March Against Muni organizers: callow, uninformed, and full of righteous fury

Protests run on anger, and anger has a way of suppressing higher-order thinking, so it shouldn’t be too surprising when the people who take to the streets start acting a little punch drunk. The organizers of March Against Muni, who have been plastering San Francisco with signs, have displayed a special knack for tapping into public fury.  It makes sense because their message is unadulterated by reason, which makes it universally accessible: Who among us is not frustrated with Muni?

But passion alone doesn’t make change. Before you join March Against Muni's boycott, you should know that the organizers are pretty much lashing out blindly here. Perhaps the best thing that could come of the publicity raised by March Against Muni would be an increased awareness of the efforts of cooler heads. Dave Snyder, for instance, is organizing a riders union. Snyder knows what he’s talking about: Before this he was leader of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, and then the transportation director at SPUR. And if you want sophisticated thinkers capable of making real change in our transit systems, SPUR is a good place to start. Its director's latest meditation on mass transit draws on lessons learned from post-WWII unionization in Sweden - obscure, perhaps, but insightful.

March Against Muni organizers Jared Roussel and Blake Bakken don’t have that kind of background. I reached out to Roussel, the designated press contact, to ask him whether they were really “against Muni.” Here’s part of my email:

Is the point here to try to injure Muni, or to make it better?

Some of the demands certainly speak to potential problems in Muni

management - but most of them seem more directly connected with the

actions of the union - or of the state (which, as I'm sure you know

has raided the tax fund that California voters set aside to pay for

transit).

Many of the problems you are protesting - route cuts, fare hikes,

overcrowding, delays - are a direct result of the state's financial

mess, so what's the point of boycotting Muni and reducing the money it

has to keep routes in service, reduce fares, clean buses, etc?

But Roussel didn’t answer my questions. Instead he shot back this response.

We're not here to convince any already-decided pundits that we aren't misinformed. This is simply an organized public cause to channel the voices and frustration of San Francisco residents. If you're judging misinformation, it had better be the public's and not just mine. I don't have any comments for you, but I do invite you to join our Facebook group if you'd like to take a look at the debate and any discussions I've posted to judge that as you see fit.

I took Roussel up on that offer and was able to sift a few grains of logic.  One entry mentioned a bus riders union in Los Angeles.  Another dicussion centered around proposed rate hikes for disabled people and seniors (which MUNI later took off the table).  Roussel seems to be saying that he knows he’s not equipped to make a critique of policy  – his purpose is just to raise awareness:

Make no mistake, we definitely believe that city politics and public transit dealings are both very complicated matters filled with tons of bureaucracy that we have no desire to involve ourselves in beyond simple communication.

If I'm reading this correctly, that is certainly a worthy goal. It’s nice to see people who haven’t spent much time thinking about politics standing up to try to make their city better. But if you're concerned with MUNI issues, you might look elsewhere for credible information.  Like here, or here or even here.  And if you're confused as to what a group that calls itself "March Against MUNI" stands for, be assured it wants a better public transportation system.  Even if Jared Rousell's explanation is a bit self-contradictory:

"March Against Muni is most certainly not against Muni.”