SFCTA CITIZENS ADVISORY COMMITTEE RUBBER STAMPS

When my good friend Andrew Bozeman served on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission sub-committee I would accompany him and as part of the equation attend many of San Francisco County Transportation (SFCTA) Citizens Advisory Committee meetings at 100 Van Ness up on that 25th Floor. The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) linked to the SFCTA often rubber stamps very important issues involving millions of dollars. Often times they have NO clue what they are voting about or on. Then at the Plans and Operations and other such meeting in Room 263 at City Hall the Chair of the CAC will go and rubber stamp most of the agenda items discussed at the CAC meeting. The meeting held on September 28, 2005 was one such meeting. It has now become fashionable for the CAC to allocate Proposition K funds with conditions. In this case to the Transbay Joint Powers Authority for some preliminary engineering linked to the proposed Transbay Project Site. I know some one will take this matter to a higher level and the SFCTA will cow down if some agency will take them to court. Some weeks ago two three candidates who serve the dismal CAC came before the SF Board of Supervisors as their terms had expired. The Supervisor that loves to chase his tail and runs his mouth ad infinitum was the first to encourage 3 women candidates all of them inept, dysfunctional, illogical in their way of thinking, ignorant on transportation and infrastructure issues and extended their term on the CAC. This is disgusting and I would understand if a number of noted experts recommended them but for the man who chases his tail to lead the suggestion and then coerce his fellow Supervisors to go with the flow; very disgusting. The CAC has no clue as to what is really going on with transportation. Again and again they have not visited the major projects and tried to study the major mishaps and waste of money. A case in point the bridges that are worked on as part of MUNI 3rd Street Lightrail that was to be completed years ago. Every day we have a delay cost the tax payers thousands of dollars. In fact the contractor has to be fined and I am asking the City Controller to look into this matter on an urgent basis. I would like to hear what the ignorant, inept, and very arrogant Sophina Maxwell has to say on this issue? She represents the MUNI 3rd Lightrail Street interests and has done nothing meaningful. The MUNI 3rd Street Lightrail has cost the tax payers over $620 million and is really going no where. There has been a stall at two major sites and the work is crawling; first, at 3rd Street and Marin where the intermodal bridge work is taking forever the second at 4th and King where Mitchell Engineering is trying to figure out how to build the bridge. If we do not have the two bridges in place and sturdy enough to endure the many crossings of the MUNI 3rd Street Lightrail the whole project will be a totally mess. In fact the project has been stalled and the CAC thinks nothing much of it. On any other project in any decent City some one would go to jail. Mayor Gavin Newsom has no clue about this issue. Jake McGoldrick the eccentric Supervisor who thinks he can figure out almost everything has never, ever given his opinion as Chair of the SFCTA Commissioners as to why NO meaningful progress has been done on these two vital bridges? Not once has Chair Jake McGoldrick asked what happened to the CAC linked to the MUNI Lighrail? Right now a CAC will be elected if not already in place to discuss and help the Geary Corridor improvement linked to Lightrail. So what ever happened to the CAC linked to MUNI 3rd Street Lightrail? The SFCTA has again and again wasted millions of dollars in a manner that has defied logic. In recent years its own auditing was defective. Grants are given to folks to study dubious projects. Grants were given to Fran Martin while she served on the SFCTA Citizens Advisory Committee; this is a conflict of interest. Grants are given to MTA which has not delivered in the past. Recent hires at the SFCTA are given thousands of dollars to carry out projects many of which are not well thought out. At one time I would attend the meetings and point out the areas that need improvement. That was until the Supervisor that chases his tail and mostly is concerned about dogs chose to read a paragraph from my web site which by the way was not on the Agenda of the day. Perverts have ruined our City because we have allowed these transplants to use license as opposed to freedom. Many of them have chosen to become political figures because they want their 2 minutes of fame. Today most political figures are looked down upon; many compared to commode scum. One of them is the man that chases his tail. BD is a Bad Dog. Maria Lombardi and Jose Moscovich have been in the cockpit for years at SFCTA trying their best. I really pity their role to maneuver through a cascade of political hum drum to make some progress. But then again we need a vision and leadership that can out maneuver the dumb politicians and serve the best interests of the constituents of San Francisco. The Citizens Advisory Committee does not represent the constituents of San Francisco really because they are NOT qualified to represent nor advise on many challenging transportation, infrastructure, and general quality of life issues. Most of them rubber stamp the agenda discussed and then a puppet goes before the committees like the Plans and Operations Committee and says that everything was great at the CAC and rubber stamps the agenda items again. This is to say the least disgusting. The Metropolitan Commission defers all Land Use issues to the local bodies. The San Francisco County Transportation Authority takes a lead on Land Use issues. It has to work with the SF Planning Department and other agencies such as Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and the Department of Public Works (DPW). Today we have grants contemplated to be given to the MTA that has never produced. When will we learn? At the last meeting the Senior Action Network came out in force and made a point. It gave me some impetus to explain to the buffoons that the SFCTA Citizens Advisor Committee should do their home work and not rubber stamp every agenda item. In this case it was the Pedestrian Master Plan with input from the Senior Citizens Network that has worked hard; given concrete and critical input but their input was not taken into consideration. It happens all the time with MTA. This rubber stamping must stop. The SFCTA should have quality candidates that understand seismic issues and infrastructure, transportation analysis when it comes to critical transportation data, quality of life issues and pollution, City Planning and Urban Changes, Fiscal Accountability and Transparency, City Planning and Processes and so on. Today we have a group of buffoons trying to figure what are a Lamborghini, a Sandwich and Switch; mostly confused but more ignorant and inept and they purport to represent the constituents of San Francisco.

CAC all confused.


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