Gavin Newsom

Considering all the new bicycle infrastructure that'll hopefully start going in at the end of the summer, or early fall, I asked Mayor Newsom outside City Hall today after a press conference celebrating the passage of the Bike Plan if he's planning to do any more bicycling. His response?

It's no surprise, but it's troubling. Mayor Gavin Newsom has confirmed to Streetsblog that he remains opposed to extending parking meter enforcement to Sundays, despite a promise by MTA Chief Nat Ford that it's being studied and remains on the table for consideration, along with evening metering to 10 p.m. -- revenue measures that would raise $9 million --  potentially offsetting fare hikes and service cuts, changes Ford still has the power to make (within five percent).

Why is San Francisco -- considered by many around the world to be a “progressive” and “green" city with a Transit First policy -- still debating whether to extend meter hours and parking enforcement, even in the face of a crippling Muni budget deficit? Didn't we merge Muni with the Department of Parking and Traffic precisely so policy decisions about management of the streets would benefit the operations of transit, bicycling, and walking?

In less than 24 hours, city officials, including Mayor Gavin Newsom, will be standing in a new pedestrian plaza on the former roadway at 17th Street at Market Street to announce the long-anticipated opening of the street as public space, the first of several such projects that will appear throughout the city over the next year. 

At yesterday's Rules Committee meeting at City Hall, as first noted by the Examiner, there was some banter between Supervisor Chris Daly and MTA Board Chair Tom Nolan about MTA Executive Director Nat Ford. They seemed to indicate he was looking to leave the agency.