Public comment on potential conflict of interest

Jeffrey Tumlin

FROM:

Mary Miles

Attorney at Law for Coalition for Adequate Review

San Francisco, CA 94102

TO: 

Board of Directors

San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (“MTA”)

One South Van Ness Ave., 7th Floor

San Francisco, CA 94103

MTABoard@SFMTA.com

DATE: May 19, 2020

PUBLIC COMMENT, MTA BOARD MEETING MAY 19, 2020, AGENDA ITEM 10.4 (Authorizing Director to execute unilateral Modification No. 10. To Contract No. 1289, “Van Ness Corridor Transit Improvement Project,” increasing that Contract by another $2,187,655.23) 

This is Public Comment on Agenda Item 10.4. Please distribute this Comment to every member of the MTA Board and place a copy in all applicable files. The MTA Board should reject the Proposed Authorization for reasons including the following. 

1. Mr. Tumlin, Director of the MTA, may not negotiate or execute any contracts on the Van Ness BRT Project because of his role as a paid consultant for the Nelson-Nygaard consulting corporation. 

Nelson-Nygaard and Mr. Tumlin were paid under contracts and sub-contracts by the City and County of San Francisco to do several transportation and parking studies for the “Better Neighborhoods” and Market-Octavia Project that recommended the Van Ness BRT project. (See, e.g., Better Neighborhoods 2002 Market/Octavia Study Area Existing Conditions Report-August 2001.)

Nelson-Nygaard also participated in preparing the transit analyses in the Market & Octavia Plan EIR Transportation Study, May 31, 2005, that included the Van Ness area. (See, e.g, Market & Octavia Plan EIR Transportation Study, pages 15- 50.) That Study recommended the Van Ness BRT project. (Id., Appendix, Market & Octavia Neighborhood Plan Transportation Project List, page 3.) 

While Mr. Tumlin may not have negotiated the City’s troubled contract with the Walsh Corporation on the Van Ness BRT Project, he should abstain from any actions on the Van Ness BRT Project because of his paid role in Nelson-Nygaard’s studies. 

To avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest, this Board should not authorize Mr. Tumlin to execute any financial transactions or any other actions on the Van Ness BRT Project. Unfortunately, during Mr. Tumlin’s brief tenure, this Board has already authorized “Contract Modification No. 9, awarding Walsh another $633,003.16 on February 18, 2020, which should be voided.

2. Agenda Item 10.4 proposes authorizing Mr. Tumlin to modify MTA’s Walsh contract on the Van Ness BRT Project for the tenth time, awarding Walsh another $2,187,655.23 on top of the hundreds of millions already awarded and through the other nine contract amendments. (MTA Staff Report, signed by Jeffrey Tumlin, May 11, 2020, page 1.) 

The total cost of the controversial Van Ness BRT Project, including its Environmental Review, MTA and other City and County agency staff time, bond indebtedness, and the initial Walsh contract of $800,000 for “pre-construction services” (MTA Staff Report, page 3), will likely be a half billion dollars or more. 

Walsh claimed it would save the City time and money by tearing up the entire length of the Project area at the same time rather than working on segments. Instead, the Project is several years behind schedule, and the entire Van Ness Avenue/US 101 corridor is an unmitigated disaster, with the ultimate dubious outcome of creating Citywide congestion by removing two travel lanes, all turning lanes, and most of the parking on Van Ness Avenue, so that four lanes of that major artery are repurposed for a red-painted BRT for the two Muni lines on its two-mile length. 

Over public objection, the Project also removed the median and street trees and plans to demolish the historic 100-year-old streetlamps on Van Ness Avenue. 

After paying Walsh $800,000 for “pre-construction services,” MTA awarded Walsh the construction contract under a “CM/GC” contract with no competitive bidding. The MTA should not approve this tenth amendment. This Board should therefore not authorize Mr. Tumlin to execute the proposed tenth amendment to the Walsh contract. 

Mary Miles

See also BikeThink: The ideology of bicycles.