Denise Green addresses the SFMTA Board of Directors during her special recognition award.
Muni’s operators and station personnel are on the front lines of our city’s security. They help keep passengers and people in our stations safe from danger. And earlier this year, we had a standout example.
On the morning of Feb. 19, Transit Supervisor Denise Green was at her usual spot in Muni’s Chinatown station. A young woman approached the booth and asked Denise for directions on the Southbound T Third.
Denise’s antenna immediately went up. “I looked at her and thought, ‘Wait a minute,’” Denise said. “Something about her eyes, hoodie and face mask seemed wrong.” Denise gave the young woman the information she asked for and watched as she made her way through the station.
“I immediately looked up articles on my phone,” Denise said. A young woman last seen wearing burgundy pants and a black hoodie had been reported missing. Denise walked past the young woman and thought, “Oh, oh. She does have burgundy pants on.”
Denise immediately worked the phones. She called the SFMTA’s Transit Management Center (TMC) and described the young woman. “Are you sure it’s her?” she said the TMC asked her. “Yes, I’m sure,” Denise responded.
She told the TMC she could see the T Third train was at Yerba Buena Station, and to get an inspector to board at 4th and King. “I told them to close the door, because if she figures out you’re talking about her, she’ll take off.”
The inspector boarded at 4th and King, and the San Francisco Police boarded when the train approached the Chase Center. The story has a happy ending. The young woman was reunited with her anxious family. She had been missing for five days.
To this day, Denise says she doesn’t know what made her suspect the young woman was missing. She credits her own instincts as a mother and grandmother. “I just knew, and I could see something there,” she said.
Honored for service
In September, our agency honored Denise with a special recognition in front of the SFMTA Board. “She went above and beyond her duties to assist this youth,” said Julie Kirschbaum, SFMTA director of transit.
The San Francisco Police Department also recognized Denise for her service. The police had been looking for the at-risk missing youth and had assembled a special response team of 50 people to try and locate her, said Antonio Flores, SFPD Special Victims Unit acting lieutenant.
The team was gathered in a room that day, along with the youth’s parents. And when word came through that Denise had identified her, “The joy and tears on her father’s face was so powerful,” Flores said. “Thank you, Denise for making San Francisco a safer city.”
Muni, born and bred
Denise Green (left) with her sister and their grandfather Curtis Green at his swearing in as Muni General Manager, July 23, 1974
Denise says she has Muni in her blood. The San Francisco native started at the agency 32 years ago as a bus operator. From there, she moved on to light rail vehicles before attaining her current position. Although she is the only member of her family now to work for the agency, she comes from a storied Muni lineage.
Her grandfather, Curtis Green, was Muni’s general manager. He was the first African-American to hold that role at any transit agency in the country. Curtis worked for Muni for 37 years, starting as a bus operator after serving his country in World War II. He rose through the ranks to lead the agency. He retired in 1982, after shaping the Muni we know today. And his legacy lives on, in the Curtis E. Green Light Rail Center, where most of our light rail vehicles are stored and serviced.
Denise credits her grandfather for inspiring her to pursue a career at the SFMTA. “I used to visit him when I was young at our facility in 949 Presidio,” Denise said. “It’s because of him that I got the bug,” she said, adding, “I have to hold up the Green name."
The mother of two said one of her sons is continuing the Green legacy as a BART operator. “He was five years old when they dedicated the building to his grandfather,” she noted.
Advice to colleagues
Denise had seen the at-risk youth she identified on TV and in the paper. She had also seen her through the state’s Ebony Alert system, which alerts the public of Black persons who are missing under suspicious circumstances.
“Read the communications we put out,” Denise offered as advice to her colleagues. But it’s not just limited to her colleagues: Everyone should be aware of their surroundings. “Make sure you know the news about our city.”
Thank you, Denise, for your service.