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San Francisco County, CA June 6, 2006 Election
Proposition C
Appointing Elected Officials to the Transbay Joint Powers Authority
City and County of San Francisco

Ordinance - Majority Approval Required -- 50% + 1

Fail: 37,030 / 28.28% Yes votes ...... 93,905 / 71.72% No votes

See Also: Index of all Measures

Information shown below: Summary | Fiscal Impact | Yes/No Meaning | Arguments | Full Text

Shall the City change the appointment process for the City's three representatives to the Transbay Joint Powers Authority by specifically designating the Mayor and two members of the Board of Supervisors to represent the City?

Summary Prepared by the Ballot Simplification Committee:
THE WAY IT IS NOW: In 2001, the City joined with AC Transit and the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board to form the Transbay Joint Powers Authority. The Authority's primary purpose is to build and operate a new public transit center at the site of the current Transbay Terminal. A five-member Board of Directors governs the Authority. San Francisco's Mayor, the Board of Supervisors, and the Board of Directors of the Municipal Transportation Agency each appoints one person to the Transbay Joint Powers Authority.

THE PROPOSAL: Proposition C is an ordinance that would change the process by which the City appoints members to the Transbay Joint Powers Authority. The proposition would designate these specific elected officials to represent the City:

  • the Mayor;
  • the member of the Board of Supervisors who represents the district in which the new public transit center will be located; and
  • the member of the Board of Supervisors who has been appointed to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

This proposition does not provide for these officials to delegate their duties to other individuals.

If the Supervisor appointed to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission also represents the district in which the new public transit center is located, the Board of Supervisors would appoint the third member of the Transbay Joint Powers Authority.

If the City no longer elects supervisors by district, the Board of Supervisors would be authorized to amend this ordinance to modify the appointment process to the Transbay Joint Powers Authority.

Fiscal Impact from City Controller:
Should the proposed ordinance be approved by the voters, in my opinion, it would not increase the cost of government.

Meaning of Voting Yes/No
A YES vote on this measure means:
If you vote "yes," you want to change the City's appointments to the Transbay Joint Powers Authority by designating the Mayor and two members of the Board of Supervisors to represent the City.

A NO vote on this measure means:
If you vote "no," you do not want to make these changes.

 
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Arguments For Proposition C Arguments Against Proposition C
Give Voters A Say! Yes on C!

YES on C ensures that the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors work together on the delivery of the region's most significant public transportation project.

The Transbay Transit Center needs our Mayor's leadership so that we can transform the outdated and seismically unsafe Transbay Terminal into the West's Grand Central Station-- serving bus and rail with connections to BART and High-Speed Rail from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

YES on C to make the Mayor and BOS work together on common solutions while preserving local control over San Francisco's Transit Center.

The Transit Center has been plagued with bureaucratic infighting and needs the attention and leadership of our elected officials. YES on C will replace unaccountable bureaucrats with the direct elected leadership of the Mayor, the district supervisor and San Francisco's representative to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission-- an important regional funding agency. Working together, they will ensure local control of this vital project.

YES on C for affordable housing for working families.

Without direct involvement and cooperation from elected leaders, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger could jeopardize new housing with the stroke of a pen in the new Transit Center neighborhood-- 3,400 new homes, 35% of which will be affordable to working families.

YES on C to ensure the economic vitality of our region.

The Center will unite our fractured transportation system, infuse billions of dollars into our economy, create thousands of new jobs and new homes and will provide the San Francisco hub for High-Speed Rail. This is too important a project to delegate to City Employees. We need the accountability and leadership of elected representatives to ensure that we secure our transit future.


Sierra Club
Regional Alliance for Transit
San Francisco Tomorrow
Transportation Solutions Defense and Education Fund


Jane Morrison, Past Chair (2003-2004), San Francisco Democratic Party*

  • For identification purposes only

Rebuttal to Arguments For
Prop C is about politics, not progress.

The Transbay Board already has representation from the Mayor, the Board of Supervisors and the head of the city's transportation agency. Prop C removes this balanced leadership by throwing off San Francisco's transportation director for another politician. This project clearly requires professional oversight from the city's transportation director. We need to professionalize--not politicize--the Transbay project.

San Francisco leaders must stay united on the Transbay Terminal San Francisco voters have already spoken: The Transbay terminal should serve as 21st Century transportation hub that unites BART and regional bus lines with CalTrain, and eventually highspeed rail. Recently, policy disagreements have arisen about phasing and funding for the project. Prop C was placed on the ballot to silence Transbay board members who are ensuring that we don't spend a billion dollars of precious transportation funding and simply end up with a bus terminal. We must stay focused on the grand vision of the Transbay terminal: we can't let politics get in the way of important transportation goals.

Prop C will set back the Transbay project. Injecting politics into the project lessens broad support for the project and threatens state and federal funding that is necessary to complete the terminal. Political leaders should settle policy disagreements outside of the ballot box so that we can stay united to complete the Transbay terminal.

Please join me in voting No on C.


Mayor Gavin Newsom

Save Our Transbay Terminal for all San Franciscans! Vote No on C

Prop C is a political power grab that removes San Francisco's top transportation official from the Transbay board and replaces him with a politician.

Transbay Terminal needs professional -- not political -- management.

The Transbay terminal is a huge, complex project that requires professional management and public oversight. The current Transbay board has created a world-class vision for high-speed rail and secured tens of millions of dollars in funding. But Prop C replaces professionalism with politics by decreasing professional expertise on this board.

San Francisco Loses with Prop C.

Prop C removes San Francisco's top transportation professional from the Transbay board while the East Bay and South Bay counties will have strong representatives on the board. We need a San Francisco professional on the board to ensure that San Franciscan's transit needs are met by the project.

Prop C Abuses the Ballot Process.

Prop C was placed on the ballot to silence transportation experts who are working to ensure that the Transbay terminal has necessary funding to connect to other regional transit systems. Prop C changes the current Board to advance a political agenda that funds bus service to the East Bay at the expense of transit service in San Francisco. Prop C means fewer transit options for San Franciscans.

We Need Better Transportation, Not More Politics

The Transbay Terminal is a vital part of an overall plan to create regional transportation network that is fast, safe and reliable. Don't let politics get in the way of these important transportation goals.

That's why local groups like the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association oppose Prop C. Join us on June 6 and vote No on Prop C.


Mayor Gavin Newsom

Rebuttal to Arguments Against
Yes on C. Regional Transit Solutions without Excuses.

Regional Cooperation, Not Finger-pointing The Opponent's across-the-Bay finger-pointing is reminiscent of similar accusations that led to the Bay Bridge fiasco, with huge cost overruns, needless delays and constant bickering in Sacramento. Isn't it time we ended name-calling and embraced regional solutions that unclog congested roadways and reduce dependence on fossil fuels?

The Mayor is the City's top transportation official. Under Proposition E, written by then-Supervisor Gavin Newsom, the Mayor appoints every Metropolitan Transportation Agency commissioner and selects the MTA director. In this spirit, Proposition C empowers the Mayor to make direct decisions about Transbay.

Regional transit service is essential to our regional economy. Transbay is a multi-model facility providing direct access to Caltrain, MUNI, regional bus networks, and BART and will ensure that the region keeps moving forward. Transbay will infuse billions of dollars into our economy, create thousands of new jobs and new homes and will provide the San Francisco hub for High Speed Rail to Los Angeles.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission is vital to project delivery. The MTC is the region's main transportation planning, coordinating and financing agency. Prop. C will help ensure that the MTC shares in the responsibility of delivering this most important regional project.


Sierra Club
San Francisco Tomorrow
Transportation Solutions Defense and Education Fund


Jane Morrison, Past Chair (2003-2004) San Francisco Democratic Party*

  • For identification purposes only

Full Text of Proposition C
Submission to the voters of an ordinance amending Chapter 5 of the Administrative Code to add Article XXVII to designate and establish a procedure for appointing City's appointed members on the Board of Directors of the Transbay Joint Powers Authority.

Note: Additions are in italic text.

Be it ordained by the People of the City and County of San Francisco: Section 1. The San Francisco Administrative Code is hereby amended by adding Article XXVII to Chapter 5, to read as follows:

ARTICLE XXVII: TRANSBAY JOINT POWERS AUTHORITY

Sec. 5.271. Findings and Purpose.

(a) In November, 1999, the voters of the City adopted Proposition H which, among other things, called for the extension of the Caltrain commuter rail line to a new multimodal regional transit station to be constructed on the present site of the Transbay Transit Terminal.

(b) On February 12, 2001, the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco adopted Resolution No. 104-01 authorizing the City and County of San Francisco (the "City") to form a joint powers agency for the purpose of developing, designing, constructing and operating a new intermodal transit facility on and adjacent to the site of the existing Transbay Terminal.

(c) On April 4, 2001, the City entered into that certain Joint Powers Agreement creating the Transbay Joint Powers Authority with the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District and the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board. Under the Joint Powers Agreement, the Transbay Joint Powers Authority is governed by a five (5) member board of directors, of which the City appoints three.

(d) The People wish to designate certain City officials to be among the City's appointees to the Board of Directors of the Transbay Joint Powers Authority and to establish a procedure for appointing one of the members in event of duplication.

Section 5.272. Designating City Members to the Board of Directors.

The City's three appointments to the Board of Directors of the Transbay Joint Powers Authority shall be the following officials: (a) The Mayor;

(b) The member of the Board of Supervisors who represents the district in which the existing or new Transbay Terminal is located; and

(c) The representative of the City and County of San Francisco appointed by the Board of Supervisors to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission or subsequent regional transportation planning, coordinating, and financing agency, and, if such City representative is also the member of the Board of Supervisors representing the district in which the existing or new Transbay Terminal is located, then a person nominated by the Rules Committee of the Board of Supervisors and approved by the Board of Supervisors.

Section 5.273. Amendments to Appointment Process.

In the event that the members of the City's Board of Supervisors are no longer elected by district, the Board of Supervisors shall have the authority to amend this ordinance to modify the means of City's appointments to the Board of Directors of the Transbay Joint Powers Authority.


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