Central Subway: Muni's Drilling Plan Strains Credulity

Comments (0) By Joe Eskenazi Wednesday, Feb 27 2013
...continued from page 1

Boring on ahead to North Beach simply because it's easier to do so with federal funding — while "establishing the groundwork" for the unstudied and unfunded next phase of the Central Subway — is a dicey proposition: Looking at the big picture, it may even be a good idea to put upward of $70 million into a North Beach tunnel on the feds' dime. But it strains credulity to couch this — as Muni does — as the most expedient way to get $4.4 million worth of equipment out of the earth.

How to spend the feds' money is not an entirely trivial matter. If the Central Subway goes over budget, the additional dollars will be pried from local sources. An audit by the firm CGR Management Consultants pegged the likelihood of the Central Subway coming in on budget at 30 percent.

Audrey Fukuman

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That report was requested by the Board of Supervisors, and delivered to them — in 2011. They are informed.

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araucaniad
araucaniad

San Francisco is a dense city. It makes sense to have light rail. I live in the Sunset district; if there was a direct rail line to Chinatown and North Beach, I would hang out and spend money there more often. The author makes it seem like digging a tunnel to North Beach is some sort of nefarious secret plan that the MTA wants to foist on everyone. I think a subway that stops at Portsmouth Square is a joke, but a subway that goes all the way to Fisherman's Wharf makes a lot of sense. What is the real problem here? Telegraph Hill dwellers that want everything to stay the way they think it has always been? Do they actually enjoy riding the 30-Stockton or do they drive everywhere?

elizabethfrantes
elizabethfrantes topcommenter

This seems to be their MO.  Come up with absurd plans, ram them through, the price skyrockets, the word done is less than advertised , and the taxpayers end up footing the bill.  Seems to me that if the sponsors can't pay for it, THE EVENT GETS CANCELLED, unless those who got "played" get the bill.  We can take it out of their paychecks and pension plans.  Like how the Feds are going after people on disability or in extreme poverty to pay back defaulted student loans.  As for the boring plan, it's about turning Columbus and NOrth Beach into the next Fisherman's Wharf, and this is a way to get rid of tenants and businesses, replacing them with Starbuck's and franchise and chain stores. 

Commish
Commish like.author.displayName 1 Like

What a debacle and waste of taxpayer money.  And why is Joe Eskenazi the only investigative reporter in this entire town?  The Chronicle just reports on press releases from City Hall.  The Bay Guardian just writes about taxing everything and how wonderful everything public is and how horrible everything private is.  It's sad that the SF Weekly is the only newspaper in town that investigates how our tax dollars are wasted.

 

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