posted at 11 am Our team has reviewed SFMTA’s staff report and slide deck released ahead of next week’s SFMTA Board hearing. What is being shown publicly and what is being left out raises serious concerns about transparency, data integrity, and decision-making during one of the worst financial crises in the agency’s history. SFMTA now faces a $322 million budget … Read post
posted at 9am SFMTA’s presentation hides the downturn on the closed 400 block by combining its sales tax data with two other blocks. Our team’s review shows that this approach was not a neutral analytic choice — it materially masked the harm and produced a misleading economic picture for the Board. This analysis explains how the data were combined and … Read post
Over the past two years, Hayes Valley has been used as the first large-scale test case for the City’s Pay or Permit Parking (PPP) program. The idea is simple: residents with permits can park for free, while visitors must pay at meters instead of following two-hour time limits. In theory, PPP is meant to increase parking availability, reduce circling, and … Read post
400 Block of Hayes Street Closure A year since the last renewal, Hayes Valley is still living with a “temporary” closure run by HVNA; SFMTA’s failures of process, enforcement, and accountability are clearer than ever. The Record Since Last RenewalAs the Hayes Street closure future remains in limbo, it’s worth asking a simple question: what has SFMTA actually done in … Read post
At first glance, an “impact” or “feasibility” study sounds responsible. But here’s the problem: if the street closure was pushed from the beginning without transparency or broad consent, the study can’t correct that bias. It just papers over it. And whether it’s branded as an impact study (measuring consequences) or a feasibility study (judging if permanence is possible), the purpose … Read post
How San Francisco’s “Activation” Agenda Is Gutting the Neighborhood Economy Again Hayes Valley once set the bar for protecting small business. Its 2004 formula retail ban was designed to block chain stores and preserve a local-serving economy. But over the years, City Hall has quietly chipped away at those protections first by making exceptions, then by ignoring them outright. Now, … Read post