Board Meeting for Tuesday, March 15: Vision Zero Update, Muni Improvements & the Budget

Today’s Board of Directors meeting covered several Muni improvements and a thorough discussion of current budget issues, as the Board considers measures for balancing the budget due to the Board of Supervisors and the mayor by May 1.

Ed Reiskin began his director’s report with an expression of grief and condolences on behalf of the agency in response to the recent traffic collision injuries and fatalities in San Francisco. He offered the thoughts and heartfelt sympathy of the agency to the families and loved ones of those pedestrians injured or killed in crashes this month. He continued by emphasizing the agency’s ongoing commitment to street safety.

The SFMTA’s number one priority is the safety of everyone using San Francisco’s streets. That’s why we are working hard to improve pedestrian safety citywide. As the agency continues to focus on its Vision Zero goal of eliminating SF traffic deaths by 2024, he noted the following milestones:

• Exceeded the goal of completing 24 high-priority Vision Zero projects in 24 months and completed six additional projects in that time.

• Installed traffic safety improvements on 13 miles of city streets in 2015. In 2016 we will make 13 miles of additional improvements.
   
• By the end of 2016, the city will have improved hundreds of the highest need intersections with near-term safety measures like high-visibility crosswalks, traffic signal re-timing and red zones.  

In today’s meeting, the Board considered and passed two items – the Lombard Street Safety project and the 30 Stockton project. They also approved the reduction of tow fees for first-time offenders and a further reduction for low income customers whose cars are towed. In addition to these actions, the Board conducted a robust discussion of the various budget priorities put forward by staff.