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Municipal Transportation Agency




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. Five of the board's six current members were initially appointed by Mayor Brown. Director Peter Mezey was appointed by Mayor Gavin Newsom . One seat remains vacant; Mayor Newsom appointed Hunter Stern to the seat, but the Board of Supervisors rejected Stern by a 7-4 vote on September 27 , 2005 , the only time the supervisors have exercised their prerogative, under the charter, to reject an MTA Board appointee. Stern was an official with the International Brotherhood Of Electrical Workers .

In April 2006 Mayor Newsom appointed Leah Shahum, the executive director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition , and Tom Nolan, a former San Mateo County supervisor, to the MTA Board. If confirmed by the Board of Supervisors, Shahum will replace Vaughns, and Nolan will take the vacant seat.

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.


MTA Board of Directors


  • Cleopatra Vaughns, Chairman

  • Michael Kasolas, Vice Chairman

  • Shirley Breyer Black

  • Rev. Dr. James McCray, Jr.

  • Wil Din

  • Peter Mezey

  • (1 vacancy)


Board Secretary: Roberta Boomer


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

  • (2 vacancies)


Council Secretary: Debra Reed

  • OF THE MTA


  • 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.


  • OF THE MTA

  • Although the city charter specifies that the MTA Board shall have a "chair," both Flynn and Vaughns opted for the style "chairman."



LIST OF CHAIRS OF THE MTA CITIZENS ADVISORY COUNCIL



TRIVIA

  • 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.



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