Hip hip hooray! The Muni wires will stay!
In a swift defeat of what could very well be the dumbest idea to hit San Francisco ever (and there sure is stiff competition in that realm), the Super Bowl planning committee has withdrawn their own plan to remove Muni’s overhead trolley wires around Justin Herman Plaza.
The SF Examiner has the story:
A representative of the Super Bowl 50 Host Committee apparently said in a phone call to Supervisor Jane Kim’s office that after some analysis the committee decided it would not move through with plans to remove Muni wires.
There was no mention during the phone call of the public backlash to the plan, according to Kim’s office.
Great news, although, as Market Street Railway points out, the F-Market route will essentially be cut in half, with bus substitutes running west up Market Street and streetcars remaining along the Embarcadero. Several bus routes will be rerouted as well.
About the wires, though, Kim had this to say:
“I’m gratified that the Super Bowl 50 committee took another look at the idea of removing overhead Muni wires for the Super Bowl festival, and decided not to pursue that idea. The impact on commute times and work productivity for the folks that make San Francisco work would have been burdensome, not to mention the possible consequences for bicyclist and pedestrian safety. Those were my greatest concerns, so I’m happy that this was resolved.”
You can read the whole story over at the Examiner’s site.
Done and done. No need for the petition. But please don’t stop sharing your rad photos of Muni wires!
Photo by Lynn Friedman
What’s San Francisco without the Muni overhead wires?
That was never ever going to happen. Take your Super Bowl story walking.
They are still going to prevent the F-Market from running that week! Keep writing your supervisors and CAC@sfmta.com 🙂
Yay
“our immediate, unanimous condemnation of the idea to take down Muni wires”
So in other words… it was just being a normal bitchy San Franciscan 🙂
This is what makes San Francisco great and unique from other cities. Hell yes! Keep those wires up always!
There will still be Muni and bus disruption or rerouting but the removal of the wires would have added weeks to the process.
Yay!
I checked the petition’s page at Change.org and they claimed victory after 932 signatures and a posted announcement from the Super Bowl Host Committee that they were changing their plans, allowing the wires to stay up.
“I’m gratified that the Super Bowl 50 committee took another look at the idea of removing overhead Muni wires for the Super Bowl festival, and decided not to pursue that idea.”
Um, what? How about: “We were never going to allow this in a million years, so suck it NFL”
According to an article in the SF Examiner, the Super Bowl Host Committee may not refund Muni for the additional cost of detours during the Super Bowl parade. How’s that for sore losers?
Super Bowl Pillage.