Term limits, street takeovers, and a cable car fare hike — yeah, SF is stress-testing who’s in charge and who’s paying. Welcome to San Francisco Politics and Urbanism Daily — I’m Cassidy, with Devin. Today: a ballot measure that could reset City Hall power for a generation, a regional crackdown on Bay Bridge sideshows, and Muni doing some very painful budget math. So the whole question is pretty simple: does this city actually have the spine to enforce its own rules — at the ballot box, on the bridge, and on the bus? Let’s get into it. Gia Vang, writing in NBC Bay Area:
Measure B targets term limits for the mayor and board of supervisors. If passed, they would be limited to two consecutive four-year terms. Right now, they can serve two terms, step away for four years, and then run again. The proposal needs a simple majority to pass.
Measure B is on the June ballot, and it would turn term limits for the mayor and supervisors into lifetime limits after two consecutive four-year terms. Right now, somebody can sit out four years and come back. Only one person has ever done that: Aaron Peskin. And that’s where the opposition’s argument falls apart. They keep saying nobody abuses the loophole, and then they have to stare at Aaron Peskin, who literally did. Willie Brown calling this a horrible idea is almost the strongest case for it. Fair point, though: the incumbency argument cuts both ways. If you make the limits too rigid, you can also lock in the people already sitting there and make it harder for challengers to break through. I’d still make that trade. The Board has spent years looking like a gerontocracy of recycled insiders. If Measure B shakes loose even one entrenched seat and gives a results-focused newcomer a shot, that’s worth it. ABC7 San Francisco writes:
More than 100 officers from Oakland police, San Francisco police and the California Highway Patrol took part in stopping a sideshow Sunday afternoon after tracking the group for hours. Police said the group started in East Oakland, traveled into San Francisco and then turned back around.
Yesterday we were watching the regional bust in real time, and now we’ve got the drone footage — and it is something else. More than a hundred officers from SFPD, Oakland PD, and CHP converged on the Bay Bridge, and the haul was nine arrests plus seventy-seven ATVs and dirt bikes seized. And one guy apparently thought jumping off the Bay Bridge into the Bay was his best exit plan. Bold. The interim Oakland chief’s line was even better: “If you got away, expect a knock at your door.” That’s exactly the tone I want. That cross-jurisdiction piece is the real story. These groups exploit the seams between Oakland, San Francisco, and CHP territory, and when all three agencies track them from East Oakland through the city and back, that gap closes. Sideshows aren’t some quirky nuisance. They shut down a major interstate bridge, and somebody nearly died trying to flee one. This is exactly the kind of enforcement that actually protects working people who just need to get home. Here's Rachel Swan at San Francisco Chronicle:
In their effort to balance a two-year budget, officials at San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency had to squeeze revenue from every conceivable resource, including parking meters and cable cars. The price of both will go up next year. Tickets for single cable car rides will increase from $9 to $12 in January, and the agency will phase out three- and seven-day tickets.
Yesterday we were talking about why BART and Muni are staring down budget holes, and today we see part of SFMTA’s answer: higher parking meter rates and cable car fares going up from nine bucks to twelve in January. The Chronicle’s Rachel Swan has the breakdown. Raising parking fees to help fund transit is pretty textbook good policy. You tax the thing you want less of to subsidize the thing you want more of. I’m not mad at that. They’re also killing the three- and seven-day cable car tickets and replacing them with an eighteen-dollar all-day Muni-plus-cable-car pass, with adults able to bring two kids free. That’s a pretty solid family deal if you’re actually riding Muni — not just hopping on the Powell Street car for a selfie. The cable car is basically a tourist attraction that San Franciscans subsidize. Twelve dollars is still a steal compared with most theme park rides, and bundling it into a real transit pass is smart — it nudges people toward actually using the system. If San Francisco Politics and Urbanism Daily helps you stay oriented, consider subscribing and leaving a quick review wherever you’re listening. It’s a small thing, but it helps other people find the show.
You’ll find links to every story we discussed in the show notes, so if one caught your ear, you can follow it there and read more.
That’s San Francisco Politics and Urbanism Daily for this Wednesday, May 6th. This is a Lantern Podcast.