Municipal Transportation Agency
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The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (also known as SFMTA or San Francisco MTA) is the body which oversees the San Francisco Municipal Railway as well as the Department of Parking and Traffic.
The agency was established by the passage of Proposition E in November 1999, a measure which established a semi-independent agency to run the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni) and the San Francisco Department of Parking and Traffic. The two departments have been partially combined within the new agency. The measure, promoted by the transit riders' group Rescue Muni, among others, established service standards for the agency and made a number of changes to the laws governing it.
Prior to the passage of Proposition E, the Muni was governed by the Public Transportation Commission and the Department of Parking and Traffic was governed by the Parking and Traffic Commission. Both bodies were dissolved upon the full implementation of Proposition E.
Proposition E established a seven-member board to govern the agency, its members appointed for fixed, staggered terms by the Mayor of San Francisco and subject to confirmation by the city and county's Board of Supervisors. The MTA Board of Directors is responsible for hiring the agency's executive director.
At its inception, the MTA's Director of Transportation (usually called the executive director) was Michael T. Burns. On July 15, 2005 he left the MTA for a position with Santa Clara VTA. Deputy Executive Director Stuart Sunshine, a former aide to Mayor Frank Jordan and Mayor Willie Brown, and a former head of the Department of Parking and Traffic, served as acting executive director until January 17, 2006, when Nathaniel P. Ford, Sr., previously the general manager and CEO of MARTA in Atlanta, took over as the new executive director.
The first chair of the MTA Board of Directors was H. Welton Flynn; he was succeeded by Cleopatra Vaughns. When Mayor Gavin Newsom replaced Vaughns, the board elected James McCray, Jr. chairman. Like two of his then-colleagues, McCray previously served on the Parking and Traffic Commission, which was abolished when the department merged into the MTA. Chairman McCray and directors Shirley Breyer Black and Wil Din were initially appointed by Mayor Brown; directors Peter Mezey, Tom Nolan, Leah Shahum, and Cameron Beach were appointed by Mayor Newsom.
Only once has the Board of Supervisors has exercised its prerogative, under the charter, to reject the mayor's appointees to the MTA Board, when Mayor Newsom appointed Hunter Stern to a vacant seat. The Board of Supervisors rejected Stern by a 7-4 vote on September 27, 2005. Stern was an official with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
Proposition E also established a 15-member MTA Citizens Advisory Council which must review the agency's budget and which makes recommendations on agency policy. The mayor appoints four members of the MTA Citizens Advisory Council and each member of the Board of Supervisors appoints one.
Proposition E allows for the merger of the San Francisco Taxicab Commission into the MTA, but does not require such a merger, and no date has been set for it.
In November 2005, the voters of San Francisco rejected, by a margin of 35%-65%, a ballot measure which would allow the Board of Supervisors to appoint three of the MTA Board's seven members.
Contents |
[edit] MTA Board of Directors
- James McCray, Jr., Chairman
- Shirley Breyer Black
- Wil Din
- Peter Mezey
- Tom Nolan
- Leah Shahum
- Cameron Beach
*Mayor Newsom appointed Cameron Beach to replace Vice Chairman Michael Kasolas on the MTA Board. The position of vice chairman will remain vacant until a new vice chairman is elected by the board.
Board Secretary: Roberta Boomer
Governance Committee: Shahum (chairman), Mezey, Nolan
[edit] MTA Citizens Advisory Council
- Daniel Murphy, Chair
- Steve Ferrario, Vice Chair
- Sue Cauthen
- Art Cimento
- Joan Downey
- Bruce Oka
- Norman Rolfe
- Dorris Vincent
- Daniel Weaver
- Cesar Perez
- Emily Drennen
- Mary F. Burns
- Griffith Humphrey
- Jamison Wieser
- (1 vacancy)
Council Secretary: Debra Reed
[edit] List of Executive Directors* of the MTA
| Name | Service Began | Service Ended |
| Michael T. Burns | 7 March 2000 | 15 July 2005 |
| Stuart Sunshine (acting) | 15 July 2005 | 17 January 2006 |
| Nathaniel P. Ford, Sr. | 17 January 2006 |
* The city charter refers to this office as the Director of Transportation, though the alternate title "executive director" is more commonly used. In February 2006, the MTA Board adopted a resolution adding "CEO" to the title.
[edit] List of Chairmen* of the MTA
| Name | Service Began | Service Ended |
| H. Welton Flynn | 7 March 2000 | 20 January 2004 |
| Cleopatra Vaughns | 20 January 2004 | 2 May 2006 |
| Michael Kasolas (acting) | 2 May 2006 | 16 May 2006 |
| James McCray, Jr. | 16 May 2006 |
* Although the city charter specifies that the MTA Board shall have a "chair," Flynn, Vaughns, and McCray have all opted for the style "chairman."
[edit] List of Vice Chairmen of the MTA
| Name | Service Began | Service Ended |
| Enid Ng Lim | 7 March 2000 | 1 July 2003 |
| vacant | 1 July 2003 | 20 January 2004 |
| Michael Kasolas | 20 January 2004 | 1 March 2007 |
| vacant | 1 March 2007 |
[edit] List of Chairs of the MTA Citizens Advisory Council
| Name | Service Began | Service Ended |
| David Pilpel (acting) | 6 July 2000 | 3 August 2000 |
| Linton H. Stables III | 3 August 2000 | 11 July 2002 |
| Daniel Murphy | 11 July 2002 |
[edit] Trivia
- MTA Board member Shirley Breyer Black is the only member of the initial MTA Board in 2000 still serving on the board.
- MTA Board member Shirley Breyer Black is the aunt of United States Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.
- Muni's Flynn Division is named for former MTA Board chair H. Welton Flynn.
- MTA Board member Tom Nolan, before moving to San Francisco, was a member of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, and was the first openly gay member of that body.
- As the current Executive Director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, MTA Board member Leah Shahum may recuse herself from voting on some bicycle projects due to a conflict of interest.
- Director Cameron Beach is the former chief operating officer of the Sacramento Regional Transit District and current vice president of the Market Street Railway.
- Former MTA Board member José Cisneros was later appointed, and subsequently elected, to the position of city Treasurer & Tax Collector.
[edit] External links
- San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
- San Francisco Municipal Railway
- San Francisco Department of Parking and Traffic
- MTA Board of Directors
- MTA Citizens Advisory Council
- Rescue Muni
[edit] Sources
- Collected agendas and minutes of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors
- Proposition E (1999), creating the Municipal Transportation Agency
