Who Will Hold the MTA Accountable?

The emerging scandal over the SFMTA's budget deficit - specifically the $80M chunk of it caused by other departments off-loading their cuts onto Muni - looks like it could get hot.

D6 supervisorial candidate and Beyond Chron editor Paul Hogarth, and D5 supervisor Ross Mirkarimi are making noise about making the MTA's governing board an elected body. Currently, MTA directors are appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the Board of Supervisors.

Hogarth:

If Muni’s not going to fight for the money it needs to run a decent public transit system, I believe that an elected MTA Board makes sense.

From Streetsblog:

[Mirkarimi] said he cautiously supported Proposition A, which gave the MTA Board more power, and wonders whether it wouldn't be better for MTA directors to be elected rather than appointed by the Mayor to enhance independence and accountability, a statement that drew applause from the audience [of the April 8th Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee].