Thursday, August 07, 2014

Transportation imbalance: City taxpayers support the Bicycle Coalition

Bike to Work Day: You pay $49,000 for it

A reader writes:

Rob,

City agencies collect tons of data that is available in many databases at http://data.sfgov.orgI'm experimenting with it for the first time today. Takes some time to understand how to search for data, gather, organize, and sort the information. Looks like other cities in the US are using this Open Data system to be transparent with residents.

You can look at various crime statistics, payments to vendors. Data is collected from 2007 on.

The Bicycle Coalition gets lots of money from Dept. of Public Health, the MTA, Neighborhood Development, and the PUC in the form of grants, continuing projects, operating costs.

The database on Vendor Payments lists all the money paid in vouchers to SFBC. Don't know what the vouchers are for.

I added up how much was paid to SFBC for these fiscal years:

2007: $ 54,088
2008: $ 143,537
2009: $ 127,700
2010: $ 120,103
2011: $ 180,459
2012: $ 202,407
2013: $ 239,427
2014: $ 223,460
2015: $ 7,992

The fiscal year just started for 2015, and the SFBC is already on the payroll!

Rob's comment:

The city gives the Bicycle Coalition $49,000 every year to stage Bike to Work Day, and it even hires people from that special interest group: here, here, and here.

And the city pays $188,000 a year for a police escort for Critical Mass.

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11 Comments:

At 3:13 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Interesting. Do City taxpayers support Recology by paying it to pick up City trash?

 
At 3:18 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

These projects go out for RFP as any other public project. I suggest you try to get on the gravy train and shut off the SFBC at the same time by putting in a proposal to do the job!

 
At 3:44 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Why should SFBC get one red cent?

They are a political organization and they are a lobby. They support and endorse candidate. They are a non-profit. How can they do it, what am i not understanding.

 
At 7:32 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The SFBC is ALL about getting taxpayer money and this has been its raison d'etre since the beginning.

 
At 6:55 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

But how is it that they can actually endorse a political candidate? I thought if you were a tax exempt 501C3....or whatever the number is? If so I thought you were to remain non-political?

 
At 9:43 AM, Blogger Rkeezy said...

Yes, interesting that a political lobby group gets paid by the gov't. Isn't usually the other way around?

 
At 11:28 AM, Blogger Rob Anderson said...

The reality is that the Bicycle Coalition has been operating as a quasi-city agency, getting taxpayers' money and making city traffic policy.

And, yes, the always endorse candidates and try to influence elections. Not clear how/why they can do that legally.

 
At 8:39 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Our comments: The Bicycle Coalition, along with other political action non-profit 501(c)4's, appears to have sucks up bond money (voters approved to fix potholes and expand Muni services), and uses it to write anti-car legislation against drivers.

SFBC is hired to conduct studies that show the need for more bikes lanes and traffic calming. Then they design streets that remove parking and traffic lanes.

If you want to change the way things are going, vote NO ON A and YES ON L. If you really want to send a message to the city officials to let them no what you think, sign the Stop SFMTA petition.

https://metermadness.wordpress.com/wp-admin/NoOnTransportationBond2014.com

http://www.restorebalance14.org/

http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/stop-sfmta-san-francisco

 
At 7:57 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Rob and the Yes on L campaign are so moronic. Embarrassing you live in our city.

 
At 1:49 PM, Blogger Rob Anderson said...

Here are two sites on 501(c)(3) organizations and political activity that seem to have completely different interpretations of the law: here and here.

 
At 11:01 AM, Blogger Rob Anderson said...

"Rob and the Yes on L campaign are so moronic. Embarrassing you live in our city."

Not surprising that you are too "embarrassed to put your name on your moronic opinion.

 

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