Mayoral candidate Phil Ting, the city’s assessor-recorder, appears to be following the campaign playbook to find a populist issue that will resonate with the electorate. His pick: parking tickets.
Ting sent out a blast e-mail Wednesday asking supporters to sign an online petition on Facebook, in which he urges people to rise up against plans by the Municipal Transportation Agency to step up the issuance of parking citations to raise more revenue.
The agency recently reported that revenue from parking tickets is down about $7 million from the $99 million that had been projected for the year, and city transportation officials said they think they can make up at least some of the shortfall by getting the parking cops to write more tickets.
"We all want the revenue it takes to support important services like better schools, a reliable Muni and a safer city," Ting said. "But is gouging San Franciscans with some of the nation’s highest parking tickets really the fair way to help close a budget gap?"
Will his message resonate? Perhaps. But the Municipal Transportation Agency relies on revenue from parking fines to help fund Muni, which has chronic money problems of its own. Less money from parking tickets could result in less money for Muni, and in politics, the spin can go either way.
- Rachel Gordon
Label the mayor: Progressives said he was moderate. Moderates assured he was progressive. Nobody’s been able to label the city’s new mayor, Ed Lee, but now you can do just that.
A website features a cartoon of the mustachioed mayor with a stream of descriptions flashing above it. Some are serious: Ed Lee is a liberal Democrat. Ed Lee bridges East and West.
Some are not so serious: Ed Lee has the sweetest ’stache. Ed Lee is not a drama queen. Ed Lee can cook. Some are just plain bizarre: Ed Lee is huge in Japan. Ed Lee once wrestled a cable car with his mustache. Ed Lee won’t go Donkey Kong on San Francisco.
There’s no indication as to who set up the website - just as we don’t know the creator of the Twitter feed Ed Lee’s Mustache. (But we do like its tweet, "@GavsHair Let’s have lunch!") But the best part about mayorlee.com is that it allows users to suggest their own labels for Lee, with the winners added to the flashing stream.
It wasn’t a surprise when former Mayor Gavin Newsom, a lover of the national spotlight and social-networking sites, spurred fans and critics to create fake Twitter accounts and websites in his name (or that of his hair). But we were surprised that the lesser-known Lee has also attracted an online following.
Political consultant Alex Clemens said it says more about San Francisco than it does about Lee. San Franciscans, he pointed out, are obsessed with politics and technology and this is the marriage of the two.
- Heather Knight
Caltrain help: The quest to save Caltrain, which faces a $30 billion budget deficit and severe service cuts, kicked off Friday with a slew of suggestions ranging from better coffee at stations to toll lanes on Highway 101.
The "Save Caltrain Summit," organized by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, drew a standing-room-only crowd of more than 200 business and transportation leaders and elected officials to Stanford University.
Caltrain, unlike the other 27 Bay Area transit agencies, has no dedicated source of operating funds beyond the fare box. Each year, it’s forced to go to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority and San Mateo County Transportation Authority, hat in hand, for money to keep the trains running.
With all three agencies facing funding problems, their contributions to Caltrain have shrunk, and are expected to contract even more this year. That would force Caltrain to eliminate midday, weekend and night service, along with commute-hour trains serving Gilroy and special service to Giants games and other big events.
- Michael Cabanatuan
