A Proposition

Corporate bus revenues + community solutions can equal Mutual Aid WIN

We can make some potent lemonade from the squeeze afoot, that I blathered about at length back in December. Big tech employees are being demonized, the gentrification is hastening, and the visual presence of double-decker bling-mobiles on SF’s neighborhood streets is undeniably abrasive.

The notion that a multi-billion dollar company will only pay the City of San Francisco $1—less than the fare for one adult to ride MUNI—for each use of our public MUNI stops as part of a proposed pilot program, is a symbolic insult. Unfortunately, Proposition 218 prevents SF from charging more than that. Wonderfully, per Prop218, we can also change that. How?

Voters can put a Proposal of our own onto a ballot (cough, the next election being in June) that would impose a much higher fee, and directives for how funds are to be spent.

Ideas? Wayl, the fee’s gotta be more fair to the residents of SF than simply a buck… and what would that money go towards? Here I’ve written a sketch. I invite all who wish to contribute, and to eventually help me get this on the ballot (and of course, approved!).

Problem: $1 per bus, per stop.

1. The total revenues from one year, are estimated to be $1.5M.
2. For discussion’s sake, let’s just crank that figure up to $10 per bus, per stop. That’d increase the revenues to $15M per year. I mean, $20 per bus would be better. Hell, so would $50 per bus. But for now, let’s stick with the possibilities from a more modest $10 per bus.

Solution: Fee increase + Mutual Aid Program

$10 per bus = ~$15M in annual revenues. Sweet! Now, how to spend?
Don’t forget! This has to get on the next ballot & approved, to happen…

1. Firstly, one person should be employed full-time as a program administrator, for a TBD Mutual Aid program + revenues spending management.
2. This person needs to operate as an independent 501(c)3, or as an arm of some another such 501(c) business. If The City of San Francisco gets involved at the admin level, it’ll cost 10x as much and integrity will become a crapshoot. Likewise, possible support of important local non-profits to help solve for problems the City is struggling with (such as the SF Tenants Union and SPUR), would present a conflict of interest if the City also ran this TBD program.
3. Selection of grant recipients & businesses to provide growth coaching to, would be decided by a board that would be comprised of corporate & neighborhood volunteers.
4. Fix MUNI + Neighborhood Mutual Aid. Share the wealth, feel the love.
5. Jam Econo, and nothing less.

Pleasantize MUNI

UPDATE: The “TEP Project” is a little known (why?!) initiative that has been underway for a few years, and is slated to be implementing copiously studied, necessary changes to the MUNI network, between 2014 and 2020. TEP will be the first major update to MUNI since the 1970s. It will take 6 years to implement. Which is a lifetime. In normal-people expectations. The detailed proposal that includes line re-routes, line omissions, and frequency-changes, in addition to long overdue infrastructural improvements, is here.

It’s well documented, that our public bus system is a trainwreck. It’s also a very expensive trainwreck for the record, that will also require $2B to fix just it’s aging fleet. That’s not to be raised by this program. But what are things that could be financed, that could make MUNI a more civil experience for riders?

The most prominent thing I can think of, would be the hiring of peace officers to place onto each bus. Unarmed, civilian officers whom are paired with drivers (so each line/driver always rides with the same officer(s), to keep the bus experience more civilized for riders than the driver can reasonably mange while safely & punctually driving. Not a rent-a-cop, but a real human skilled in conflict management & free of entitlement hangups, more akin to a playground supervisor.

A person capable of earning the respect of rambunctious school-kids, friendly enough to lead by example, and that kinda special person who’s equally unafraid to clean-up a puddle of vomit as they are to break-up a fight. The salty neighborhood grandma that always sits on her porch & hollers at folks to keep ‘em in line.

Manners: MUNI needs to be a kinder, gentler place for folks to get around. Not a police-state, but also not one where a rider’s after-work headache gets quickly amped-up into overdrive via kids blasting beats from their smartphones, others yelling at each other, the mentally ill being treated like criminals for going on verbal tyrades, etc. I also think it’d just be lovely if our busses could be free of vandalism & filth: and the guys at the yard responsible for each bus’ bathtime, could definitely use a hand with anti-vandalism enforcement. Portland’s busses sparkle. Why can’t ours?

A whole other team needs to take-on the State and Federal governments for emergency funds to fix our fleet. In the interim, paying for this system to keep passengers more in-line and drivers more accountable & supported, I think could make a huge difference. At a minimum it’ll reduce the contrast between the ghetto busses & the blingmobilles, making us all feel a little more equal. Everyone deserves civility, not just the techies.

Local Business Support

Jack Spade: the voices of the Mission have been heard, and thankfully Kate’s husband’s trendy store won’t be occupying the space the former Adobe Books had. And Adobe Books is now experiencing a marvelous reinvention on 24th street, thanks to the rallying cry of neighbors & a lotta folks stepping-up in an emergency situation.

One of the greatest and most stinging impacts of gentrification that all of us experience, is the loss of cultural institutions not in business to turn profits, but instead to be of service to community + culture. Not exactly “non-profits,” but definitely not storefronts that prioritize financial gain ahead of cultural gain.

On one hand, you can’t blame a landlord for wanting to make more money when they gotta survive in this brutal world, too. And other times it’s a landlord’s chosen prerogative to be that real estate tycoon and not a mellow owner of property that just happens to house the dusty bookstore in all the history books—or the last video-rental store in town, that also happens to be an invaluable library of indie & foreign films, praised worldwide.

With the wealth of business & financial savvy in tech, we’re kinda selfish to keep all the smarts just to the big ‘ole companies paying us. Dontcha think?

Just as victims of domestic violence have safe-houses and help lines they can call when they’re in trouble, we a similar Mutual-Aid structured community organization to support struggling local businesses. A rainy-day fund that’s regularly contributed to by fundraisers, and by a percentage of bus-stop revenues, could also exist for rental-spike “bail out” monies—also administered by the TBD org.

Tutoring & Youth Mentorship

In the spirit of Mutual Aid and with the acknowledgement that within each bling-mobile are several dozen expensive college degrees, let’s make ourselves available to parents who want to help their kids get ahead… but don’t have either the resources to, or know how to. Cyclical poverty has been proven to have more to do with multi-generation held values in families, that de-prioritize what it takes to help kids advance academically, and that also reinforce a lack of power & self-agency with social mobility.

For the parents & caregivers who do have kids that demonstrate an interest in school, or for youth that do have the initiative but lack the resources: why not make ourselves available? Open Office Hours in neighborhood cafes & bookstores for tutoring, and paired volunteers of specific skillsets who can meet with kids for regular 1+1 tutoring. Likewise, kids who really want to explore nature or tag along to work with us on “Bring your child to work”days at our fancy corporate jobs? We should be available to open those doors and provide those opportunities for them, too.

When I worked as a mechanic/mentor at a wonderful local bike-shop that teaches job skills to hired at-risk youth “interns,” we did a couple of nature outings that were amazing. It was also a chilling truth for me (and my other, fellow white middle-class & educated American mechanics/mentors) to first-hand witness: most kids who grow-up in poverty, in the foster-care system, or with parents struggling with addiction, rarely (if ever?) get out of urban environments and into nature. Those family vacations to Yosemite? Really a middle-class luxury for urban families. Getting lost in the wilderness, put in it’s place as a luxury, really hit home for me.

Seriously: to get hired by any of the mega-tech companies, we all gotta pass a background check… so our employers will know wether or not we’re shady (and they’re unlikely to hire us to begin with, if we are). So we’re all likely safe, and we’re here. Most of us want to reduce income inequality, but also feel powerless to do so. This is the most Jam Econo way to do it, imho. Get out there, and have the most direct impact possible! Oh, also? Exposure to folks outside those we draw into our own day-to-day worlds: it does help us build more relevant and better digital products. Trust me. Long-tail, such a program will help all companies’ bottom lines. Don’t just offer these programs only to Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, and Mountain View districts: SFUSD needs this, and fast.

Community Grants

Create a formula to determine the neighborhoods most impacted by the busses, who are also the most in need of community resources to benefit residents (actual humans): families, kids, the elderly, the homeless, etc., and annually award grants to organizations that serve those communities.

Communication: Communities & Corporations

The corporations who do contribute greatly to reducing carbon emissions with the visually obtrusive busses, should each delegate a few employees to work with known neighborhood leaders (merchants, teachers, politicians, elders, etc.), to keep regular communications open about the impact the techies are having on the ‘hood. This ensures that goodwill is always at its highest, if both sides do their part. Gossip can be contributed to with real, actual good things afoot… and the “others” all become a familiar “us.”

Employee & Neighborhood Pact

Mentioned in my last post, an informal “You do this, I’ll do that” social contract of sorts that can be be agreed-to by employees who ride the busses, with their employers holding them accountable—and a parallel ask that neighbors do the same. Not a long-winded contract filled with hitherto’s and caveats, but a simple piece of paper with some basic A former employer of mine has always had one such informal contract for its customers & their customers, and I’ve always loved the simplicity of the idea & its focus on the simple things we often lose sight of when behaving badly.

It is a sad reality that many in our industry do kinda lack some basic manners. It’s also a sad reality that a very small minority, have made a very large impression with everyone else, on our behalf. So, let’s step it up and make the extra effort… and hell, things could be better than they ever were before, and it’d be all unicorns and rainbows!

Your Ideas!!!

Really, these are all just mine. And they’re strawmen ideas, nothing fleshed-out, not yet ready to face the foot-taping cocked-head skeptics who just love ruining can-do parades of Pollyannaism. So please, contribute your ideas, and let’s make this happen?