ongoing commitment of our volunteers and staff, my office has consistently focused on constituent issues.

My office partnered with Assemblyman Leland Yee and Kaiser Permanente to bring the District its second health fair. We will continue to address the community's need to access health care services.

At the same time, 2005 has been a year of seeking and working towards long term solutions. More specifically, we are actively working on the City's public transportation crisis, in addressing budget shortfalls, and in advocating for responsible land use and healthy economic development.

Earlier in the year, I asked our Budget Analyst to conduct a line-item review of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and Muni budgets. This resulted in a finding of $9.2 million to support Muni. Muni should be an attractive option for people who want to go shopping, run errands and not just for commuting to and from work.

Rather than balancing the budget shortfall by raising fares, I continue to work on congestion management policy and programs. I created and passed legislation that implements hundreds of new parking meters and raises rates for over a thousand parking meters in the downtown core area. Pricing parking at an appropriate level is crucial when attempting to manage congestion. The hope is that people will be induced to take alternate modes of transportation other than cars.

The money generated from the new parking meters and the new rates will bring an additional estimated $2 million per year that goes directly to Muni. When Muni raised single ride fares by twenty-five cents, I fought successfully to maintain the Fast Pass rates including the $10 per month rate for seniors, disabled and youth.

I also passed a resolution to expand the MTA/Muni's "Class Pass" program to local colleges and universities. It is my hope that these discounted fares will stimulate these schools to follow the example that USF has already implemented. Captured revenue through the Fast Pass and Class Pass programs allow for a predictable revenue stream that can help Muni budget accordingly.

Responsible land use happens when the public is engaged in determining the needs and the impacts of new development in their respective areas. To this extent, I have passed legislation that expands project notification requirements to neighborhood stakeholders in the event of neighborhood demolitions, alterations and new construction.

I also held a citywide public meeting and passed out of committee my "Better Neighborhoods Plus" legislation which seeks to make City Planning more predictable by codifying a planning process that allows the public to weigh in and determine outcomes including public improvements and funding. This process will speed up project approvals, thus reducing the cost of development.

I also passed legislation, "Clean Energy Tax Exclusion" that will bring clean energy manufacturers as well as research and development companies to the City. I believe that this industry will promote healthy economic development through increased blue collar and white-collar jobs that are non-polluting and safe. These are just some legislative highlights for 2005. We will continue to work on these issues during the rest of my term.

Geary BRT
Every day, more than 50,000 people take transit along the Geary corridor. Only about one third of these trips are work trips. Most people use transit to go shopping, get to and from school or to go downtown. Transit is an integral part of their lives, but service on this corridor suffers from the same problems as other Muni routes: unreliable schedules, bunched buses, overcrowding and slow service.

In fact the average speed on the Muni #38 Geary is a frustrating 8 miles per hour. Communities along this corridor deserve better, but the City cannot afford a BART-style subway, which would cost billions and take decades to build. We can fix these problems more quickly and affordably with Bus Rapid Transit (BRT).

The BRT is about operating buses faster and more reliably, like rail, using dedicated lanes and traffic signal priority. It can be built at a fraction of the cost of rail. We can afford BRT. In fact, we can build it on Geary in just a few years for $150 to $200 million. BRT on Geary would have the look and feel of a Muni metro rail line, and connect to other rapid transit corridors like Van Ness Avenue and Market Street transit. Naturally, both residents and businesses are concerned about construction impacts and parking loss.

The Transportation Authority, which I chair, is working on a study to design a BRT that delivers the improvements and minimizes these impacts. We also set up a 20-member Citizens Advisory Committee for the study, with nine members from the Richmond District, to ensure plenty of public input, but you should also participate in the public workshops coming up in early December. The one in the Richmond is on Dec. 10. See the Web site at www.sfcta.org for more information.

Jake McGoldrick is a San Francisco supervisor representing District 1.