The N-Judah Chronicles

So I was reading the news that Muni plans on jacking up the cost of monthly Fast Passes once again. Ever since Nathaniel Ford took over the MTA, jacking up fares has been a constant. Even though this latest increase appears small, when you consider how cheap a Fast Pass was just a few years ago, and add in the fact that there have been significant, permanent cuts to service, and the fact that reliability is a joke, and you realize that the San Francisco Mantra of "Pay More, Get Less" (at least for us citizens, not billionaires) is alive and well.

I think it's time Muni's Owner/Riders drew the line, and said "Hell NO" to this latest increase. As in the past, if Muni simply did a better job of fare collection, and collected what it was owed, this fare increase, like the last one, would not have been necessary. And no, I don't suggest that we do this via more fare inspectors per se, instead I'd like to see the MTA board and its very well paid CEO get locked into a room and not let out until they come up with a complete overhaul of how Muni is funded, permanently, and get us out of this death spiral of cuts and fare increases.

We pay a lot of people very well, and we no longer have Prince Newsom standing in the way. Since apparently this concept is difficult for the massive MTA to understand I'll break it down for them:

1. You paid millions for the Transit Effecitiveness Project, which tells you what system you need to run properly. Use it. Figure out how much it would cost to pay for it, no cuts ,no buts, no nonsense. There. Now you have your budget. (Don't forget to include maintenance - broken buses and trains serve no one.)

2. Now find a way to pay for it. First, squeeze every penny of efficiency you can, and PROVE IT to the public. No more "pay me not to work days" for operators. No more "pay me not to work days" for the CEO. No more waste. And document, document, document.

3. Relying on parking tickets and fare evasion fines is a stupid way to make up for hundreds of millions of dollars the state illegally looted over the past several years (a co-production of our ex governor and his Democrat allies, LOL). After you've done 1 and 2, and proven to a public weary of bullsh!t from City Hall that you are not going to spend money on silly stuff, find a permanent, stable LOCAL way for us to pay for it. If that takes lobbying, some hard work and late nights, and mobilizing resources to get things done, THEN DO IT. I'll leave it to the well paid folks to determine this one, but it has to happen. And you're going to have get the approval of 2/3rds of SF. Yes, that's difficult, but it has to happen.

4. This will never happen, but the bazillion dollar Subway to Nowhere needs to go. I know the money can't be used for anything else, but what is the point of building this drag on the system, when the money could be spent better, elsewhere? Again, killing it won't happen, but don't be surprised if a Republican Congress decides to do to it what others did the Alaska's Bridge to Nowhere. After all, they just killed all that money to keep the Presidio self sufficient as a "FU" to former Speaker Pelosi.

These just the thoughts that come to mind after writing about this nonsense for almost six years - and most of it should sound familiar, as much of it has appeared here or in the SF Weekly before. The point is this - at this point, we need something simple people can rally around to call attention to this current problem, and the projected future problems in an election year. So I suggest to those that consider themselves "pro-Muni" and "pro-Transit" to get behind a "no fare increase/no cuts" campaign NOW, and force some honesty in the discussions about Muni, past and present.

If people in other countries can brave getting shot at to bring freedom to their countries, surely comfortable San Francsicans can let the MTA, Mayor Lee, and the Board of Supervisors know that the leadershp vacuum on the MTA Board and in the CEO's office is no longer acceptable, and it's time to be proactive to make this city have a transit system that would make as many people as possible WANT to use it, instead of driving a car all the time.

PS: Some have noted some new ads on the site. As always, said ads help pay for the costs of running the blogs. Anyone is free to advertise (well not jerks, but you know what I mean), and the rates are reasonable, either by contacting me directly, or via various ad networks.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Now, there's been a lot of howling and screaming about how "driver pay" is allegedly the reason both agencies have financial problems, but not once do you hear a newspaper editorial or most people criticize these huge salaries for the bosses, which also include these provisions that get them paid even if they are fired. Wouldn't you like to have a job where you could literally show up to work, completely screw up, and the moment you're fired, you STILL get to keep on getting paid and get your benefits for a year or more? I know I sure would.

The same people who think we should pay the rank-and-file minimum wage always seem to back this concept of big pay for public sector bosses, saying we need to "get the best people." Really? Would anyone argue we got our money's worth from Ford, who spent most of his time tearing down the Muni system and looking for another job? Would anyone say BART is a model of efficiency?

I think people deserve to be paid well and fair in the public sector, especially since they don't have the opportunity for things like profit sharing and stock options like those in the public sector. However, at some point one has to ask where is the "service" when you have a class of folks who make a career of jumping from agency to agency in search of a platinum parachute or another set of perks? At what point do we start paying 500,000, or even a million dollars a year for some CEO of the MTA or BART, because it's what conventional wisdom says such people cost?

To me, and most sensible folks, unless we're hiring Harry Potter, Darth Vader, Admiral Adama, or Yoda to come in and use their skillz and magicks to save Muni, this spiral upward of executive costs is just a race to nowhere. If we're going to ask drivers and other workers at agencies for "sacrifice," some has to come from the top too. It's only fair.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 12:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

-First, the picture featured in this post is from the new photoblog, "All City." which promises to be a wonderful site for urban photography. Here they caught an unusual shot of the N going through Powell Station!

-Next, I wanted to do an urgent shout-out to the folks at McKinley School who are putting on DogFest 2011 in Duboce Park. This annual event for dogs, their guardians, and anyone who likes dogs, parks, good schools, or just plain fun helps support the ongoing arts and science programs at the school. I try to go as often as I can, as I no longer have a dog of my own, but dogs are cool.

-Remember the last time the City Operations and Neighborhoods Committee (led at the time by Sup. Carmen Chu) grilled Muni about the constant "switchbacks" of the N and L and M? Remember how both Supervisors Chu and Avalos were having none of Muni's BS, and held Muni brass's feet to the fire?

Well if you missed out on your chance to say something, stop by City Hall on Monday, March 28th, starting at 10am (!) and say something. Although the focus is on the J and 14 Mission lines, let's remind some of the new members of the committee why this is a systemwide problem, and that Muni can't keep offering excuses. The committee is now chaired by Sup. John Avalos, and now has Supervisors Mar and Elsbernd on board, as Sup. Chu now chairs the Budget committee.

Today is likely to be a rainy day of sorts, and it's Critical Mass day, so plan accordingly. Perhaps I'll see some of you at the Other Cafe Comedy Night at the JCC! Have a great weekend!

Posted by Greg Dewar at 1:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Overall the experience was pretty good. I'll talk more about specifics of the trip in another post - here I'll just throw out a few thoughts if you're considering such a journey yourself.

First, if you've ever ridden a train in Europe or Japan, the TGV in France, seen "The Orient Express," or "Strangers on a Train," take those beloved memories, put them in a safe place, and temporarily forget about them. You simply cannot compare Amtrak to any of those systems. That doesn't mean Amtrak sucks - it's just not the same. So put that aside and be open-minded.

Next, remember that to compare costs, you can't compare with an airline ticket price. An airplane can fly over any and all traffic, flies about 500 miles an hour or so, and so on. If you compare taking the train to driving a car, then you have a more apt comparison. When I drove across the country both times, I was driving alone, so I would have to stop at some point and find a Motel 6 or something and get some sleep. Add to that the cost of food along the way, and of course gasoline, oil, etc. and you start to realize driving such a long distance isn't that cheap.

Sure you could do all sorts of things to tweak the price, but here's something to consider - in a car, if you doze off or look at scenery, you can get killed. On the train, you can walk around the train, have a beer and look at scenery in the observation car, play cards, watch a movie, whatever you want to do. Also, if you do as I did and get the sleeper car, all of your meals are paid for.

Which leads me to another point: food on Amtrak isn't that bad at all. I was put off by the negative nabobs who would make jokes about the food (despite never having ridden Amtrak ever), and of course, they were wrong. Is it artisan haute cuisine with foraged shiitake mushrooms hand crafted hourly by artisans? No. But it was certainly better than what I'd end up getting in the middle of Nowhere (usually fast food), and because I was by myself, they seat you community-style, so I got to meet many of my fellow passengers. And, as a sleeper car passenger, they had a little room with free ice, free bottled water, and free juices and mixers. Not bad. The ice was useful when I wanted to chill down a couple of Old Style beers I'd picked up in Chicago.

Sleeping on the train is a challenge. If you opt out of a sleeper car (as I did for my overnight from DC to Chicago), it can be difficult. A veteran train rider who sat next to me explained all sorts of tips, but the biggest one was to bring your own light blanket, and your own small travel pillow. The seats do recline, and I saw many people doing fine, I slept maybe 3 hours. Fortunately the trip wasn't that long and I got some rest in the first class lounge in Chicago. In the sleeper cars, it's not so bad, and you have privacy too!

Other details: If you want to have a drink on the train, and get a sleeper car, bring your own on board. So long as you keep it in your cabin, they don't mind. That said, a train, which moves fast and can often be a bit bumpy when making turns, etc. is no place to be drunk or hungover. Besides, you want to be awake when all that awesome scenery, from the Rocky Mountains, to Utah, to the Sierras, can be seen - after sundown there's not a lot to see.

The best part, however, is that you get to truly see the country in a way you can't do on an airplane or in a car. You get to meet people from all walks of life, and you don't have to worry about speed traps, gas stations, etc. The staff always treat you really well, and overall, the experience is civilized, not the failwhale with wings known as air travel in many cases. (Although, my trip out to DC via Virgin America was amazing.)

The one caveat is that thanks to the geniuses in DC, et al, freight trains will always have priority on the rails, which is the cause of the great majority of delays at Amtrak. I didn't experience any myself, but this has been known to happen. (Bad weather on some lines can cause avalanches, which can delay things too).

I'll be posting some pictures on Flickr once I sort them all out ,and write about some of the specific people and things that happened on my trip later.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 12:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

If you look carefully at Crepes on Cole, you might notice an old, weathered sign for the Other Cafe, which uses to be in that location back in the 80s and early 90s. That was during San Francisco's Golden Age of comedy, where there were actual comedy clubs all around town, and an explosion of talent. I used to go to the Other Cafe, especially when my friends performed. Many of them have gone on to write or perform for Saturday Night Live, the Daily Show, and other assorted productions. It was a great time to be in the city, and the shows were great - an interactive experience you can't replicate on TV.

Then the 90s recession hit, cable TV started showing stand up comedy, and the clubs began to die off, one by one, due to increasing rents, etc. However, while the Other Cafe may be no more, Bob Ayres, the former owner, is organizing comedy shows again. Best of all he wants you, folks from the "neighborhood" (i.e. Cole Valley, Haight, Sunset) to attend - and he's willing to give you FREE tickets! What a nice guy!

There's a limited supply, so click on this link right now and RSVP, since the show is this coming Saturday, March 26th, at the JCC center on California street. Featured comedians include Don Gavin, Will Durst, and Johnny Steele. The fact that free tickets are being offered is a really cool gesture, so please, don't sign up for them unless you are actually going to attend. This should be a great show, so check it out if you can!

Posted by Greg Dewar at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Metro is Not A Diner

Posted by Greg Dewar at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

If you've been following local news at all, you know that the CEO of the MTA, Mr. Nathaniel Ford, has been a candidate to take over the Washington Airport Authority (WAA) in DC. The "will he stay or will he go" drama has been extended over and over and over as the folks in DC can't decide what to do, and ambiguity from the MTA board and Mr. Ford about his plans. Now, it seems no matter what, his future is in doubt.

Now, far be it from me to say someone shouldn't persue a career and the opportunities it presents, be they near or far. I do have to say though, that someone that is as well compensated as Mr. Ford, on the public's dime, only ask that he complete his job here, before taking off for exotic locales elsewhere. As it stands, if Mr. Ford were to be asked to leave, he's still going to get paid his huge salary and benefits for a little over a year. This, right as historic labor negotiations, mandated by 2010's Prop. G are about to start. EXCELLENT timing.

Don't you wish you had a job where you could tell your boss "I quit" or get fired and still get paid full salary and benefits on the company dime for a year or so? I sure would! People bitch about Muni operators, but come on, this has to be a bit more of a problem. I'd been warning people from Day One of Mr. Ford's contract that having a provision that keeps him paid for the duration of his contract no matter what was a mistake, and 5 years later, we're seeing it become a real possibility.

This isn't the first time Ford has been considered for another job elsewhere. To me I have to wonder how focused he is on the problems of the agency if most of his time is spent looking out the window at happier locales. What's really sad is that as I read the posts from when he started, there was a real sense of optimism that things would get better. Needless to say, that hasn't happened.

Without knowing who might replace him, I can't say that a change would do much to improve the agency. However, I think it would be nice to see this matter resolved, one way or the other, and move on. Unfortunately, after all the damage that's been done by Ford and some of the MTA Board members, I question whether this agency's leadership understands the situation it's in, and that it's time for bold action to set things right - while we still can.

As it stands, we, the owner/riders are losing daily, when things are literally falling apart, and San Francisco, the allegedly "green" city, has a transit system Third World countries wouldn't put up with.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 9:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I have hella photos from the trip that I'll be posting, and a number of stories I'll be posting soon too. For now, all I can say is that it's not Nirvana, but it doesn't suck. In many ways, it's an example of lost potential, and for many people who rely on Amtrak in places where airlines will never serve, it's a lifeline.

And now folks in DC want to kill it for ideological reasons.

People, it doesn't have to be this way. Everyone can win. We can do better. If we want to.

More later!

Posted by Greg Dewar at 8:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

N Judah commuters and fans should be aware that there is going to be construction of some sort on March 8th, from 9am-3pm.

Earlier bulletins had indicated this was going to be on March 7th, but it has been changed. It's not clear if this means we have the buses again or not, but I'll email Muni again and see what the deal is. Until then, plan ahead, and perhaps avoid the N that day if you can.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 3:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

As I mentioned a while back, I'm going to be going out of town next week! I'm headed to Washington, DC for the "Pollies," the political industry's equivalent of the Oscars (or maybe more like the Golden Globes) from March 8th-11th.

While I'm gone, I won't be able to post regularly, since I'll be working at the convention, and one the way home (via Amtrak), I will have limited access to the Internet. So, it would be helpful if perhaps a few Loyal Readers who have already done so (or have always thought about) wrote for the blog while I'm gone. It's fairly easy, it doesn't have to be some big deep post about the intricacies of Muni finance, anything, even photos, just to keep the blog lively.

I'll be keeping notes and try and Tweet as often as I can on the train, but I'll likely write a few posts and post them when I return. For now, if you're curious, please contact me at the email address to the right, and let's see who we end up with!

Posted by Greg Dewar at 3:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tomorrow, at 9am, there's a hearing at City Hall, Room 400 where public testimony will be presented on the project. As always, when they schedule these things early in the morning, that excludes anyone who can't have the flexiblity at work to attend (myself included). So, in light of that, you can send an email or sign an online petition indicating your support.

What's nice about this project is that it isn't going to cost the City any money, and if after it's installed, if it doesn't perform as hoped, it can always be moved to a new location (although another permit would be needed).

That's what is nice about this project - and why the handful of negative nabobs's false arguments don't hold up in light of the facts. So join in with the great majority of folks who support the project, and once it's done, I'm sure people will wonder why it didn't happen sooner (which is usually the case in these situations.)

Update: Streetsblog SF reported that the landslide of support for this project was pretty amazing. I'm not surprised, since there was so much outreach done on behalf of the project. It was telling that what little opposition there was didn't obey the rules for public comment, and had arguments so poorly articulated, they were not taken too seriously.

Posted by Greg Dewar at 3:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The other day I got an email from a Concerned Reader, who noted that while waiting for the N the other day, they noticed several cars plow past a stopped N that was deboarding passengers. When one of the drivers of said cars was stopped by an off-duty Muni employee, who told the car driver what they were doing was both illegal and unsafe. The response? A laugh and a "oh f-you" attitude. Wonderful.

I have to say that in some places, the problem seems particularly acute, despite those stickers on the backs of the trains, a solid percentage of clueless drivers just plow through, stuck in their little haze of cell phone use and/or a clear inability to grasp the concept of driving in a dense urban area. I don't fault the stickers - you could have a giant neon sign pop up in several languages saying "don't pass the train, dimwits, you might hit someone" and they'd still do it. Once I saw a particularly egregious violation and I was seriously tempted to grab a bottle of juice out of my grocery bag and chuck it at the car (who almost ran over a couple of kids) but common sense won the day and I didn't do it.

Maybe the solution is something a bit different - perhaps it's time we make it significantly more difficult to get a driver's license, and require people to actually know something about safety before being allowed to drive their cars on the road. I realize that the concept of teaching people how to drive and issuing a license saying they're able to is completely foreign to Americans, but it's worth looking into. Also: perhaps it's time to stop jerking people around on parking tickets, and instead save the big fines for serious moving violations that put everyone at risk (cars, bikes, people, transit). I think we'd have a safer city fairly quickly, for sure.

PS: And yes, bicyclists can be jerks too, and yes some pedestrians can be jerks too, and yes Muni operators etc. etc. etc. but it's not necessary to go through each of these any time one talks about auto safety. I mean, even the AAA would agree that no one is served by people driving dangerously, right?

Posted by Greg Dewar at 2:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)