City's MUNI bus plans discriminate against Rincon residents

I decided to stay in from the colder temps this afternoon and do some analysis of bus routes related to their 2010 block-by-block census populations and General Fund property tax payments in FY 2011-12. It is good to have facts when sending comments in about the Transit Effectiveness Project (TEP) - visit this weblink to learn how to send in comments: http://www.sf-planning.org/index.aspx?page=2970

The main point we all need to communicate is the the Transit Effectiveness Project has a blindspot to the Rincon neighborhood, and to fix that blind spot, they need to change the proposed route of the 11-Downtown Connector bus by extending it 4 more blocks east to Main Street (5 blocks if you count Essex/bridge ramp between 2nd and 1st) ... and by the way, how about extending the 12-Folsom bus RIGHT NOW. The 12-Folsom ran through the Rincon neighborhood from The Embarcadero along Folsom and Harrison up until service cuts on December 5, 2009. Clearly, there was not a very recent analysis of what the Planning Department had entitled and what was built in Rincon when they killed the 12-Folsom's journey through Rincon on that date. I post this so that you write comments ... but also because I think pointing it out and pressuring the politicians will be the only way that the SFMTA will budge. If they don't budge, we die sooner than later because we ourselves add to air pollution because we have the cars and the money to afford driving the cars, in general, and even the City's Health Code (Article 38) acknowledges the asthma and increased probabilities of cancer and cardiovascular disease from carbon and particulate matter released by diesel and regular fossil fuel burning vehicles.

Here are the facts:

First, we have 4,099 residents as of the 2010 Census on either side of Harrison Street between 2nd and The Embarcadero in Rincon (with another 500 coming soon to the new 326 unit apartment building that's ready to open at 333 Harrison next month).

Those Rincon residents paid $27.9 million in property taxes overall with $15.8 million going to the City's General Fund in FY 2011-12.

Along that 1/2 mile of distance, there is no bus service that provides local service (just SamTrans going to the airport and MUNI buses passing by on the way through downtown and to the west side of the city).

First comparison: 30 Stockton bus from Divisadero to Buchanan Streets (0.5 miles) passes by 1,693 residents (-2,406 less than RIncon today) on either side of Chestnut Street who contributed $1.8 million to the general fund (-$14 million less than Rincon properties).

Second comparison: 2 Clement bus from 14th Avenue to 6th Avenue (0.5 miles) passes by 2,892 resident (-1,207 less than Rincon today) on either side of Clement Street who contributed $2.1 million to the general fund (-$13.7 million less than Rincon properties).

Third comparison: 35 Eureka bus from 17th Street down to 20th Street and then west to Diamond Street (0.5 miles) passes by 1,481 residents (-2,618 less than RIncon today) on either side of Castro (or 20th) who contributed $2.6 million to the general fund (-$13.2 million less than Rincon properties).

Fourth comparison: 56 Rutland from San Bruno and Blanken to Thomas Mellon Circle (0.6 miles) passes by 1,273 residents (-2,826 less than Rincon today) on either side of Blanken Street who contributed $0.4 million to the general fund (-$15.4 million less than Rincon properties).

Fifth comparison: 66 Quintara from Vicente up to Quintara along 30th Avenue (0.6 miles) passes by 1,710 residents (-2,389 less than Rincon today) on either side of 30th Avenue who contributed $1 million to the general fund (-$14.8 million less than Rincon properties).

Seems to me that in our air pollution hot zone where our lifespans are being shortened because of folks driving cars (especially weekday evenings), there's a good argument here to extend the 12 Folsom bus line to Main Street instead of having it turn up 2nd Street as currently happens. Without a bus conveniently located in Rincon, of course we're going to hop in our cars, worsen the air pollution, add to the congestion, and collectively make the air quality more deadly for everyone.

Hope these statistics are helpful ... contact me if you're curious about my source files (2010 Census by block, as used by the Elections Department's Redistricting Commission last year and the Assessor-Recorder's May 18, 2012 assessed values data from DataSF.org).

Let's Go Niners!