{"id":67,"date":"2010-08-27T15:02:48","date_gmt":"2010-08-27T22:02:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.muniridervoterguide.org\/?p=67"},"modified":"2010-08-31T10:43:59","modified_gmt":"2010-08-31T17:43:59","slug":"matthew-drake-district-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.muniridervoterguide.org\/?p=67","title":{"rendered":"Matthew Drake – District 6"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n
\"Matthew<\/a>

Matthew Drake - District 6<\/p><\/div>\n

Name<\/strong>: Matthew Drake<\/div>\n

Age<\/strong>: 38<\/div>\n
Occupation<\/strong>: I am the general counsel of appMobi<\/div>\n
District<\/strong>: 6<\/div>\n
URL<\/strong>: www.drakeforsupervisor.com<\/a><\/div>\n
Neighborhood You Live In<\/strong>:\tSOMA<\/div>\n
Date Questionnaire Returned<\/strong>: \u00c2\u00a0August 27, 2010<\/div>\n
\n
1. How often do you rely on Muni to get you around town? If not, what do you use <\/strong>instead? What would make it easier for you to choose Muni over other forms of <\/strong>transportation?<\/strong><\/div>\n
I live in the middle of SOMA, so I can walk almost everywhere. \u00c2\u00a0I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll usually bike or take Muni if I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going somewhere that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s too far to walk.<\/div>\n
2. What are the primary concerns of Muni’s owners (aka riders) about transportation and Muni in your District?<\/strong><\/div>\n

\n<\/strong><\/div>\n
As with every district, Muni\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cutbacks have caused problems. Many low income residents of District 6 rely on Muni exclusively, so the service cutbacks hit them particularly hard.\u00c2\u00a0Although generally District 6 has good mass transit coverage, some parts of the district are underserved by Muni, in part because people didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t live here when the Muni lines were created many years ago.<\/div>\n
3. As a Supervisor, you will serve on the Board of the San Francisco County<\/strong><\/div>\n
Transportation Authority. What is the role of the SFCTA, and what would you set as <\/strong>priorities for the agency in the next 4 years?<\/strong><\/div>\n

\n<\/strong><\/div>\n
The SFCTA should continue work to improve mass transit and street quality in San Francisco. \u00c2\u00a0The Transbay Terminal is a long term project, but the SFCTA should continue to support it, because high speed rail is the single most important thing California can do to fight global warming in the coming decades. On a smaller scale, I support additional spending on Muni, especially the BRT program, as noted below. Additionally, the SFCTA should continue to support additional bike lanes, especially now that the CEQA lawsuit is past us.<\/div>\n
4. Difficult decisions often have to be made regarding transportation in San\u00c2\u00a0Francisco. Sometimes a well-researched project may have loud, angry opponents,\u00c2\u00a0or a popular project may not be the best for City residents and for San Francisco’s\u00c2\u00a0transportation infrastructure.\u00c2\u00a0How would you make a decision under these kinds of circumstances?<\/strong><\/div>\n

\n<\/strong><\/div>\n
(Feel free to cite a similar situation from your past experience as an example – it\u00c2\u00a0doesn’t have to be transit related)<\/strong><\/div>\n

\n<\/strong><\/div>\n
The obvious example is BRT on Geary Street. \u00c2\u00a0It has some loud opponents, but as noted below I am a strong supporter. We can give everyone a chance to be heard, but at some point we will have to move forward and make potentially unpopular decisions. \u00c2\u00a0We cannot accommodate everyone.<\/div>\n
Another example is the Transit Effectiveness Project, the first top down look at Muni\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s routes in many years. We need to fully implement the TEP\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s recommendations to improve Muni for everyone.<\/div>\n
5. What is the Fix Muni Now charter amendment? Do you support it? (Y\/N) Why or\u00c2\u00a0why not?<\/strong><\/div>\n

\n<\/strong><\/div>\n
Yes. \u00c2\u00a0I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a strong supporter of Prop. G. \u00c2\u00a0Right now, the Muni operator salaries are not negotiated. I believe that their wages should be subject to the same collective bargaining as almost every other city employee.<\/div>\n
The real problem is not with Muni\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s high wages, it is with the work rules for the employees. For instance, if an operator does not want to come to work, he or she can just not show up. \u00c2\u00a0There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no need to notify a supervisor. If we want a functioning system, we need to have reasonable work rules so the department can adequately plan its operations.<\/div>\n
6. One (of many) causes for Muni’s perennial budget woes was the illegal seizure\u00c2\u00a0of state gas tax money by Governor Schwarzenegger and the Legislature. This has\u00c2\u00a0left a large hole in Muni’s income (as well as every transit agency in CA).<\/strong><\/div>\n

\n<\/strong><\/div>\n
How would you make up this gap in Muni revenue? Would you support:<\/strong><\/div>\n

\n<\/strong><\/div>\n
– a local funding source or sources (fees, taxes, or other type of revenue) to avoid\u00c2\u00a0future problems caused by the state?<\/strong><\/div>\n
– would you achieve savings through cuts to Muni’s budget, fare increases, etc.<\/strong><\/div>\n
– or, do you have other ideas on how to get Muni out of its annual financial woes?<\/strong><\/div>\n
(You can choose more than one option, but just explain it clearly)<\/strong><\/div>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a strong supporter of the Bus Rapid Transit projects, especially BRT on Geary. Faster Muni service would bring in more users, which would provide more fare money for additional service. \u00c2\u00a0As busses move more quickly, drivers complete more runs per shift, so the increase in service would not come at a significantly higher cost. \u00c2\u00a0This is a rare situation where we could provide better service at a lower operating cost.<\/div>\n
We have been talking about BRT for many years. \u00c2\u00a0We must not let it be derailed or delayed. It would probably bring in additional revenue to Muni and improve service.<\/div>\n
7. Finally, tell us a story about a funny or unique experience you’ve had on Muni.<\/strong><\/div>\n

\n<\/strong><\/div>\n
When I tell people I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m running for office, more than one person out of the blue has said to me that the one thing they want is for their Muni bus not to smell like a toilet when they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to work in the morning. \u00c2\u00a0It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not actually funny; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more of a sad commentary of how low expectations are.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Name: Matthew Drake Age: 38 Occupation: I am the general counsel of appMobi District: 6 URL: www.drakeforsupervisor.com Neighborhood You Live In: SOMA Date Questionnaire Returned: \u00c2\u00a0August 27, 2010 1. How often do you rely on Muni to get you around … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-district6"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7Dvs9-15","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.muniridervoterguide.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.muniridervoterguide.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.muniridervoterguide.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.muniridervoterguide.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.muniridervoterguide.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=67"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.muniridervoterguide.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70,"href":"http:\/\/www.muniridervoterguide.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67\/revisions\/70"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.muniridervoterguide.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=67"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.muniridervoterguide.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=67"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.muniridervoterguide.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=67"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}