from Urban Habitat: Serve our communities, don't target them! Low-income riders of color to testify en masse at MTA budget meeting

by Bob Allen and Will Dominie

Determined to preserve the bus service they depend on, residents from the City's low-income communities of color plan to turn out en masse for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA)'s April 20 budget meeting. The SFMTA Board will meet to approve the MTA Budget for the next fiscal year Tuesday, April 20 at 2 p.m. in Room 400 of San Francisco City Hall. Residents will demand that SFMTA prioritize bus service, not police work orders, as it decides how to allocate scarce resources.
 
The SFMTA responded to this year's deficit of $16.9 million dollars with a 10 percent cut in service. These cuts increase wait times for riders by 1-2 minutes on lines with high ridership, and decreases the number of buses. Because these buses usually run late, the added delays and service cuts could increase wait times by as much as 20 minutes. These delays and cuts will fall hardest on low-income communities of color who depend on MUNI to get to work and school, to go to the doctor and go shopping-to carry on their lives.
 
"Longer wait times for buses means that it's going to be harder for me to go to and from school, and it's going to be even more crowded on the bus during the times when students ride MUNI," said Annie Liu, a Galileo High School student and member of the Chinese Progressive Association.
 
Riders from the Mission, Chinatown, and Southeast San Francisco will call on the MTA Board to take service cuts off the table, and balance the budget by cutting SFPD work orders and instituting progressive revenue measures. They also want to see an end to police involvement in the Proof of Payment program, which has lead to the harassment and intimidation of immigrants, people of color, and youth on the bus.
 
San Francisco resident Araceli Fernandez found a Fastpass and tried to use it to ride a MUNI bus. SFPD and MUNI officials gave her a ticket, saying the pass was no good, and removed her and her two-year-old daughter from the bus. Ms. Fernandez refused to sign the ticket until she could talk to her husband. The police then gave her a second ticket for refusing to sign the first one. "When they gave me the second ticket, the SFPD officer said they did it 'so that I would learn a lesson'," Ms. Fernandez said.
 
For more information, contact:
Tan Chow (CCDC), English and Cantonese, 415-939-3780 (cell)
Beatriz Herrera (POWER), English and Spanish, 646-400-3537 (cell)
Emily Lee (CPA), English and Mandarin, 626-321-8238 (cell)