Streetsblog Los Angeles

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has snagged some high-profile
support for his nascent California gubernatorial bid, but he may have
some trouble with the transit-riding, congestion-weary constituency. My
colleagues Matthew Roth and Bryan Goebel have the story over at Streetsblog San Fran:

Mayor Gavin Newsom has been quietly pressuring MTA Chief Nat Ford to
delay or prevent proposals to extend parking meter hours on weeknights
and Sundays, despite a looming mid-year MTA budget deficit and studies
that show it’s good policy, Streetsblog has learned. …

"The Mayor thinks it’s the wrong time to make these moves," said Nathan
Ballard, Newsom’s communications director. "Right now, with the economy
where it is, the burden on ordinary people for city services is already
stretched to the max, and so he hasn’t seen anything that convinces him
otherwise. He’s open to arguments, but he’s still where he was."

The
"we can’t change policy in a bad economy" argument is familiar to
Capitol Hill transportation watchers, who saw the Obama administration
use the recession to rule out a gas tax hike or per-mile vehicle fee earlier this year.

But
in Newsom’s case, as Matt and Bryan point out, San Francisco is lagging
behind its fellow major cities when it comes to charging for parking.
In Los Angeles, where voters will soon be looking at Newsom’s
credentials, meters remain on until 2 a.m. New York City keeps meters
on until midnight, and Washington D.C.’s stay on until 10 p.m.

And
with the city transit authority facing possible fare hikes or service
cuts in the wake of a budget deficit, it’s tough to see how not
extending parking meter hours doesn’t hit non-car-owning voters where
it hurts.

(editor's note: Upon his announcement of his campaign for Governor, Streetsblog SF took a look at the transportation record and plan for Gavin Newsom.  Rest assured that if any L.A. based pols decide to make a similar run, then they'll get a similar look from L.A. Streetsblog)

So Gav made it official yesterday that he's running for Guv by tweeting it to his more than 283,000 followers, announcing it on Facebook, and even running a strange pseudo-article with a lot of donate hyperlinks in the Huffington Post, all of which made a splash among bloggers and traditional media icons.  All the hullabaloo aside, I need convincing on Gav's record on the issues important to this blog.

For his transportation platform, he leads with the right foot, making a strong link between transit improvements and climate change, job growth, and energy independence.

We must leave the era of the car behind and refocus our investment and energy on building smart, environmentally sustainable transit options

Creating robust mass transportation systems will connect our local and regional economies, create jobs, give Californians better affordable transit options and ease traffic congestion.

Amen, brother.  I couldn't have said it better and I hope all environmental and transportation advocates will hammer on those points this election cycle, namely that any candidate who claims green cred must embrace transit and that public transportation equals jobs. No governor serious about addressing climate change can stand by idly (or sit by in a hydrogen Hummer) as all state funding for transit is zeroed out and environmental review for highway projects is thwarted.  Any candidate for governor that wants my vote will immediately reverse the trend away from funding transit operations and widening highways.

So I'm sure the very first platform point will be a solution for restoring desperately needed transit operating money?  Hmm, not so much.  He leads with "innovative technology," claiming that he's modernized Muni with NextMuni and Translink. While it's important to give riders information and make their transfers more fluid, we learned in the kerfuffle over 311 work orders to MTA that more than 60 percent of total call volume to service were questions about bus and train schedules, which NextMuni provides for much less money.

Gav acted on this matter and came up with a cost-cutting solution, but only after Supervisor Bevan Dufty made it a priority.  In fact, if it weren't for Dufty, the matter of various agencies milking MTA for more than $83 million in work orders by 2010 would have slid by the wayside.  Gav didn't seem to have a problem with SFPD and 311 draining the monetary gains that Prop A afforded the MTA until the press picked up on it. 

Putting out fires is not my idea of visionary leadership. 

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