/

.I:: •• =-I

Issue 511/ March 2012

-, .." ,~-~;.~ ('.' . .

... ::~ • •• ••• • '.: >

.Regional Fares

/

.....

Faster BusesI •

Ideas + action for a better city

TH~EU

OSPUR

Navigatinga Better Futurefor Transit

Egon TerplanRegional PlanningDirector

THE URBANIST

Ill,I.~

OSPURSPUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Co-Chairs Board Members GordonMarLeeBlitch Carl Anthony JacintaMcCannLindaJoFitz AlexaArena ChrisMeany

ChrisBlock EzraMerseyCo-Vice Chairs Larry Burnell TerryMicheauEmilioCruz MichaelaCassidy Mary MurphyDavid Friedman MadelineChun JeanneMyersonMary McCue CharmaineCurtis BradPaulWadeRose GiaDanil ler-Katz ChrisPolandV. FeiTsen Keliy Dearman TeresaRea

Shelley Doran ByronRhellSecretary OzErickson Victor SeetoBill Rosell i MannyFlores Elizabeth Seilel

Gillian Gillell Chi-HsinShaoTreasurer ChrisGruwell OntarioSmithBob Gamble Anne Halsted BillStotler

Dave Hartley Stuart SunshineImmediate MaryHuss Michael TeitzPast Co-Chair ChrisIglesias JamesTracyAndyBarnes LaurieJohnson WillTravis

KenKirkey SteveVelieIAdvisory Council Dick Lonergan DebraWalkerCo-Chairs EllenLou CynthiaWilusz-Michael Alexander JanisMacKenzie LovellPaulSedway John Madden Cindy Wu

CHAIRS& COMMITTEES

Program Transportation ExecutiveCommillees EmilioCruz LeeBlitch

Anthony Bruzzone LindaJoFitzBallotAnalysisBobGamble Good Goverment Finance

Bob Gamble Bob GambleDisaster PlanningJacinta McCann Regional Planning Human ResourcesDick Morten LarryBurnell MaryMcCueChrisPoland Libby Seilel

IndividualHousing Operating MembershipEzra Mersey Commillees BillStotlerLydia Tan

Audit InvestmentProjectReview JohnMadden Ann LazarusCharmaineCurtisMary Beth Sanders Nominating Major DonorsReubenSchwartz Stuart Sunshine LindaJoFitz

Anne HalstedSustainable BuildingDevelopment Management Planned GivingPaul Okamoto Larry Burnell MichaelaCassidyBrySarte

Business Silver SPURMembership DaveHartleyTomHart Teresa ReaTerry Micheau

SAN JOSE ADVISORY BOARD

AndyBarnes BrianDarrow MohammadQayoumiChrisBlock JamesMacGregor LydiaTanJ. RichardBraugh ConnieMartinez KimWaleshLarry Burnell Anu Natarajan Jessica Zenk

2 MAR CH 2012

DIR ECTOR'S LETT ER

Transit for theNext Ge eratio

In transit, it 's the small details that ofte n matt er most to riders. When

my two daught ers were younger, it was easier for us to get from

our house in San Francisco to Oakland 's Fairyl and (despite th e 15­

minute walk from the 19th Street BART stat ion) than to many

destinati ons in San Francisco, simply because BART is fast and has

elevato rs, while Muni buses don't allow passengers to board with kids

in st rollers. Last year, we gave up the family car and are now even

more reliant on transit than ever. For us, transit is our ticket to mobility.

Today, pick ing my older daughter up from schoo l requ ires two Muni

buses - a journ ey that only wo rks because the transfer is to a frequent

and reliable route .

In transit, it's also the lit tl e t hings that can lead to big prob lems on the

systemic level: an extra bus stop here; a few more passengers delaying a

trai n leaving the station there; a double-parked car; a missed green light. Across an entire

city - or the entire Bay Area - these little things add up to something that's increasingly

pricey . And cost increases over time wi ll leave us, one day, with a public transit system that

is no longer feasib le to mainta in and ope rate.

San Franciscans know this story all too wel l. For more than a decade we've heard about

various atte mpts to save and impr ove Muni - in 1999, in 2007 and again in 2010. A core

issue is that costs are rising faster than any corresponding increase in service levels.

Buses and tra ins run slowly. Stops are too close toge ther. Some parallel lines have duplicate

- and mediocre - serv ice.

These issues are beco ming more and more common throughout th e Bay Area. Part

of the probl em is that we ask a lot of tran sit. We want our bus stops to be convenient,

and we want serv ice to be fr equent. We want reduced or free fares for youth, but

don 't want serv ice cuts for others. We want our t rip to be fast and th e fare affo rdable.

All of this happens in a contex t where the main alternat ive - dri ving - is underp riced due

to subsidized roads, art if icially low gas prices and ot her facto rs.

Making transit bette r is hard. Many have opinions (r iders, managers, operato rs,

advoca tes), yet their interests don't all align. Land uses and street conditio ns compo und the

challenges - whether in dense urban neighborhoods or sprawli ng, pedestrian-unfr iendly

suburban arterials.

For the past year and a half, the regio n's transportation planning agency, the

Metropolitan Transporta tio n Commission (MTC), has been analyzing service patterns

and cost issues across all of the Bay Area's 27 transit operators. (That's right-27 different

t ransit operators, an average of three for each county.) We've devoted this issue of

The Urbanist to the issues raised by the MTC's proje ct, specifically how to strengthen

transit across the ent ire Bay Area by improving service, controlling costs and attracting

new riders.

Great citie s and regions offer many choices for mob ility. Not everyo ne can walk or bike,

and not everyone can or should dr ive. We simp ly have no othe r optio n than to make

transit work bet ter. Whether or not our famil y remains car fr ee, I want my daughters

growin g up in a city and region where the public systems - includin g publ ic tr ansit ­

are dignifi ed and long-l asting. The ideas in thi s issue explore what we can do now to

achieve that. •

MARCH 2012

NewsatSPURTime to Change theMakeup of the MTCEver since th e Metropolitan Transportation

Com missio n (MTC) began in 1970 , some Bay Area

leaders have so ug ht w ays to improve th e reg ional

transportation p lanning and deci sion -making

board . In the past year, leg islato rs have f loated a

relatively simp le proposal: Add vot ing seats on the

MTC for San Jose and Oakland . Why? The ce nt ral

cit ies of San Franci sco, Oakland and San Jose w ill

be taking on a lar ge sha re of reg io na l g row t h and

sho uld have de d icated seats at the table to vote

on t ranspo rta t ion fun ds. Given t hat San Fra nc isco

already has two guaranteed seats, SPUR endorses

t he id ea of add iti onal seats for Oakland and San

Jose but also sugge sts a bigger reform. Major

decisions at MTC sho uld be made with w eighted

voting, meaning that co m m issioners' votes are

weighted by the number of people and jobs th ey

represent. Thi s ch ange w ould ensure that decisionsare made by those representing the largest share

of Bay Area residents and worker s. Read our

di scussion on th is topic at www.spur.org/mtc .

SPUR AwardedNew Grantfor Ocean Beach WorkOn January 19, the Californ ia

State Coastal Conservancy

awarded SPUR a $40 0,000 grant

to pursue implementat ion

of the recommendat ions in

the Ocean Beach Master Plan, with

matching grants to be provided

by the National Park Service and

the San Francisco Publ ic Utili ties

Commission. The unanimous vote

by the conservancy board (which

funded the master planning

process)

THE URBAN IST

will allow SPUR to continu e

working with pub lic agencies

for a more sustainable approach

to managing erosion at Ocean

Beach while provid ing publi c

access and environmental

protect ion. Plan reco mmen­

dation s include rerouting th e

Great Highway behind the

zoo south of Sloat Boulevard,

allowing for a spectacular

coastal trai l and a more

flexible approach to pro tect ing

wastewater infrastru ctur e from

rising seas.

SPUR SanJose(State University)SPUR now has two members of it s

po licy staf f serving on the faculty

at San Jose State University 's

Departm ent of Urban and

Regional Planning . This semester,

Egon Terplan , SPUR's regional

po licy director, is teaching a

course on local tran sportat ion

planning at the venerabl e

downtown San Jose campus.

Terplan jo ins SPUR's Public Realm

and Urban Design Program

Manager Benjamin Grant, who has

been teaching the history of urban

fo rm and urban design studios

at SJSU since 2006. Terplan and

Grant's involvement is part icularly

tim ely given SPUR's new presence

in San Jose; in fact , the President

of San Jose State Universit y serves

on the SPUR San Jose Advi sory

Board.

Funds for BART toSanJoseApprovedAfte r six decades of work to

extend BART to San Jose, the $2.3

billion needed for impl ementation

has come thr ough from the

Valley Transpor tation Authority

(V TA), the U.S. Department of

Transportat ion and state and local

sales tax measures app roved

by vot ers in 2000 and 2008. The

lQ-m ile extension will break

ground thi s April and should be

running train s to Berr yessa

Stat ion, th e fir st of five planned

statio ns in Santa Clara County,

by 2016.SPUR will be weighing

in on the land use designat ions

around this future station as it

moves forward .

SPUR Supports Senate Bill654 asRedevelopmentDissolvesAs of February 1, redevelopment

agencies ceased to exist in

Califo rnia. While thi s enormou s

change has caused many

probl ems, one of the most

significant is the loss of aff ordable

housing fund s created by

redevelopment areas. Senator

Darrell Steinberg propo sed

Senate Bill 654 in an effort to

preserve these affo rdable housing

resources by ensuring that any

exist ing fund balances on deposit

in the Low and Moderate Income

Housing Fund of a dissolved

redevelopm ent agency woul d

be tran sferred to the successor

agency of the sponsoring

comm unity . The bil l also ensures

that such funds would cont inue

to be used for affordab le housing.

SPUR hopes that this important

law secures passage.

MayorProclaims February15Tomiquia Moss Day inSan FranciscoEach year, th e mayor and th e

board of supervisors recognize

th e not able individuals for their

cont ribut ions to San Francisco.

In celebrat ion of Black

History Month, Mayor Lee

selected SPUR's Community

Planning Policy Direct or Tomiqu ia

Moss as his choi ce for thi s honor.

Her work as the founding dir ector

of the San Francisco Community

Justice Center and her com­

mitment to serv ice in our com­

munit ies and city were recogni zed

in a proc lamation designat ing

Febru ary 15 as Tomiqui a Moss

Day in San Francisco. We

congratulate Tom iqu ia on this I

amazing honor.•

/MAR CH 2012 3

TRANSIT SUSTAINABILITY

Six Ideas for SavingBay Area TransitImproving transit by changing financing, fares, speeds, metrics,

territory and maps.

Summary:The cost of running

tran sit is rising faster than

improvements in service. Drawing

on th e find ings of the MTC's

Transit Susta inability Project, thi s

art icle offers some actionable

ideas to help make tr ansit better.

By Egan Terplan

Every day, Bay Area resident s and visitors take more

than 1.4 mi llion trips on one of 27 different pub lic

transit operators. But for more than a decade, the

costs to operate th ese tran sit systems have been

increasing far faster than any improvements in

service. Unless we make changes now, th e system

will not be sustainable in the future.

Regionwide, transit carries one in ten people to

work. It costs more than $2.2 billion to run th ese 27

tr ansit systems each year. More than $700 million

comes from fares and $1.5 billion is a dir ect subsidy

from a hodg epodge of sources (sales taxes, federal

fund s, state gas tax revenues). By looking out to

2035, these systems will face a combined $17 bil lion

capita l deficit and an $8 billion operatin g deficit.

In recent years, th e costs of runnin g these tr ansit

systems have increased far faster than inf lation,

even as ridership on some bus systems has declined.

About 14,000 peop le wo rk fu ll tim e for the region's

pub lic tr ansit systems. Wages and fr inge benefits

account for more than thr ee-qu art ers of the operat­

ing and maintenance costs of tr ansit , and th e cost

of fringe benefit s in part icular is rising fast. At the

same tim e, bud get shortfa lls, unpredictab le revenues

and serv ice cuts are degrading the quality of publi c

tr ansportat ion. Transit systems face compet it ion from

an underpri ced alternat ive - dri ving - and of ten op­

erate in low-density and auto -ori ented environments

that are not conducive to grow ing ridership.

Unless there is some change to costs and revenues,

4 MA RCH 20 12

with corresponding improvements in service, th e vi­

ability of t ransit in the Bay Area is at risk. Recognizing

this looming crisis, the Metrop ol itan Transport ation

Commission (MTC), the region al agency that fund s

tr ansportation, launched the Transit Sustainability

Project (TSP).

At it s most basic level, the goal of the TSP is to

highlight the challenges facing Bay Area transit and

propose solut ions. The fixes would include controlling

the rapidly rising cost of runnin g the Bay Area's buses

and tr ains as well as restructurin g the types of service

offe red. In short , the Bay Area cannot remain eco­

nomi cally compet it ive, nor meet it s goals of cut t ing

greenhouse gas emissions, without a tran sit system

that does a better job of gett ing peopl e where they

need to go in a cost-e ffect ive and efficient manner.

Much of our new investment in transit is quit e simply

not result ing in bett er service. This has to change.

SPUR interprets the key find ings of th e TSP

report and offers six sugges t ions for how to save our

tr ansit system.

What Doesthe Transit SustainabilityProjectTellUsAbout BayArea Transit?The TSP made four important findin gs about cost and

service delivery of Bay Area tr ansit. Issues of the or­

ganizat ional and institutional st ructure are addr essed

in a separate art icle on page 10.

Finding 1:Costs are increasing faster than inflation

Th isarticleisbasedonadiscussion paper

developed bytheSPURTransportation

PolicyBoard. Read thefullpaperat

spur.org/ tsp

THE URBANI ST

\\\

TRANSIT SUSTA INA BILITY

FIGURE 4

Most Bay Area transit operators carry fewer than 20 people per hour of service

90

80 .

70 .

6 0 .. ...... . . . . .. . .. •. . . . .• . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . .... . .. . .• . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . ... . .. . ... . . ...... ... . . .. . . .. . . ..... . . . .. . . . . .. . . .... . . . . . . .

5 0 .

40 .

3 0 .

AVERAGE 23.63

When passengers transfer between BART or Calt rain

and a local bus, they almost always pay tw o fares

(there are a few except ions, such as free transfers

from Caltrain to Muni). In general, bus systems have

littl e financial incentive to coord inate schedules with

train systems. And the rail systems have no requir e­

ment to help pay for the local bus systems, even

tho ugh they are getti ng addit ional rider s and fares

fro m these bus systems. This doesn't make sense.

The Bay Area needs a regional fare po licy. This is

complicated but certainly possible to imp lement with

the Clipper Card as it is rolled out to all agencies.

One approach would be for regional rail agencies like

BART and Calt rain to pay a bounty to the local opera­

tors who deliver passengers to their systems. For

example, if a passenger takes a local bus from Marti­

nez to the Concord BART stat ion, BART should share

some of the paid fare with County Connection, the

local operator. The end result could be better service

to passengers, because the local agencies will benefit

if they do th e right th ing - like coordinate schedules,

adop t reasonable transfer tariff s and extend th eir

hours of service.

Just as we have a legislat ive analyst in Sacramento

and San Francisco, we need an independent transit

analysis office to both improve the pub lic's compr e­

hension of the challenges facing transit systems and

provide transit operato rs with clearer information on

how and where their partic ular system should im­

prove. There is already a lot of t ransit information out

there. But there is no office with tenure and structural

Improving transit speed and service requires invest­

ments in things like dedicated lanes for buses, signal

priority and other operat ional improvements. When

streets are designed for auto speeds, tr ansit suffers

and costs go up. MTC is already proposing a new $30

mill ion pilot progra m for prioriti zing transit on exist­

ing city st reets to speed service. This annual program

is a good start and should be expanded.

Create a tenured, independent regionaltransit analysis office to collect anddistribute objective information andperformance metrics

Establish a new regional capital invest ­ment program that invests in speedimprovements on key transit corridors

4

3Establish a regional fare policy thatdoes not penalize customers who trans­fer between systems2

Byshift ing fromaguaranteedfunding

streamto abounty paidby the MTC,

operatorswill haveadirect financial

incentiveto increaseridership. Growing

ridershipisoneof thekey goalsfor

improving BayAreatransit.

Passengers perRevenue Vehicle Hours,

Fiscal Year 2009-2010

8 MA RCH 20 12 THE URBA NIST

FIGURE 5

The Region's Transit Vehicle Fleet

TheBay Areahasover4,400 transit ve­

hicles.Over 3,000 (68%) of themarebuses,

makingthismodetheworkhorse for transit

intheregion.

independence whose sole focus is to track transit per­

formance and provide objec t ive input to tra nsit boards

throughout the region.

2,742Motor Buses

5Allow transit operators to pick up anddrop off passengers within each others'service territories

Today, transit bus operato rs all have disti nct serv ice

terr itor ies. These territories are monopolies to th e ex­

tent that one opera tor cannot pick up or drop off pas­

sengers in a territory contro lled by anot her. Operato rs

should be able to pick up and drop off passengers in

each ot her's service territories. (This wou ld, however.

requir e changes to state law.)

815Rail Vehicles

While merging many of the Bay Area's tra nsit systems

is impractica l and not likely to achieve significant

cost savings, making the ent ire regio n feel more like a

single system could achieve many of the same result s.

The Clipp er card is one step in the right direct ion.

Creat ing a single t ransit map for the region would be

another. A further step would be to move toward com­

mon market ing and branding. This app roach has been

taken in Melbourn e, Aust ralia, where there are numer­

ous transit ope rato rs but the pub lic face of transit is a

single brand : Metlink.

What's Next for Transit?Bay Area transit systems, whi le operated separately,

are owned by the same shareholders: th e peop le.

That simple fact should make improving tra nsit for it s

owners ( i.e., it s customers) a top priority. To get the

Bay Area's $1.5 billion in annual transit system invest­

ments to produce bet ter results requires much more

transparency and direct and accountable financial

incentive s. These are not revolut ionary concepts - in

fact, th ey are the basis of all democratic systems. The

system will not get bet ter on it s own. It will start to

unravel unless we make needed changes. A bett er and

sustainable tra nsit system for the region wi ll make a

better Bay Area. •

6Produce a single transit map for the BayArea and move toward common branding 4,467

Tota l

o

313Tro lley Buses

287Ligh t Rail Vehicl es

258Vans

39Cable Cars

13Ferry Boats

TH E URBANIST MAR CH 2012 9

TRAN SIT SUSTA INABILITY

Can We ReduceCosts WhileImproving Service?The Bay Area has 27 separate transit agencies. Should webe trying to make them function more like one?

Summary: The Bay Area has 27 transitagencies but consolidation isn'tnecessarily the answer to better transit.A solution may be found in greatercollaboration and coordinationthroughout the region .

By Boris Lipkin

Transit agenciesin the BayArea and every other

part of th e country are facing unprecedented

challenges. Revenues have shrunk du ring the

recession, while ope rati ng costs conti nue to grow.

With uncert aint y abou t future sources of federal,

state and local fun ding, many agencies are turn ing

to drastic measures to close their budget gaps ­

inc lud ing laying off staff , cutt ing service, increasing

fares, instit ut ing furloughs and/or tr ansferr ing capit al

funds to cover operat ing costs. The Metropolitan

Transportat ion Comm ission (MTC) and th e Bay Area

transit agencies have started to look at the proble m

on a regional level in order to develop a financially

sustainable process and system that can withstand

the imp act of future economic crises on the regional

t ransit system. The Transit Sustainabilit y Project

(TSP) has evaluated the region's tr ansit systems

based on their financial, service and institut ional

characteristics. This art icle w ill lay out how the Bay

Area's insti tut ional framework compares with that of

other transit-r ich reg ions and wi ll examine whether

consolidat ing tr ansit agencies or other solutio ns

might improve that fr amework.

The Bay Area has one of the most complex

combinat ions of tra nsit service providers in the

country. It is home to 27 different tra nsit agencies

- seven large agencies and 20 smaller ones that

together operate every major mod e of transit,

includ ing buses; heavy, light and commuter rail;

10 MAR CH 2012

demand-response serv ices; vanpools; ferries; and

even the San Francisco cable cars. Collectively, the

"Big Seven" make up a significant piece of the pie.'

They accounted for 93 percent of Bay Area transit

operato rs' 2008 operating costs, 88 percent of

2008 revenue vehicle hours and 96 percent of 200 8

ridership. The 27 Bay Area transit agencies serve

almost 500 million passenger tr ips per year and have

a total operat ing budg et of more than $2 billion .

Is the Bay Area unique?The TSP institutional analysis compared the Bay Area

to other regions that have similar levels and types

of services: New York, Chicago , Boston, Washington

D.C., Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Seattle . Only New

York had more operato rs than the Bay Area, with 37.

However, the New York reg ion has nearly thr ee times

th e popu lation of the Bay Area and spends close to

five t imes as much on transit. Al l of the other regions

have fewer operators. For example, Boston and

Philadelphia have just one large operator each, and

six and four smaller operato rs, respectively.

Not only does th e Bay Area have more operators

than the other regio ns, it also has some of th e most

dispersed ope ratio ns. Every other region has at least

one dominant operator that accounts for close to

or significant ly more than 50 percent of the transit

budg et for th e region. In the New York region,

the New York MTA is responsib le for more than 75

BorisLipkin isassociateconsultant at

ParsonsBrinckerhoff

1 TheBigSeven operatorsare Alameda-Contra Costa

Transit District (Ae Transit); BayAreaRapid Transit

District (BART); Golden Gale Bridge. Highway and

Transportation District (Golden Gate); San Francisco

Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA); Peninsula

Corridor Joint Powers Board (Caltrain);San Mateo

County TransitDistrict (SamTrans); and Santa Clara

Valley Transportation Authority (VTA).

THE URBANIST

FIGURE 1

How the number of transit operators in the Bay Area compares with other

peer regions in the US

Percentageof regional

Large Small Total number Total regional budget in largeRegion agencies agencies of agencies transit budget agencies

BAY AREA 7 20 27 $2 .2 billion 93%

NEW YORK CITY 10 27 37 $11.5 billion 94%........................................................................................................................................................................................................PEERAVERAGE 4 11 15 $2.7 bil lion 92%

WASHINGTON D.C. 3 9 12 $1.7 bi llion 92%....................................................................................................................... .......... ....... ................................................................SEATT LE 4 5 9 $1.1billion 79%

PHILADELPH IA 1 4 5 $1.2bil lion 87%................................................................................ ........................................................................................................................LOS A NG ELES 7 13 20 $2.2 billion 84%

CHICAGO

BOSTON

4 11

6

15

7

$2.1billion

$1.2bi llion

96%

96%

The Bay Area's 27operators makethe

region'ssystem morefragmented than

in comparable regions

Not only does theBay Area havemore

separatetransit operatorsthanmost

other USregions,but noneof its7 largest

systemsaccount for morethan30%of the

region'stotal trans it budgel.Thisfractured

transit systemissimilar incomplexity and

challengewith theregion'slOa-piuslocal

governments. Regional planningismade

harder withso manyseparateactors.

percent of the regio nal budget - New York City

Transit account s for 52 percent by itself. In Boston,

the MBTA has 96 percent of the region's tr ansit

budg et. In the Bay Area, no oper ator account s for

even 30 percent of the region 's tran sit services,

creating a comple x regional tran sit system .

What does having so many operators meanfor Bay Area transit?Having so many differe nt operators has an impact

on how tra nsit is prov ided and ulti mately on

how custom ers experience it. Each of the Big Seven

- and many of the smaller operators - has its own

board, executive management, staff, vehicles,

labor contracts and jurisdict ions. Some also have

their own sources of funds, rig hts of way and sets

of influent ial stakeholders.

With each agency acting independe nt ly, not only

are decisions made withou t the benefit of a wider

perspect ive, but some staff may serve duplicate

functions, and expertise gained in one part of the

region may not be applied in other part s of the region.

This approach to prov iding transit may be leading

to inefficiencies or potential redundancies, and we

may be missing out on economies of scale that could

reduce costs and improve the quality and quantity

of service in the region.

Fragmented service can also affect customers.

While the Clipp er Card has unified fare collect ion on

the Big Seven systems, almost every other part of the

customer experience remains as disparate as ever.

There is no region-wide service planning, and each

system has its own branding, maps, schedules, fare

structures and way finding system s. Clipper aside, a

customer from one part of the reg ion would likely be

as familiar with t ransit in other parts of th e country as

THE URBA NIST

she wou ld with transit in ot her parts of the reg ion.

What can be done to improve the region'sinstitutional structure for transit?Having 27 independent operators may seem inef­

ficient, but merg ing some or all of them would not

necessarily lead to better outcomes. Consolidation ­

either of specific functions, such as vehicle procure­

ment, or of agencies outright - may be th e right

solut ion in some select cases but not in ot hers.

There could be several reasons why larger agen­

cies or one "superage ncy " wou ld not necessarily

produce better result s than what we have today. The

cost st ructures among agencies are vast ly diff erent.

While some consolidat ions might achieve economies

of scale, there could be other instances where com­

bining agencies would result in higher costs. Addi­

t ionally, the agencies serve different purposes, have

diff erent goa ls and operate in different geographies.

Examples in ot her regions show potentia l for

greater collaboration, coordinati on and select func­

tional consolidat ion to produce posit ive out com es.

For example, the New York MTA consolidated some

of the admini strative fun cti ons of its operators

into a business service center, which is saving the

agency millions of dollars per year. In th e Bay Area,

regional tran sit operators can examine areas such

as customer service, IT, marketing , service planning ,

capital planning and vehicle pro curement for op­

portun it ies for greater effi ciency. These changes wil l

not happen overn ight, but by working together, the

t ransit providers and the MTCcan create th e ongoing

collabo rativ e proce sses and insti tut ional changes

that wi ll reduce costs and improve transit service in

the region. The Transit Sustainability Project is the

first step. •

The views expressed in this article

are solely those of the author and

no t necessarily of the Metropoli ­

tan Transportation Commission,

Parsons Brinckerhoff or any other

organization.

MAR CH 2012 11

Terminal Station - Metro-at transfer station

s:co

~ou

Umversitles and Colleges

Points of Interest

IntercityBusStation(Greyhound)

~ Hospital

~@@l

Ferries• (Golden Gate Ferry, Baylink,

Oakland/Alameda Ferry)

Rail line under construction-future station

Terminal Station- Metro-with metro line number

Transfer Zone-requiresleaving station to transfer

Stations and TransfersMetro/Subway Station

Transfer Station

SubwaYfMetroBART Fremont- RichmondUne

liD BART Pitlsburg/Bay Point - SFAirport UneG) BART Fremont - Daly City Une

ClD BART Richmond - MillbraeLine

(iIi) BART Dublin/pleasanton- Daly City Une

CD Caltrain Baby Bullet Express Une

(f) Caltrain Local Line

Light Rail/Streetcar0 Muni Markel/Embarcadero Streetcar

Muni Church Metro Une

0 Muni Ingleside Metro Une

e Muni Taraval Metro Line

e Muni Oceanview MetroLine

$ Muni Judah Metro Line

0 Muni ThirdStreet Metro Line1 VTA AlumRock-SantaTeresa Une (90l)

VTA MountainView -Winchester Une (902)

m VTA Ohlone/Chynoweth - Almaden Line (900

Rapid Bus(Umiteds and Rapids)[O

Regional Rail(Amtrak,Capital Corridor,ACE)Local Buses(GoldenGate, SamTrans)

Bus Rapid TransitjRapidsf1lil VTA EI Camino -AlumRock Rapidtilt ACTransit International -TelegraphRapidtilt AC Transit San Pablo Ave RapidQ!li) Wheels Tri Valley RapidCD Muni BayshoreExpress - San Bruno/GenevaD Muni San Bruno Umitedtm Muni MissionUmitedD Muni San Bruno Umited_ Muni Geary Limited

Local Bus Routesl!t!l Golden Gate Transit San Francisco - Santa Rosa~ SamTrans EI Camino Real Lines

!ill SubwaYfMetr o(BART, Caltrain)

Light Rail(Muni Metro, VTAUght Rail)

Streetcar(Historic FMarketl

(±) Airport

Iii\ TramStation~ (longdistance)

r:;;:::.. HighSpeed Rail't::::::J TrainStation

Brian Stokle isan urbanist who specializes in

cartography and transportationplanning.You

canseemore ofBrian's map workon hisblog

UrbanLife Signs: urbanlifesigns.blogspol.com.

Although only 47 square miles, San

Fra ncisco hasmuch moretransitthan thePeninsulaorthe East Bay. Consequent ly,

it has been made disproportionately large

inorder tokeep the map legible, while

other areas arecondensed insize.Thismapendeavors tomaintain some sense of

geography forreference,andshows all the

rail andrapidbus routes.

Map by Brian Stokle

Text by A llison Arieff

A Note on this Map: Maps are highly contested

territo ry, nearly impossible to create without arousing

suspicion, ire or alternate viewpo ints. As such the

job of the cartog rapher is one not just of art but

of dip lomacy. Here, mapmaker Brian Stok le has

endeavored to create two visions of the Bay Area'stransit systems exclusively for The Urbanist. On these

two pages is a map representing all of the t ransit

routes in the Bay Area to illustrate the pote ntia l for

connectiv ity betwee n exist ing systems (as well asthose under construct ion). On the following two

pages, Sto kle presents a somewhat utopian vision of

what Bay Area tr ansit could look like in the future .

The form er aims to demonstrate how far a singlemap could go toward impr oving not only legibi lit y of

our many systems but act ual transit mobility. Both

maps have been designed to promo te conversation- and even provoke debate - around the futu re

sustainability of transit in our region .

As Stokle explains, most tr ansit maps do little to

show the routes of nearby systems, which makessystem legib ility, not to ment ion transit mobility, quit e

limited. The MUNI map is helpfu l for navigat ing San

Francisco, for example, but there is no comparable

regional map to help one navigate easily between

say, San Jose and Oakland. This integrated map of

the Bay Area's rail and rapid bus system aims to showhow a legible map mig ht positively affec t transit

mobility in the region . This map reveals some of the

geog raphic and othe r logistical challenges to making

an integrated regional tr ansit map given that the

Bay Area is vast and there is a 50- mile long body of

water in the midd le of it.

TRANSIT SUSTA INABILITY

One mapmaker's vision for

a single integrated Bay Area

transit map

RealityThe

12 MARCH 2012 THE URBAN IST

to Stockton& Fresno

lawrenceLivermorela b

6!lil

SanJose

"$m,.Wt!ttit!ltiL----

IlwarmSprings

•

AntiochI '

:. ',- liD

North Concord • l'iJ • • :!lHillcrest AveAntioch

East Bay

I=l-Martinez "® '<:::::====:::!::!!~!!!!!===--

~V'""

Peninsula

Marin

...Oyster Point

South San FranciscoSanBruno (Callrain)

South San Franciscol<::::;;~~tA~==~~~~I~Ca~lIri:ain) ~liD(BARTl +- IIilIIilIilIIIi

San Bruno(BARTl

Sanrancisco

g Point Lobos~--..ilIOIo~-h--':~

IHij1jl:ttAMQ

TRANSIT SUSTA INABILITY

Stations and TransfersMetro/ Subway Station

Transler Station

Transfer Zone(requires leaving station to transfer)

mml!llII TerminalStation- MetroB (with metro line number)

APossibleFuture

New Rail, Serviceand ExtensionsHigh-Speed Rail

s CAHSR SanFrancisco- SanJose- LosAngeles

Metro (BART & Commuter Rail )BART Richmond - SanJoseDiridonBART SanJoseDiridon - DalyCity

(!1l) BART Metro Downtown Berkeley- CivicCenterBART Metro BayFair - CivicCenter

Il9 eBART Pittsburg/Bay Point - Hillcrest/Antioch

em W:lg~r SanJoseDiridon - American Canyon_ ACE Downtown Livermore- SanJoseDiridonCD Caltrain BabyBullet- extendtoTransbayTerm.e!) Caltrain Local Line- extendtoTranbayTerm.

andEast Bayvia2ndTransbay Tube

Rapid Bus (Local/Express)m AC Transit MacArthur Bd: Coliseum-TransbayTerm.m AC Transit )-80: Vallejo-Transbay Terminal01lll CountyConecl. San Ramon Valley: PleasantHill-Haciendal!llID VTA Dumbarton: Union City-StanfordRes.Prk.mm VTAlSamtrans SanJoseDiridon-Millbraemil Muni Oakdale/Palou-24th Street/Mission

N

5:itUniversities andColleges

Pointsof Interest

IntercityBusStation(Greyhound)

(±J Hospital

~@@J

Regional RailSanta Rosa-LarkspurMonterey-SacramentoStockton-SanJoseDiridon

Light RailextendedtoSF State- EmbarcaderoreroutedtoDalyCity - EmbarcaderoLombard- BayshoreextendedtoEastridge - SantaTeresaextendedtoVasonaJunction- Downtownrealigned: Almaden - MountainViewCapitol/Guadalupe - Mountain ViewSanJoseAirport ConnectorOakland AirportConnector

StreetcarFortMason- 4th&KingJack London Square toEmeryville

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)MountainView- Eastridge MallDe Anza College- Eastridge MallEI Camino: PaloAlto - DalyCityTri-Valley BRT: LivermoreLab-StoneridgeSanta Rosa - TransbayTerminalBay Fair - Berkeley Marina16thStreet: 4th&Townsend- ChurchGeary: Point Lobos - TransbayTerminalVanNess:Fisherman's Wharf- 4th&KingVanNess: Fort Mason- City CollegeSF

SMARTCapitalACE

~ Airport

Iii\ Train Station~ (longdistance)

t:::::\ High Speed Rail"'::::::J TrainStation

o MuniT Muni

Munie Munio Muni!Ii VTA

VTAm VTAm VTAW VTAlim BART

@ VTAQ;!) VTAe1J SamTrans6!Ii) Wheels~ Golden Gatem ACTransitWi! Muni9 Munimil MuniQilll Muni

Text and Map

by Brian Stokle

Planning ahead fo r future tr ansportati on infrastru c­

ture is alway s impor tant, even during economically

challenging tim es, because building and imp lement­

ing new projects require years of plannin g, gathering

fun ds and garnering politi cal and communit y support

and review.

This map highli ghts future project s - some

planned, some th eoreti cal - th at would im prove

tr ansit serv ice in t he Bay Area. Also includ ed are new

service, extensions and reroutings where signif icant

access im provements wo uld benefit localiti es and

the region as a who le; a second Transbay Tube;

numerous bus rap id-t ransit extensions throughout th e

region; and express bus service along th e Peninsula

to serv ice employ ment areas east of Highway 101.

Some planned or prop osed tr ansit project s are

not shown - such as BART to Liverm ore, Dumbarton

Rail, and the cont inued BART extension f rom San

Jose's Dirido n to Santa Clara. Whi le SPUR previously

endorsed th e first two extensions in its 20 08 report

"A Midlife Crisis for Regional Rai!," th ey are excluded

here both due to quest ions about th ose projects'

costs/benefits and to spark cont inued debate abo ut

w hich tr ansit investm ent s would have the greates t

posit ive benefit to rid ers. When looking at serv ice

rather than mod es (e.g., rail , bus), we find that many

areas would be better served by high qualit y bus rapid

tr ansit instead of new rail serv ice. While rail serv ice

is desirable, it is of ten not cost-e ffec t ive and lacks

demand in part icular co rrido rs or to certa in sta t ions.

What a comprehensive regional

transit system might look like

14 MA RCH 20 12 THE URBANI ST

to Salinas andMonterey

~

' Jt.1lltl :1ttm:m_ ®•

' ~ Antioch: . ' , 4lIl)

NorthConcord RailroadAvePittsburg

ISantaTeresa I

I ~fu~ &Stockton

, .... ::>

I DU b l i nlPleasanto~_.~:'.It• • Ef\l=::':";''''--~~ VascoRoad

~r~_

elD S ' n/American F~:~~e ld Vacaville Davis Sac rame nlo~Can ~~:=O==J

Peninsula

~ High Speed Rail

= Metro ICaltrain, ACE,- Capital Corridor)

III Metro {BARTl

Ii! Light Rail •= Str eetcar~ . ~ . ~

~C Bus Rapid Transit

~ Local Rapid Bus

,I Regional Rail

----. .... Ferry

Marin

IOceanBeachI

Fr

URBAN FIELD NOT ES

•

..

o PigeonsDespit e all the countermeasures

we take to keep pigeons off our

building s, they always find a

workaround. Pigeons are almost

as despised as rats, but I can't help

but be amazed at their tenacity

and the beauty of th eir flight as

they swoop down thr ough the un­

natu ral canyons of our cit ies.

B StarlingsOn an October day, a flock of

starlings settle onto the wires and

cranes of the shipyar ds along Third

Street. Their flocking does not

seem to happen in any consisten t

place, though they do seem to

gravitate toward a few trees out­

side San Francisco's Main Library.

Sometimes, architecture rea lly is

fo r t he b irds.

Caseworker: Adrian Cotter

Adrian Cotler worksas aweb developerfor

theSierraClub,butspendsagoodamount

of timewanderingcity streetsandtrailsand

drawingand photographing thenatura l and

unnatural thingshefindsthere.

16 MARCH 2012

I began lookingup into the sky one day while passing

Verba Buena Gardens and was amazed by a swarm

of sta rlings shifti ng thr ough the air. Since then,

stro lling down every San Francisco street feels like a

nature walk, and every building looks like a potentia l

home for all manner of creatures.

I really got hooked when I stopped along my

commute one day to watch a raven soar and then fly

into its nest on a courthouse in downtown San

Francisco. Over a coup le of month s, I watched the

spectacle of four chicks hatchin g, leaving the

nest and dispersing into the wild above the heads of

my fellow city dwellers. I waited impat ient ly the

next year, wondering where they'd gon e and if

they'd come back. They did, but only to be driv en

off by a small gang of crows, whereupon I notic ed a

different sort of spectacle: the argum ent over

the vert ical spaces we have created with buildings

and trees.

I discovered hawks nest ing on Ninth Street, as well

as ravens nesting on City Hall and in Union Square

and taking over Cow Palace as their own playground,

groups of crows interspersed - and vigorously

defending th eir terr ito ries. Among other species,

I observed pigeons and weste rn gulls, Brewer 's

blackbirds and European star lings. There's no

question that there's plenty of nature living in our

built enviro nment - and not just birds but raccoons,

skunks, ow ls, bats and more.

Case Study #46:

A Spectacleof Ravens

B RavensOne day in December, dozens ofravens play in the Bayshore, nest­

ing in trees around the Cow Palace.

I first not iced them when going tothe Bike Expo there, watching up

to 50 ravens play in the updraft of

the bui lding.

mRaven FledglingsFour f ledglings and a parent

wander about atop the federal

courthouse at Ninth and Mission

- th is was the group I watched

for a few month s on my commute

to work. Tragedy struck when one

of the nestl ings left the ledge and

was run over.

o HawksThe fir st tim e I saw the hawks

living on Ninth and Market, one

of them was f lapping about

awkwardly gripping a pigeon in

its talons, while the other followed

closely behind hoping, perhaps,

for a piece of the act ion.

When not in their nest, thispair can often be found sitt ing on

flagpoles across from the Federal

Building on Seventh and Mis­

sion or the bell tower at Mission

Dolores. •

THE URBAN IST MA RCH 2012 17

CITY NE WS FRO M AROUND THE GLOBE

City: A Guidebookfor theUrban Age

Einstein biographer and Univer­

sit y College London researcher

P.D. Smith has pub lished City:AGuidebook for th e Urban Age, acharming ly obsessive explorat ion

in words and pictur es of 7,000

years of urban life. From the

earliest Sumerian city of Eridu to

the wired eco-c it ies of the fut ure,

Smith embarks on a multi-centur y

tour highlighting urban history,

customs, infrast ructure, architec­

tur e, langu age, markets, crime,

parks, cemeteries, transportat ion,

food and leisure act ivit ies across

cultures. Discursive, imagin ative

and comprehensive, Smith's analy­

sis of every thing from th e Hanging

Gardens of Babylon to skateboard­

ing and graffit i should be savored.

Starredreview,Publishers Weekly.2/13/2012

Public Transit's Hidden Gender

Imbalance

Transportation data gathered by

Gendered Innovations, a project

devot ed to gender analysis at

Stanford Universit y, bring s to

18 MA RCH 2012

light updated information on

users of pub lic tr ansportation.

Despit e shift ing societa l roles and

responsibiliti es, it is st ill often

women who provide family care

services like grocery shopping,

and many women are using

pub lic transport ation to do this.

Previous ridership studies ofte n

neglected to include "care work "

as a user categ ory, thus leaving

out a significant numbe r of

female riders.This new data can

provide critica l contribut ions to

publ ic transportation design, such

as ramps and wid er aisles for

st rollers.

"PublicTransportation'sHidden Gender Imbalance,"

TheAtlantic Cities. 2/1/2012

Bungee Beware

The highest cable-stayed brid ge

in th e world now hovers over th e

massive ravine form ed by the

Baluarte River, known to locals as

th e "Devils Backbone." Located

on the bord er between Sinaloa

and Durango in western Mexico,

the brid ge stands at 1,322 feet ­

over 250 feet taller than the Eiffel

Tower.

Designed to significant ly cut

travel tim e between Durango and

tour ist-dri ven Mazatlan, the bridg e

is also expected to help stabilize

the region and boost the economy,

with effo rt s to curta il drug produ c-

tion and tr ansport. According

to th e EI Universal daily paper,

engineers on the Baluart e project

said they were "contacted by local

drug lords and ord ered not to

begin construct ion until aft er the

[marijuana] harvest. The engineers

complied and th e two sides now

respect each other."

"MexicoBuilds Record-BreakingBridgein Drug

Region: ' LosAngeles Times. 1/27/2012

Walkability Trumps

Square Footage

A monum enta l shift is taking place

among homebuyers. A recent

survey conducted for the National

Associat ion of Realto rs report ed

that 60 percent of respond ents

would sacrifice a bigger house

to live in a walkable, mixed-use

neighb orhood. Addit ionally, 75

percent of respond ents report ed

"wa lkability " as one of the top

priorit ies when decid ing where to

call home. Multi ple factors

are likely responsible for thi s shift

away from th e house-and-yard­

in-th e-suburb s ideal, includ ing

broadening awareness of the

health benefit s of city -living

versus suburban or rural living,

environmental concerns that

promote less dr iving, and the

housing bust which has forced

people to re-think what const itutes

their "dream" home.

"Most Americans Want a Walkable Neighborhood,

Not a Big House: ' Good. 2/7/2012

An Urban Amazon?

Deep in the Amazon rainforest,

recent archaeological discoveries

have upended previous

concept ions of the wor ld's

largest tropi cal rain forest. "The

deforestat ion that has stripped

the Amazon since th e 1970s

has also exposed a long-hidd en

secret lurking underneath th ick

rain forest: flawlessly designed

geometric shapes spanning

hundreds of yards in diameter,"

said Simon Romero of the New

York Times. Previously regarded

as pristine and virtually

uninhab ited for all of tim e, these

geoglyphs suggest that the

Amazon was likely populated for

centuries by th ousands of peopl e,

living in organized communit ies

and connected by an intricate

network of highly developed

roads and large-scale agricultural

parcels.

"Once Hidden by Forest, Carvingsin Land Attest

to Amazon'sLost World," TheNew York Times,

1/14/2012.

Payphone:

Anachronism or Opportunity?

What do pay phones and books

have in common?lmpending

obsolescence. But Columbia

architec ture grad John Locke

seeks to extend the future of

both , fostering community

and literacy by creating public

phone libraries thr ough out

Manhatt an. He designed custo m

shelves and round ed up enough

donated books to fi ll them and

let cit y residents do th e rest. " I'm

interested in pay phones because

they are both anachronist ic and

quotidian...but [ph one booth s] can

also be a place of opportunity ..."

As for books, he cont inues,

"They're the greatest th ings ever,

and everyone should have mor e."

In some locat ions, book s were

sto len; in another, the shelves

were removed, but Locke remains

undeterred.

JohnLocke's blog,Gracefulspoon.com, February 2011

TH E URBAN IST

MEMBER PROFILE

Jean FraserChief of theHealth SystemforSan Mateo County

and member, Board ofDirectors,SF BikeCoalition

and their parents. Plus, it 's a great

way to int roduce people to th e SF

Bike Coalit ion and our mission

of makin g th e city safe and inviti ng

for peop le aged 8 to 80 to ride

a bike for everyday purposes.

You've seen SPUR's past and

present. What do you think is

crucial for SPUR's future as an

organization?

I am very excited about SPUR

opening an office in San Jose.

So many of our issues have to be

solved regionally, such as trans­

portat ion, housing , preparing for

climate change, locat ing job s in

urban cores. I work in San Mateo

County, which could really benef it

from SPUR's work if it had a more

region al focus. As for SPUR's own

sustainabi lity, my husband and I

feel that we have an obligati on to

give back to our own comm unity.

That 's why we are major donors to

SPUR and have included SPUR in

our estate plan. •

You're an avid cyclist and serve

on the board of the San Francisco

Bicycle Coalition. Why are we

seeing such an increased interest

in biking, and how is that good

for cities?

I bike for t ransportat ion because

it's the most reliable, easiest

and most eff icient way to get

around San Francisco, and tens

of thou sands of other peop le are

discovering the same th ing. Driv­

ing is a hassle and expensive, Muni

is far better than it used to be but

st ill unreliab le and oft en slow, and

walk ing any distance takes too

long. Every minu te counts for me

as I have a more than full-time job

plus a family. On a bike, you can

get anyw here in San Francisco in

30 minu tes or less dressed in a suit

and heels, even from the Rich­

mon d where I live, and you never

get stuck in traffic jams. And I can

eat browni es and never have to go

to a gym.

You founded the kids' cycling

program Freedom from Training

Wheels - what inspired that?

We all remember learning to ride

a bike and that moment when you

got it and then you were free; it 's

the closest thing to flying. Sharing

that joy wi th hundreds of kids and

their parents is a kick ! And since

kids take inst ruct ion much bett er

from an adult oth er than their

parents, I can help both the kids

isolat ion and danger and sprawl.

Walk ing and bik ing support

peop le's connectedness and make

our streets quieter, safer, healthi er

and much, much more interesting.

But a walkable, bikab le commu­

nity also needs excellent pub lic

tr ansit because all of us need a lift

somet imes.

Walkingthe Walk

When Jean Fra ser isn't hard at work as Chief of th e

Hea lth System for San Mateo County she's busy

promoti ng walkable, b ikabl e, livabl e co m munities

as a cri tical co m pone nt of pub lic health. Frase r

firs t became acquainted w ith SPUR throug h its

"indispensab le" voter guide. "I was so happy to

find an organization th at was committed to good

government, great architecture and open space,

and the many things needed to support a great

city," she explains. " I love that SPUR brings peop le

of all poli t ical st ripes together to have honest

conversations about t he tough issues."

You have a particular interest in

walkable, bikable communities.

How do these elements make a

city more livable?

People live in cit ies to have access

to other peop le and th e ideas,

goods and services they create,

and to feel safe and welcome in a

community. A car is ant ithetical to

what cities are all about. creating

WELCOM E TO OUR NEW MEMBERS!

Joe AhrenholtzDanielleAmarantPeter ArmstrongHourig Ayanyan McCrayBaker Street AssociatesGeoffrey Bartonlinda BeckerBensonIndustriesMaraBlitzerDerekBowerElizabeth BridgesCaitlinCampbell

Jose CamposJonChristensenKaitlyn ConnorsJ.Marien CossJay CrossJulieDohertyDerekDrishAlexander EngHeidi FaisonSally FeeCharlieFitzgeraldOscarGonzalez

ChristieHarbinskiMikeHawkinsMichael HennesseyEmily HopeRobert HuntEric IbsenAlexandra JanosClaytonJewBen KaufmanNoraR. KlebowStephenKochCa meronKramlich

lisa KucikAnima Sarah LaVoyEmily LeskLorenzolistanaAlex LoftonReed MartinJustin McCormickLawrenceMcGuireSuzanne MerdithPeterMoylanCaseyNoelAdam Phillips

Erin PidotLei laPikeKika ProbstRyan RaceIvana RosasSusanna G. RussoDesireeMSmithDarrellSommerlattErica StephanAndrewSullinsDon TomasiTedTrautman

Marko Tu lcanazaAdrienne TurnerJulieVeitDeborah VickGertrude VillanuevaHannahWaenRobinWaldroupHsiao-li WangMarci WassermanMatthewWisn iewskiRonaldYearwood

THE URBANI ST MARCH 2012 19

32nd AnnualGood Government Awards

MondayMarch 19, 20125:30 PM

spur.org/ggawards

Th e 32 nd Annual MFAC Good Government Awards are sponsored by the Municipal Fiscal Advisory

Committee (MFAC), a project of San Francisco Planning and Urban Research (SPUR). Fo r 32 years,

these aw ards have recognized ou tstanding performances by managers working for th e City and County of

San Franci sco . These awards represent a uni que opportunity to ac know led ge San Francisco's top managers

for t hei r leadership, vi sion and ab ili ty to make a d ifference both wi thin city government and the

co m munit y at large. Please join us in rec ognizing this year 's awa rdees, highligh ted in t he following pages.

Thank you to our generous event sponsors (pa rtia l list as of 2/14/12)

CHA IR

W ad e RoseVice Presi de nt, Exte rna l & Gove rnm ent Relations* Dignity Health.ADVOCAT ES

.. Pacific Gas andr:li'dl Electric Company'

STEWA RDS

Academy of A rt University · A ECOM • Anonymous · Co mcast •KPMG LLP • Reco logy • San Francisco Waterfront Partners LLC •Sho renste in Co m pany LLC

PARTN ERS

A r u p • B lue Shie ld o f Ca lif o rn ia' Bro wn an d Ca ld we ll· HOK • Jacobs '

J ones Hall , PB • Pu b li c Financi al Man ag emen t, In c .• Sa n Francisco Gia nts'

Sa n Franci sc o Internationa l A ir port

SUPPORTERS

AR CADI S Malco lm Pirn ie, Inc. • Avant Hou sing /AGI Cap ita l· An dy & Sara Barn es·Emerald Fund , Inc . • Rob Evans & Terry Micheau • Anne Halsted & Wells Whitney·Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction Co • Hawkin s Delafield & Wood LLP • Jacob s Associates·Richard Lon erg an· McKinsey & Company. LLC • MJM Manag ement Group·San Francisco Municip al Transportation Agency· Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP •Presid io Gradu ate Schoo l · Skidmore . Owings & Merrill , LLP • Stone & Youngbe rg LLC

HONORA RY MFAC CO MMITTEE

Th e Honorable Ed w in M. LeeThe Honorable Gavin NewsomThe Honorable Wi llie L. Brown, Jr.

The Honorable Frank JordanTh e Honorable Art Ag nos

The Honorable Dianne FeinsteinMrs. Gina Moscone

MEDIA SPONSORS

~CLEARCHA1:i.tl,m· @:omcast. IllisiDessTimes

ABOUT MFACA proj ect of SPUR, MFAC has bee n at the service of each

San Francisco mayor fo r more than 30 years. Through a net worko f communit y pa r tne rs. MFAC connects City department s to pro

bo no consulti ng resources to help im prove Cit y services.

SPONSORSHIPS & TICKETS AVAILABLE ONLINE ATspur.org/ggawards

2012 MFAC

Public ManagerialExcellence Awards

The Municipal Fiscal Ad visory Comm ittee eM FAC) is pleased to host

the 32nd annual Good Government Awards in March 2012. Th is event

recognizes and acknowledges exemplary job performance and leadership

by employees of the City and County of San Francisco.

Event cha ir W ade Rose of Dignity Hea lth, city department heads and

Mayor Ed Lee wi ll present Ed Harrington with a Lifetime Achievement

Award and a select number of outstand ing city employees with the

distinguished Pub lic Managerial Exce llence Award. Please join us!

LIFETIM E ACHI EVEMENT AWARD

Ed HarringtonGenera l Manager of t he San Francisco Pub lic Utility Commiss ion

SPUR has chosen to hon o r Ed Harrington fo r a lifet ime of service to t he City

and County of San Franc isco, incl ud ing unpa ra lleled fi scal leadership and

managerial excellence through five mayoral admin istrat ions. Harrington

currently serves as the general manager of the San Francisco Public Ut ilities

Commission (SFPUC), a regional util ity t hat delivers water to 2.5 m illion

Bay Area customers, co llects and treats wastewate r and sto rm wate r, and

p rov ides hyd ro electr ic and ot he r renewab le power reso urces fo r San

Fra ncisco municipal custome rs. From 1991 to 2008, Harr ing ton ser ved

as San Francisco's contro ller, where he administered San Francisco's $6.1

billion budget. Before becoming control ler, he worked with the SFPUC, the

Mun icipal Railway, the W ater Department and the Hetch Hetchy Water and

Power Syste m .

2012 MFAC PUBLIC MANAGERIALEXCELLENCE AWARD WINNERS

In t he 2011-2 012 cycle, w e co nsidered 19 individ ualsand 12 teams. Of t hese 31 nom inat ion s, we selec tedf ive winn er s:

Jocelyn QuintosDivision Manager, Busi ness Ser v ices Divi sion , Finance and Admini strat ionDepart m en t of Pub lic W orks (DPW)

Harlan L. Kelly Jr.A ssista nt Genera l Manager, Inf rast ructu re, Pub lic Ut il it ies Commission (PUC)

Steven Cast ileGo lf and Turf Operat ion s Manager, Recreatio n and Par k Department

Municipal Tax Automation TeamOffice of th e Treasu re r and Tax Co llec tor

SFpa rk Pilot ProgramSan Fra nc isco Municipa l Transportatio n Agency (SFMTA)

Jocelyn Quintos was chosen for her

outstand ing leadership and manage­ment of DPW's account ing operatio ns.

In just six month s, working across

many city depa rtments, her dilige nce

Harlan L. Kelly Jr. was chosen for his

exemplary leadership in the delivery

and imp lementation of the PUC'slO-year capital improvement prog ram

for water, sewer and power, and his

specif ic innovation on the Construc­t ion Management Information System

Steven Castile, who manages thecity 's agronomical pract ices for five

golf courses, th ree stadiums (includ­

ing Candlesti ck and Kezar stadiums)

and 220 parks, was selected for his

Darrell Ascano, Senior Inform ationSystems Engineer

Tajel Shah, Director, Budget andOperations

Rebecca Villareal-Mayer, Senior

Business Analyst

Jay Primus, Project Manager

George Reynolds, Park ing Meter

Superintendent

Steven Lee, Financial Contrac ts and

Services

Lorraine Fuqua, Manager, On-Stre et

Parking Services Cont racts

and dedicat ion led to the automat ionof DPW's cont ract serv ice orders,

change orders and HRC compliance/payment author ization systems. This

resulted in a signif icant reducti on in

(CMIS) to address inefficiencies inlarge, complex capital projects . By

streamlining and coordinating tasks,and by enhancing transparency and

accountability with a cloud- based

system, CMIS enables project manag­ers throughout the geographically

commitment to preserving publi c

access to parks while ensuring envi­ronmental susta inability of parkland.

His partic ular accomplishments in

bringing Harding Park up to the ex-

The Municipal Tax Collection Team is

being honored for its excellent team­work and achievement in upgrading

the technology used to collect andprocess the major ity of the cit y's

General Fund revenue. By adopting an

aggressive, non- incremental approach

The SFpark team is being honored

for its implementation of the ground­

breaking smart park ing management

pro gram SFpark. The progressive

park ing management program pro­

vides convenience to drivers, reduces

t raff ic and is instru mental in helping

processing tim es, faster mobilization

of cont ractors to start work and com­

plete eliminat ion of delays associatedwith paper-based approval processes.

dispersed project areas to make fasterand more inform ed decisions. The im­

proved CMIS has already cont ributed

to an overall Water System Improve­ment Program cost savings of $167.6

million.

pectations of th e PGA Tour illustra te

his creativity in staff management

and resource allocatio n to create aworl d-class golf venue that generates

visibili ty and income for the city .

- upgrading the entire system over

eight mont hs - the team successfullyexecuted a complex project that has

changed the way tax information is

collected and funds are received. Thishas resulted in increased taxpayer

compliance and expense savings'.

the city move towa rd a demand­

based pricing system. The SFpark

team designed and imp lemented a

large pi lot program und er tight t ime

constr aint s, demonst rati ng innova­

tio n within an area of the pub lic

realm that is often taken for granted.

iII

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