{"id":39510,"date":"2025-02-13T12:35:43","date_gmt":"2025-02-13T20:35:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=39510"},"modified":"2025-02-13T12:35:43","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T20:35:43","slug":"lurie-has-no-real-plan-to-fund-muni-or-avoid-service-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/02\/13\/lurie-has-no-real-plan-to-fund-muni-or-avoid-service-cuts\/","title":{"rendered":"Lurie has no real plan to fund Muni or avoid service cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At Question Time, only vague words about seeking state help and future revenue measures<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By TIM REDMOND<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

FEBRUARY 11, 2025 (48hills.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor Daniel Lurie told the supes today about his plans to keep Muni solvent. Hint: He doesn\u2019t have one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During Question Time, Sup. Myrna Melgar noted that a functioning transit system is essential for San Francisco, and that the city can\u2019t recover without one. \u201cWe rely on Muni,\u201d she said. \u201cIt keeps the economy going.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melgar said that about a third of San Francisco residents don\u2019t own a car, and as long as they can get around on the bus, \u201cit reduces citywide congestion.\u201d She asked Lurie: \u201cWill you ensure that we can weather the next couple of years without service cuts?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Mayor Lurie says he loves Muni\u2014but he has no plans to avoid service cuts. Photo by Andrew Brobst.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lurie also talked about how important Muni is to San Francisco, but to the extent he gave an answer to Melgar\u2019s question, it wasn\u2019t a promise to avoid service cuts. \u201cNobody wants to see service cuts,\u201d he said, \u201cbut I realize that this is what Muni may have to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melgar persisted: \u201cWhat ideas do you have for funding sources?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lurie: \u201cI was in Sacramento advocating for state funds.\u201d That\u2019s unlikely to happen since the state also has a huge budget deficit, that\u2019s going to get worse as Trump cuts off more money to California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lurie said that in 2026, it\u2019s likely voters will be asked to approve both local and regional revenue measures\u2014and if past patterns continue, that will be predominantly sales taxes, the most regressive form of taxation on the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How about taxing the Google buses<\/a>, or going back after Uber and Lyft or the robotaxis? Uber\u2019s stated mission is to destroy public transit<\/a>; maybe that giant company should be forced to help keep the buses running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Didn\u2019t hear any of that from Mayor Lurie.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tim Redmond<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tim Redmond has been a political and investigative reporter in San Francisco for more than 30 years. He spent much of that time as executive editor of the Bay Guardian. He is the founder of 48hills.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At Question Time, only vague words about seeking state help and future revenue measures By TIM REDMOND FEBRUARY 11, 2025 (48hills.org) Mayor Daniel Lurie told the supes today about his plans to keep Muni solvent. Hint: He doesn\u2019t have one. During Question Time, Sup. Myrna Melgar noted that a functioning… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39510"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39510"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39510\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39511,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39510\/revisions\/39511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}