Gawd I am tired of the pile of slick sheets in my mailbox! These mailers are touchable evidence about how much money is being spent on elections.  The local assembly candidates are spending enough money to fund a research initiative to end cancer.  The real estate industry is pumping money into the No on G (25% transfer tax) campaign, and the soft drink manufacturers are sweetening printers income with a blizzard of No on E (the soda tax) four-color cards. The flier that caught my eye yesterday was the one that validates my opposition to Prop A, the "fix MUNI" bond issue. [...]

Prop A is being promoted as providing some of the money that MUNI desperately needs to recover from years of deferred maintenance and underfunding.  It turns out that NO money in the bond issue is reserved for fixing MUNI. Instead, the ballot ordinance offers a laundry list of "transit and road improvements" but doesn't guarantee any money to any of them. (Check out the details in the official city ordinance). The legal language says "Projects to be funded under the proposed Bon may include but are not limited to the following:..."  Then there's list of goodies which includes the opportunity to spend [...]

Everyone MUNI rider knows that the system needs improved maintenance and more money for its stations, tracks, and cars. Politicians pay lip service to giving MUNI the money it needs, but continually siphon off money voters thought was going to MUNI to pay for the projects of politically powerful constituents.  This election the Mayor and Supervisors are again asking the voters to increase taxes to fund a bond measure to save MUNI. Except that much of the money in the bond does not go to MUNI.  They're robbing MUNI of the money it needs in order to pacify the insatiable bicycle [...]