Mayor Ed Lee

Gwyneth Borden will fill a year-old vacancy on the SFMTA Board of Directors, Mayor Ed Lee announced today. Borden has sat on the Planning Commission since 2008 and is the executive director of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association.

Muni vehicles break down far more frequently than in other cities, after years of the system being starved of the necessary funding to adequately maintain its fleet of trains and buses.

Reps from the SF Transit Riders Union today said Mayor Ed Lee's recent repeal of Sunday parking meters and abandonment of the vehicle license fee add up to an attack on transit riders.

Today's Muni "sick-out" reminds us once again that San Franciscans need better ways to get around. The consequences of a transit strike -- people stranded and unable to get to their jobs, queues of drivers clogging streets, and dangerous conflicts between impatient drivers and people who are walking and biking alongside -- are just a more extreme example of the everyday reality caused by the city's lack of investment in real transport alternatives.

Mayor Ed Lee has an opportunity to champion one of the smartest proposals to come out under his administration: A ballot measure to restore SF's vehicle license fee to its longtime level of 2 percent. The measure would raise crucially needed revenue that would boost transit and make San Francisco's streets safer.

Ask Mayor Ed Lee what he has to say about Muni, and he'll talk about how its riders need to be "a lot more civil." But if you tell him how much you hate worrying about parking tickets -- wow, he really feels your pain.

Some pretty specious rationales are being used to peddle some pretty terrible recent transportation policy decisions in San Francisco. Yesterday, the SFMTA Board of Directors repealed Sunday parking metering, caving to pressure from Mayor Ed Lee. Board members said they bought into the mayor's thinking that bringing back free Sunday parking would help win support for transportation funding measures on the November ballot.

The SFMTA Board of Directors today caved to pressure from Mayor Ed Lee by removing Sunday parking meters, a move folded into its approval of the agency's two-year budget.

Correction: The SFMTA Board meeting begins at 2 p.m., not 1 p.m. as previously stated. Depending on the number of speakers, the meeting could last hours. You can view the meeting live on SFGovTV 2.