Opposing the nomination of Lydia So

Mayor Breed

FROM:

Mary Miles

Attorney at Law

San Francisco

TO:

Victor Young, Clerk, 

and Members of the 

San Francisco Board of Supervisors Rules Committee

BY E-MAIL TO: victor.young@sfgov.org

PUBLIC COMMENT OPPOSING NOMINATION OF LYDIA SO TO MTA BOARD OF DIRECTORS, RULES COMMITTEE AGENDA ITEM 2

[BOS FILE NO. 230755]

This Comment opposes the appointment of Lydia So to the Board of Directors of the Municipal Transportation Agency (“MTAB”). Please distribute this Comment to all Members of the Rules Committee and place it in all relevant Board of Supervisors files.

The MTA Board consists of seven directors appointed by the Mayor who control a two-billion-dollar annual budget and the transportation system of San Francisco.

The Charter requires that least four directors must be regular riders of MTA’s transit. At least two must “possess significant knowledge of, or professional experience” in “the field of public transportation.” All directors must also have significant knowledge and/or experience in government finance or labor relations. (SF Charter, § 8A.102(a).)

According to her resume and other file documents, Ms. So would bring no transportation experience to the MTA Board.

The record shows only Ms. So’s advocacy for the “Better Market” bicycle project, a billion-dollar (including bonds) City Project, which has banned cars on Market Street from Octavia Blvd. to the Embarcadero, will remove existing trees and historic streetlamps, and construct more bicycle lanes on the new 40-foot-wide sidewalks on Market Street.

So advocates for “Vision Zero,” a project heavily lobbied for by the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (“SFBC”) and “Walk San Francisco” that receive millions in public funding to remove traffic lanes and street parking and create obstructions to driving on City streets, claiming 13% of those streets are in SFBC’s “high injury corridors.” Vision Zero is a slogan, not a credible safety project.

Those anti-car projects already receive millions from the MTA Board, while MTA Director Tumlin complains about a looming “fiscal cliff” caused by the Agency’s reckless deficit spending on anti-car projects like those that Ms. So supports.

Ms. So’s Form 700 shows that she is an affluent person who makes no claim of transit ridership as required by the Charter. Her private investments are not those of a typical transit rider. Further, her advocacy for bicycling and against cars does not represent the interests of City travelers.

As MTA’s data shows, bicycling is the travel choice of fewer than 3 percent of San Franciscans. (Corey, Canapary, & Galanis Research: SFMTA Travel Decisions Survey 2021 Summary Report, page 5; see also, “MTA, 4/19/22, Maia Moran, “How People Traveled Through San Francisco in 2021.”) Yet the lopsided MTA Board has unanimously supported that small special interest lobby with millions in bicycle and anti-car Projects such as “Better Market” and “Vision Zero.”

With a $2 billion per year budget, MTA complains that its own foolish expenditures have caused a “fiscal cliff” (deficit), while demanding additional state and City funding for more of the same.

Meanwhile, the state of San Francisco streets is among the worst of any city in the United States.

Why should the public support another unelected bicycle advocate on the MTA Board? IT SHOULD NOT! Objectivity is lacking in every MTA Board decision (nearly always unanimous) that ignores the vast majority of city residents, workers and visitors who travel in cars and trucks. 

The Ethics Code (CGC secs. 3.200 et seq.) requires objective representation, not another yes vote for anti-car, anti-people measures. Government decisions must be impartial and eliminate “both the actual and perceived undue influence, favoritism or preferential treatment.” (CGC, sec. 3.200(e).)

Work toward meeting that worthy goal by getting the MTA Board closer to the proportional representation of City travelers with members who will represent the vast majority of constituents that travel in vehicles.

Please reject the nomination of Lydia So to the MTA Board.

Mary Miles