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Civil grand jury criticizes Central Subway design and MTA responses; MTA and TA defend project and federal funding timeline
Summary
The civil grand jury presented a report critical of the Central Subway's design, projected costs and some MTA responses; MTA, the Transportation Authority and the Mayor's office defended the project, citing decades of review, federal funding under review and projections for high ridership and contingencies. The committee agreed with a subset of the grand jury's findings on Muni performance and finance while rejecting others.
The Government Audit and Oversight Committee heard a presentation from the civil grand jury on its report "Central Subway: Too Much Money for Too Little Benefit," followed by detailed responses from the Municipal Transportation Agency, the Transportation Authority and the Mayor's office. The grand jury said its fact-based investigation (50'60 pages of analysis and interviews) found design shortcomings, questionable cost-effectiveness, and weaknesses in MTA's responses to findings — but did not recommend a surface-street alternative or that the project be canceled outright.
Grand jury chair Bob Perry said the jury verified facts from MTA documents and interviews and emphasized that while the report criticizes the current subway design, it does not dispute the utility of having a subway to Chinatown; rather, the jury disputed aspects of the current design and some MTA justifications. Daniel Schweitzer highlighted several findings, including low on-time service performance for Muni (Prop E targets), and flagged a projected shortfall in light-rail…
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