Breed’s S.F. SFMTA board picks — Manny’s owner and disability advocate — advance - San Francisco Chronicle

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Two of Mayor London Breed’s appointees to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s board received a green light by a Board of Supervisors’ committee Monday to fill vacant seats on the body that oversees Muni and parking.

Manny Yekutiel, owner of the small business Manny’s in the Mission, and transit accessibility advocate Fiona Hinze will now advance to the Board of Supervisors for a final vote. Appointments to the four-year terms require yes votes from at least six out of 11 supervisors.

San Francisco supervisors have butted heads with the mayor, who appoints all seven members of the agency’s board, on some of her recommendations this year. In August, the Board of Supervisors rejected Breed’s nomination of transit advocate Jane Natoli, who would have been the first trans woman on the board, and approved Sharon Lai, a former city planner.

SFMTA board members are grappling with huge challenges this year. Because of the pandemic, public transportation is facing an existential crisis and the agency is staring down a devastating budget deficit, with the possibility of laying off more than 20% of its workers and making hard choices about which service to restore and cut early next year.

“Stepping up during this time is really a heroic act. You’re not stepping into an organization when it’s thriving, you’re stepping into an organization when it’s in crisis,” said Supervisor Hillary Ronen, who chaired Monday’s committee.

The mayor’s two most recent appointees received nothing but praise Monday from three supervisors and more than two dozen public speakers ranging from local business owners to pedestrian advocates.

Yekutiel, who is gay, came from a background in campaigning to start Manny’s, a restaurant, bookstore and political event space in the Mission. He would be unique on the board as the owner of a small brick-and-mortar business. He told supervisors he’s seen firsthand how transit is vital to essential workers and the Shared Spaces and Slow Streets projects have helped businesses survive during the pandemic.

“The SFMTA has a unique ability over the next three to four years to save small businesses in the city,” he said. “If the SFMTA fails, small businesses fail.”

Yekutiel said there historically has been a “lot of tension” between the small business community and the SFMTA, with the agency seeking input on construction projects after they already had a “deleterious effect” on businesses. He wants to bring in businesses earlier in the process.

Yekutiel said he was an exclusive public transit rider for at least five years and still relies on Muni to get around the city. He also said that his father was nearly run over by a bus on his motorcycle and his grandfather was hit while walking by a drunk driver — which is why traffic safety is a priority for him.

Hinze, born and raised in the Outer Richmond, lives with cerebral palsy, uses an electric wheelchair and relies mainly on paratransit to get around. Hinze, director of systems change for Independent Living Resource Center San Francisco, a disability rights organization, also advocates for seniors with disabilities as part of the city’s the Vision Zero plan to eliminate traffic fatalities by 2024.

“When it comes to COVID recovery and bus line restorations, as really everything at the MTA, it should be viewed with the lens of equity,” Hinze told supervisors. She said although the Shared Spaces program “undoubtedly saved some small businesses,” it also raised some concerns about accessibility.

Citing recent construction project delays, Hinze stressed that as a board member she wanted to keep the SFMTA transparent and accountable, not having the board “act as a rubber stamp” for the agency, but instead asking challenging questions.

Chronicle staff writer Roland Li contributed to this report.

Mallory Moench is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mallory.moench@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @mallorymoench

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Breed’s S.F. SFMTA board picks — Manny’s owner and disability advocate — advance - San Francisco Chronicle
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