por reportes de prensa
Brothers, film director Peter and actor Benjamin Bratt, pose for media reporters during a roundtable interview about their film La Mission, which releases in the Bay Area theaters on April 16. The Bratts, who are from the Mission District, are a pride of the Latino community, and deserve to have your support. (PHOTO BY MARVIN RAMIREZ)
Determined to preserve the bus service they depend on, residents from the City’s low-income communities of color plan to turn out en masse or the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA)’s April 20 budget meeting.
The SFMTA Board will meet to approve the MTA Budget for the next fiscal year. Residents will demand that SFMTA prioritize bus service, not policing, as it decides how to allocate scarce resources.
The SFMTA responded to this year’s deficit of $16.9 million dollars with a 10 percent cut in service. These cuts increase wait times for riders by 1-2 minutes on lines with high ridership, and decreases the number of buses.
Because these buses usually run late, the added delays and service cuts could increase wait times by as much as 20 minutes. These delays and cuts will fall hardest on low-income communities of color who depend on MUNI to get to work and school, to go to the doctor and go shopping—to carry on their lives, according to advocates.
Riders from the Mission, Chinatown, and Southeast San Francisco will call on the MTA Board to take service cuts off the table, and balance the budget by cutting SFPD work orders and instituting progressive revenue measures. They also want to see an end to police involvement in the Proof of Payment program, which has lead to the harassment and intimidation of immigrants, people of color, and youth on the bus.
Expected at the hearing are low-income riders from communities of color, specifically residents of the Mission, Chinatown, and Southeast San Francisco, will be testifying at the MTA Board meeting to demand that the budget is not balanced by service cuts, but instead by reducing work orders and instituting progressive revenue measures.
Organizers of the event include seniors, families and youth from the Chinese Progressive Association (CPA), Chinatown Community Development Corporation (CCDC), Community Tenants Association (CTA), and People Organized to Win Employment Rights (POWER).
The event will take place on Tuesday, April 20 at 2 p.m. in Room 400 of San Francisco City Hall.
For more information in Spanish or English call Beatriz Herrera (POWER) at 646-400-3537 (cell).
