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.  As I posted before (see Stop Robbing MUNI and $500 Million for Bike Lanes. $0 for MUNI), the bond doesn’t allocate any money for MUNI.  MUNI is one of a list of possible recipients of the bond money.   Other claimants on the bond money are bike lanes, street-narrowing projects, and other politically charged — but non-MUNI — initiatives.

But, beyond the truth-bending assertion Prop A will make MUNI more reliable is the absolutely untrue statement that the MUNI magic will be done “without raising taxes”.

• Prop A requires a 66 1/3% affirmative vote to pass. That super-majority is required by state law for tax increases.  If Prop A did not increase taxes, it would only require a simple majority.
• The City Controller’s Statement on Prop A in the official ballot book says, “… the highest estimated annual property tax cost for these bonds for the owner of a home with an assessed value of $500,00 would be approximately $91.02.”  A $90 a year tax increase sounds like “raising taxes” to me.

Just because a statement is printed (or on the Internet) doesn’t make it true.  Vote NO on A!

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 money to “Build streets that enable safe travel for all users and provide safer, well-defined bikeways.”

So while people think that they are authorizing bond money to fix MUNI, they may only be getting more and more and more bike lanes.  $500 million is a lot of bike lanes, but I know some people think you can never have enough.

I want the City to give me a simple proposal to fund MUNI.  I don’t want to fund a smorgasbord of causes that appeal to a coalition self-serving and self-righteous special causes.

Vote NO on A!

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 coalition and other special interests.

In Prop A:

• Money goes to “Build Streets that enable safe travel for all users and provide safer, well-defined bikeways.”
• Money goes to “Invest in development of critical capital projects along key transit corridors”… whatever that means.
• Money goes to several other non-MUNI causes — check out the details in the official city ordinance

Some of the non MUNI goals of Prop A are ones that I support.  I believe in steps to “improve pedestrian safety through focused engineering efforts at high-injury locations”.

But, none of these goodies belong in a bond issue being sold to improve MUNI.  

Some of other uses of Prop A money i do not support.  I do not think we need to spend more money on more bikeways before we fix MUNI.  But,even if you think we need more bikeways, I don’t believe they should be funded by a proposition being sold to the voters as fixing MUNI.

I will vote for a bond that dedicates its funds improvement to MUNI. But, please Mr. Mayor and Mr. and Ms. Supervisors, give me a bond issue that actually gives MUNI all the money you’re asking me for.