MARIN COUNTY — Officials at the Tamalpais Union High School District are deciding whether to put a tax measure on the ballot to upgrade their high school campuses, but the amount of the bond issue has some in the community accusing them of swinging for the fences.

District representatives are set to weigh the measure at its meeting Tuesday evening.

Redwood High in Larkspur is an award-winning school but at more than 60 years old, it’s buildings have seen better days.

“Our school, as you can see, it’s a little run down, especially on the inside. It gets a little hot sometimes and the classrooms are super small,” said Redwood High junior Ginger Howard. “And it’s hard to get enough state funding to fix things like this because there are other priorities, and we understand that.”

The Tam Union High School District is set to vote whether to put a bond measure on the ballot for March of 2024. The bond would raise money to upgrade the facilities at its three comprehensive high schools, including Redwood, Tampalpais and Archie Williams.  

“The bottom line is we’ve got some leaky roofs that need to be tended [to]. We’ve got old outdated heating and plumbing and cooling systems and electrical systems,” said the district’s Assistant Superintendent for Business and Operations Corbett Elsen.

But it goes far beyond that. New athletic fields and solar canopies are planned for all three campuses, as well as new classrooms at Tamalpais and a new $104 million cafeteria and commons building for Redwood High. There is a hefty cost for all the planned renovation.  

The ballot measure says it will raise $517 million in revenue, but if you add in the cost of the interest on the 30-year bonds, taxpayers will be paying a staggering $1.04 billion.

“We think that the size is too large. We think…we are concerned that they didn’t prioritize,” said Mimi Willard, president of the Coalition of Sensible Taxpayers.

The organization has taken up the fight to get the district to scale down the ballot measure. Willard pointed to the new cafeteria as an example of the district’s overreach.

“It was deemed by the district’s own metrics to be a ‘Priority 2,” she said. “So we would like to see the district focusing on the ‘Priority 1’ projects.”

Willard said the voters also deserve ballot language that reflects the true cost of over a billion dollars rather than just the amount of the bonds. She suspects that the district may be aiming high for the March ballot because of a large number of funding measures that are expected in November. But Elsen denied that Tam Union is trying to get all that it can before tax fatigue sets in.

“I don’t think we’ve swung for the fences,” he said. “We’ve identified what we need…in terms of what our community feels that we need. We feel we owe it to our community. They’ve asked for this, so we need to reflect upon what the cost of this is.”

The measure would tax property at a rate of $30 per $100,000 in assessed value. Elsen said that means the average homeowner in the district would pay $329 per year for the next 30 years. 

It will take a 55 percent vote to approve the measure, and an early poll showed 60 percent were in favor. But a later poll shows that number has been coming down. Whether the largest bond measure in the district’s history will pass now looks to be a toss-up.

More from CBS News

John Ramos

John Ramos accidentally launched a lifelong career in journalism when he began drawing editorial cartoons and writing smart-alecky satire pieces for the Bakersfield High School newspaper.

The post Residents query whopping ultimate price of proposed Marin County bond measure to refurbish faculties appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Supervisors voted to place the ballot in committee Tuesday and the full board is expected to discuss it in the coming weeks. The proposal would come four years after voters approved the largest housing bond in San Francisco history at $600 million. The bond won’t mean increasing property taxes: the city sells the debt, and only issues new bonds when other debt has been retired.

The proposed bond is part of a deal struck between Mayor London Breed and the board this summer to move forward with reducing the share of affordable homes built in new market-rate developments from about 20% to between 12% and 16%, depending on the neighborhood and building type. 

The bond could help San Francisco  meet its housing goals as it continues to struggle to build homes amid one of the most expensive construction markets in the country. Building a single unit of affordable housing is about $1.2 million in some cases, and it can take up to five years or more to approve and build housing projects, in part because of the city’s slow permitting process, which state officials criticized on Wednesday.

Eric Shaw, head of the Mayor’s office of Housing and Community Development, said about $240 million of the bond would largely be used to build about 1,500 housing projects currently in the city’s pipeline. 

Shaw said about $30 million would be used to provide 120 shelter beds for women who are survivors of domestic violence, street violence or human trafficking. The remaining $30 million would be used to preserve about 60 units of the city’s existing affordable housing stock, whether that’s for repairs or rehabbing units. The city would prioritize housing for seniors and placing affordable housing in wealthier areas, according to the proposed measure. 

But the $300 million is only a fraction of the $900 million the city needs to build all the housing units in the construction pipeline, which is about 11,000 units. The city currently relies mostly on local dollars to construct housing since the flow of state and federal dollars can be unpredictable. Shaw said funding is falling short by the billions annually, and with increasing costs for land and construction, the figure will only climb going forward. 

“Nineteen billion dollars in local funds is needed to achieve housing element targets based on current goals,” Shaw said. “High development costs, hard costs, are undermining our goals, so local funding is a critical source of dollars.”

Shaw said the city will likely spend about $120 million to get about half of the 1,500 projects moving in 2024, and then another $120 million in 2025-2026, but that’s contingent on voters approving the bond. Money set aside for preservation will be allocated in 2025-2026 and the 120 survivor beds would come online in 2027 or 2028.

Supporters of the bond will have to convince San Franciscans — who have approved various funding measures in recent years — to approve a new multi million dollar bond to solve the city’s affordable housing crisis. The bond needs two-thirds support for approval, a high hurdle.

Breed has already cautioned that the city is not on track to meet its housing goals. 

Still, Supervisor Aaron Peskin touted the bond measure as a great collaboration between the supervisors and the mayor’s office, which have at times fought over policy in recent years. 

“We still have a long way to go between now and March but we’re off to an auspicious beginning,” Peskin said. 

Supervisor Ahsha Safaí applauded Peskin’s efforts to include amendments that prioritize seniors, women who have experienced violence and others. 

“Calling them out specifically I think is an important point for the city,” Safaí said. 

Reach Aldo Toledo: Aldo.Toledo@sfchronicle.com

The post San Francisco’s $300M housing bond to be voted on in 2024 election appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

SALEM — Murder suspect Dawn Coleman was shaking as Washington County Circuit Court Judge Larry Medlock set her bond at $5 million on Monday afternoon in Salem.

She is one of two women charged in the death of 5-year-old Cairo Ammar Jordan, whose body was found in a suitcase the night before Easter in Washington County.

Judge Medlock said Coleman is now facing three charges in the child’s killing, including an aiding murder felony that was just added Monday, and decades behind bars with the Indiana Department of Correction.

At the hearing Coleman was visibly shaking and answering the judge’s questions affirmatively. She told him she didn’t have a home address currently because she is “homeless.”

The only time she spoke otherwise was when Judge Medlock was reading her charges, specifically after he named the Obstruction of Justice charge, a Level 6 felony.

“I don’t understand that,” she said. “Is that the new (charge?)”

The level six felony isn’t, but new court documents shed light on the aiding murder felony, which carries a 45- to 65-year prison sentence and a $10,000 fine.

According to the updated probable cause affidavit, filed by Indiana State Police Detective Matt Busick, Coleman said she was babysitting Jordan while his mother, Dejaune Anderson, was being held in Louisville Metro Corrections.

Anderson is facing a murder charge in the case, but is still on the run. Police said she was last seen in the Mount Echo Park area of Los Angeles.

The court documents said Coleman and Jordan picked Anderson up from the jail in Louisville and stayed at a family member’s home in Louisville.

Then, according to the documents, “A few days later, Coleman advised that she walked into the bedroom to find Anderson on top of (Jordan), with his face into the mattress. Coleman stated ‘it was already done,’ when she walked (in.)”

According to the documents, there were already trash bags inside the room at the time and Coleman said Anderson asked her to put Jordan in the suitcase. Coleman clarified that the suitcase he was put in was Coleman’s hard-sided suitcase that had “Las Vegas” written on the side.

Coleman said she zipped up the suitcase, then Anderson placed it in the trunk of the car they were traveling in.

Then, according to the court records, “Coleman advised that after they got in the car Anderson told Coleman she thought (Jordan) was something really bad, that he was a 100 year old soul, or some old soul that wasn’t supposed to be here.”

Coleman is due back in court on Dec. 15 at 9 a.m. for a pretrial conference. A trial date has been set for May 2, 2023.

It took police six months to identify and arrest Coleman, who was in San Francisco at the time. Charges in Jordan’s death were filed the day after what would have been his sixth birthday, on Oct. 25.

A few weeks later, the child’s family members traveled from Atlanta to Salem for a candlelight vigil in his army.

“We would like to thank you all for your generosity and many, many expressions of outpouring of love you have bestowed on behalf of our precious beloved Cairo,” family members wrote in a program that was handed out at the service. “Words alone cannot express how deeply grateful we are. We are all connected in the love of Christ.”

ISP is still working on the case and ISP Sgt. Carey Huls said more charges are possible in this case.

“It’s an open investigation and an active investigation, so anything is likely depending on what information investigators obtain,” Huls said.

Coleman was booked into the Washington County jail over the weekend.

“To see her here on Indiana soil, honestly brings a little bit of, not resolution, but somewhat of closure to that part of the case, at least,” Huls said. “That we have her back here in Indiana to answer charges.”

The post $5 million bond for one suspect in suitcase loss of life | Information appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Tony Bennett had ties to the San Francisco Giants

n”,”providerName”Twitter”, “providerUrl”: “https://twitter.com”, “type”: “oembed”, “width”: 550, “contentType”: “rich”}, {“__typename”: “Markdown”, “content”: Bennett’s most resonant mini-concert came before the Giants’ home opener at Candlestick Park on April 12, 1993, after the off-season franchise was sold to the Peter Magowan-led investor group , which prevented the team from moving to Tampa-St. Petersburg. That afternoon, the song’s ending lyrics (“When I get home to you, San Francisco, your golden sun will shine for me”) held special meaning for any Giants fan.nnAnother performance from Bennett was a welcome surprise. On October 31, 2012, he left San Francisco City Hall to sing “I Left My Heart…” and close the ceremony following the parade celebrating the ball club’s four-game World Series victory over Detroit ,”credit”:null,”contentType”:null,”format”:”jpg”,”templateUrl”https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/upload/{formatInstructions}/mlb/ipnc5 0p4diyewgojamjm”,”type”image”},{“__typename”:Markdown”,”content”: Bennett also sang “I Left My Heart…” before Game 1 of the Giants’ 2010 World Series opener, including against the visit to Texas, and Game 3 of the 2002 series when San Francisco hosted the Angels. He also led the audience in “God Bless America” ​​during the seventh inning of Game 3 of the NL Division Series 2014 between the Giants and the Nationals.nnThe Giants cemented their bond with Bennett when they celebrated his 90th birthday at a pregame event at Oracle Park in August 2016. Giants legend Willie Mays joined Bennett on the field during the celebrations. That night, the Giants began flying the victory flag after each home win at Willie Mays Plaza. The flag is embellished with a Giants logo and a heart – a visual symbol of “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”. .com/mlb-images/image/upload/{formatInstructions}/mlb/inrs9xw7zfgucmdquupia”,”type”:”image”},{“__typename”:”Markdown”,”content=”The Oracle Park suite at the end of the right row of fields is named in Bennett’s honor. Vintage Bennett record albums and other Bennett-related memorabilia dominate the suite’s decor.nnBefore or after his ballpark appearances, Bennet was The team’s clubhouse was sometimes a place to relax – particularly the office of former Giants clubhouse manager Mike Murphy, where many celebrities have sought refuge over the years.Murphy and Bennett originally met in the 1960s through influential mutual friends – the Swig family, former owners of the famed Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco.The Fairmont was a regular stop for Bennett when he was on tour.nnIn his 2020 autobiography, “From the Stick to the Cove” Murphy fondly recalls crossing paths with Bennett.nn”He called me about an autographed baseball from \.[Buster\] Posey a few years ago and I sent it to him,” Murphy wrote. “Our relationship deepened when I saw him play tennis at the Hilton Hotel in Pittsburgh after the Swigs introduced us. We sat in the lobby and chatted for about an hour. We were just talking about baseball. He’s a huge baseball fan.””,”type=”text”}],”contentType”:”news”,”subHeadline”:null,”summary”:”The Giants have lost an artist they cannot replace.nTony Bennett, the acclaimed singer who died Friday at the age of 96, shed light on some of the Giants’ biggest events by accompanying them with live renditions of his signature hit “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” the song Bennett wrote in 1962 recorded,”tagline({“formatString”:”none”})”:null,”tags”:[{“__typename”:”InternalTag”,”slug”:”storytype-article”,”title”:”Article”,”type”:”article”},{“__typename”:”ContributorTag”,”slug”:”chris-haft”,”title”:”Chris Haft”,”type”:”contributor”},{“__typename”:”TeamTag”,”slug”:”teamid-137″,”title”:”San Francisco Giants”,”team”:{“__ref”:”Team:137″},”type”:”team”},{“__typename”:”TaxonomyTag”,”slug”:”offbeat”,”title”:”offbeat”,”type”:”taxonomy”},{“__typename”:”TaxonomyTag”,”slug”:”apple-news”,”title”:”Apple News”,”type”:”taxonomy”},{“__typename”:”GameTag”,”slug”:”gamepk-717326″,”title”:”2023/07/21 sf@was”,”type”:”game”}],”type”story”,”thumbnail”https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/upload/{formatInstructions}/mlb/plscsqz5h2ixa9w6vssm”,”title”Tony Bennett had ties to the San Francisco Giants”}},”Team:137″:{“__typename”:Team”,”id”:137}}} window.adobeAnalytics = {“report ingSuiteId “:”mlbglobal08,mlbcom08”, “linkInternalFilters”: “mlb”} window.globalState = {“tracking_title”: “Major League Baseball”, “lang”: “en”} window.appId = ” /*–>*/

July 21, 2023

The Giants have lost a key player they cannot replace.

Tony Bennett, the acclaimed singer who died Friday at the age of 96, shed some light on some of the Giants’ biggest events by accompanying them with live renditions of his signature hit “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.” The song, which Bennett recorded in 1962 and released later that year, was played on the public address system after every Giants home win for decades.

The #SFGiants are saddened by the loss of Tony Bennett, a true legend whose music will live on at Oracle Park. We keep the memories of his friendship and many visits. We will remember him because he left his heart in San Francisco. Our deepest condolences go to his family. pic.twitter.com/tYzAsuEc5F

— SFGIants (@SFGIants) July 21, 2023

Bennett’s biggest mini-concert came before the Giants’ home opener at Candlestick Park on April 12, 1993, after the franchise was sold offseason to the Peter Magowan-led group of investors, prompting the team’s relocation to Tampa-St. Petersburg. That afternoon, the song’s ending lyrics (“When I get home to you, San Francisco, your golden sun will shine for me”) held special meaning for every Giants fan.

Another appearance from Bennett was a welcome surprise. On October 31, 2012, he left San Francisco City Hall to sing “I Left My Heart…” and close the ceremony following the parade celebrating the ball club’s four-game World Series victory over Detroit.

Tony Bennett performs during the 2012 Giants’ World Series parade. (Getty)

Bennett also sang “I Left My Heart…” before Game 1 of the Giants’ opening game of the 2010 World Series against Gast from Texas and before Game 3 of the 2002 Series when San Francisco hosted the Angels. He also led the crowd on “God Bless America” ​​in the seventh inning of Game 3 of the 2014 NL Division Series between the Giants and the Nationals.

The Giants cemented their bond with Bennett in August 2016 when they celebrated his 90th birthday at a pregame event at Oracle Park. Giants legend Willie Mays joined Bennett on the field during the celebrations. That night, the Giants began flying the victory flag after each home win at Willie Mays Plaza. The flag is embellished with a Giants logo and a heart – visually representing “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”.

Two legends in the stadium: Willie Mays and Tony Bennett. (Getty)

The Oracle Park suite at the end of the right field line is named after Bennett. Vintage Bennett record albums and other Bennett-related memorabilia dominate the suite’s decor.

Before or after his ballpark appearances, Bennett would sometimes relax in the team’s clubhouse — particularly at former Giants clubhouse manager Mike Murphy’s office, where many celebrities have taken refuge over the years. Murphy and Bennett originally met in the 1960s through influential mutual friends – the Swig family, former owners of San Francisco’s famed Fairmont Hotel. The Fairmont was a regular stop for Bennett when he was on tour.

In his 2020 autobiography, From the Stick to the Cove, Murphy fondly recalls crossing paths with Bennett.

“He called me about an autographed baseball [Buster] Posey a few years ago and I sent it to him,” Murphy wrote. “Our relationship deepened when I saw him play tennis at the Hilton Hotel in Pittsburgh after the Swigs introduced us. We sat in the lobby and chatted for about an hour. We were just talking about baseball. He’s a big baseball fan.”

The post Tony Bennett had bond with San Francisco Giants appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Here’s what the $162 million bond measure promised to do in 2010: “enhance safety, fire detection and security systems, improve energy efficiency, replace outdated electrical, plumbing and heating systems.”

So, in another eight to 10 years they’ll be back to solve the same issues … again?

They always include “tech” in the bond measures. Tech is usually obsolete in five to six years, but bonds last 25 to 30 years.

Ever buy a computer and take out a loan for 25 to 30 years to pay for it?

nuts, right? But that’s exactly what the district wants to do. Nuts!

With the loss of 697 students since the 2016-17 school year, you’d expect to see fewer teachers, but the district added eight teachers (2018-19 school year according to the latest figures).

And the number of administrators is up from 28 in 2016-17 to 35 in 2018-19 (latest figures).

The ADA spending for the district is 109% of the statewide average at $16,962. The district is above average in cost, but below average in academics … by a lot.

Around 53% of students are below grade level in English. Around 62% of students are below grade level in math. And bond money can’t be spent on hiring teachers that are more qualified/better trained.

With the $430 million bond measure, per student, comes to $52,554 plus 30 to 40 years of interest payments.

Parent are voting with their feet and removing their children from this failure of a school district.

Just say no to higher taxes.

The letter writer is the president of the Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association.

The post South San Francisco Unified College District’s $430 million bond measure | Letters To Editor appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Who wouldn’t want an auntie like internationally acclaimed, radical faerie cabaret star Justin Vivian Bond?

In March 2020, Bond began posting videos on social media as the character “your Auntie Glam” from their house near Hudson, NY, as a way of keeping in touch during the coronavirus shutdown. Auntie Glam is a bubbly gal pal always ready for happy hour or a song, performed with Bond’s inimitable vibrato and woodsy coloring. The alter ego was a sharp turn from the bitter edge of Bond’s most well-known performance character, faded chanteuse Kiki DuRane, helped of the Tony-nominated duo Kiki and Herb with Bond’s collaborator Kenny Mellman.

Now Bond returns to Feinstein’s at the Nikko on Wednesday, June 1, for three nights of the show “Oh Mary, It’s Pride!” The 59-year-old star of John Cameron Mitchell’s film “Shortbus” will be singing songs written by or about “Marys” (hence the title), and Bond may even bring out Auntie Glam for a set.

Although Bond’s career has taken them from cabaret stages and recording studios to the New York Philharmonic and Vienna State Opera, San Francisco’s mix of “acid and activism” in the alternative performance and drag worlds, they said, were key in shaping them when they lived in the city in the early 1990s.

“If I go to San Francisco, I feel like there are more places where I could go for Thanksgiving dinner than any other place in the world,” Bond told The Chronicle during a recent call from New York. “I have so many friends there I feel like I’m at home even though all the queens are moving to Palm Springs, darling.”

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: Will your show at Feinstein’s be like your act at Joe’s Pub in New York?

A: I’m coming with (pianist) David Sytkowski. I can’t remember any names anymore, I’m just going to call everyone “Mary” from now on, and I picked all songs by, for and about Marys. Mary is a pretty traditionally queeny word; I thought I could tie that into Pride.

Around my Christmas show last year some older queens came from out of town. Everything is so precious now, I loved being around those older queens where you can just be as outrageous as you possibly can. Everybody takes everything so seriously; people are so worried about being canceled. This queen I love, Logan Hardcore, says, “You can’t cancel someone who’s never been green-lit.” I decided to kind of bring that vernacular back and “Mary” with it because it honors the past.

Q: How does one cancel Kiki when she cancels herself?

A: Kiki might have said some really outrageous things, but they were never aimed at anybody. She called the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina “Bosnia hurts my vagina.”

Q: What was your experience performing in the premiere of the opera of Virginia Woolf’s “Orlando” in Vienna in 2019?

A: The credit for that really does go to Olga Neuwirth, the composer. She wrote the part of Orlando’s child for me. I don’t like to be in things where I don’t get to say what I want to say, so she said, “Well, what if I write in a section where you get to just improvise?”

I did get to shout “F— the patriarchy!” from the stage of the Vienna State Opera. After I did it, these young women stagehands that work in that place came up to me in tears, thanking me for saying it. It did feel revolutionary in that opera house where in the 1940s, helped of the orchestra was Nazis.

Q: How did you make the transition to virtual performances of Auntie Glam when COVID hit?

A: Five years ago, I bought a house upstate, the house of whimsy. … David was my housemate at the time. He and I just were like, “Well, let’s see what happens.” It was really fun, it also kept me involved in the conversation about Black Lives Matter and the violence against trans women that was happening during the pandemic.

I’ve really been overwhelmed by how many people have said that it helped them get through it.

Q: Is Auntie Glam a counter to the darker tones of Kiki?

A: Kiki was about channeling rage into art, an act against the inaction of the government and the homophobia that fueled AIDS. This was a way of giving people just something to get out of their heads and sorrow. In Auntie Glam’s happy hour I was more about making cocktails. I just hope I didn’t trigger too many people with their drinking but, you know, collateral damage, darling.

Justin Vivian Bond. Photo: David Kimelman

Q: The 2006 film “Shortbus” has developed a new audience this year. Has that been rewarded?

A: I think it’s a really fun movie, and I’m really proud to be a part of it. It’s like going back and reading an old journal because of all those friends that were in it.

I think it’s maybe easier for people to take now. It was pre-internet when that came out, and the conversation was not that vast. A lot of what it’s doing and saying is still pretty relevant. That (New York art salon) scene couldn’t exist now because of phones.

Q: How much do you think the experimental ethos of the San Francisco of the 1990s informed you?

A: San Francisco’s drag was embracing messiness, chaos and anarchy, whereas within a lot of other cities it is more pageants and looking like beauty queens. New York was much more about the Warhol influence in the ’70s and ’80s; San Francisco had that kind of acid influence from the ’60s and ’70s that went into the activism of the ’80s and ’90s, which is what I emerged through.

When Kenny and I were doing Kiki and Herb in San Francisco, we would do mushrooms before every show. After the first week in New York, it was just a different vibe.

Q: You also have been performing with orchestras across the country. Might that show come here?

A: My collaboration with (countertenor) Anthony Roth Costanzo will continue. Our record “Only an Octave Apart” came out this year. I do hope that we’ll get to bring it to San Francisco at some point.

Darling, in the fall I opened St. Ann’s Warehouse with that show and then I reopened Joe’s Pub as myself, then in December I reopened the Harvey Theater at BAM as Kiki and Herb. I have this little gold can opener necklace I wear just to remind myself that I’m New York City’s can opener.

“Justin Vivian Bond: Oh Mary, It’s Pride!”: 8 pm Wednesday-Friday, June 1-3. $65-85. Feinstein’s at the Nikko, 222 Mason St., SF www.feinsteinssf.com

The post Justin Vivian Bond returns to San Francisco with ‘Oh Mary, It is Delight’ appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) – San Francisco Mayor London Breed proposed a $ 400 million bond on Tuesday for the June 2022 vote to improve safety and reliability along Muni’s bus and train routes raise.

According to Breed’s office, the Muni Reliability and Street Safety Bond is needed to upgrade and maintain the outdated facilities and equipment of the San Francisco Transportation Municipal Agency.

CONTINUE READING: Richmond School parents urge the principal to be dismissed, keep over 100 sickout children out of class

In addition, the loan would also help fund road infrastructure projects and modernize Muni’s train control system, which would increase metro capacity and reduce delays.

The loan would also fund road safety and traffic improvement projects aimed at reducing collisions.

“A reliable transportation system and safe roads are essential for the long-term health of our city and our residents,” Breed said in a statement. “The investments from this proposed bond, along with substantial new federal government funding, will enable us to modernize our facilities, upgrade our systems, and make Muni more efficient for everyone.”

Jeff Tumlin, SFMTA’s director of transportation, said, “With the recently passed Federal Infrastructure Bill, funding from this bond would enable the SFMTA to tap nearly $ 1 billion in matching federal and state government funds to meet San Francisco’s local transportation needs cover. including repairing and updating our aging and obsolete bus yards and equipment that is nearly 100 years old and cannot accommodate our modern, clean fleet. “

CONTINUE READING: North Bay businesses are trying to stay positive as recent storms keep people at home

In order to be guaranteed for the June vote, at least eight of the eleven supervisory boards must approve the bond. Then two-thirds of San Francisco voters would have to vote for the measure to be passed if it were put on the ballot.

Last week, the SFMTA board unanimously approved a resolution urging the board of directors to put the bond to a vote.

Both supervisory board president Shamann Walton and supervisory board chairman Rafael Mandelman have pledged their support for the bond.

“The demands on San Francisco’s transportation system have increased, and revenues from transit fares and parking fees have not kept pace. COVID-19 only exacerbated the problem, ”said Gwyneth Borden, chairman of the board of directors of SFMTA. “We have to keep the city moving. This important source of funding will have a positive impact on everyone who lives, works, and visits San Francisco. “

MORE NEWS: San Jose Police Department arrests “productive robbery crew” for crimes against Asian women

© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. and Bay City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

The post $400 Million Bond For Muni Upgrades Proposed By Mayor London Breed – CBS San Francisco appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.