**MEDIA ADVISORY FOR TUESDAY, FEB. 18**

Contact: Jennie Smith-Camejo, jennie.smith-camejo@seiu1021.org, (510) 710-0201

San Francisco’s Vision Zero plan, adopted in 2014, was meant to completely eliminate traffic fatalities by 2024. Yet last year there were 42 traffic deaths in the city—a 38% increase over 2023—and a whopping 24 of them were pedestrians. The city’s roughly 160 school crossing guards are crucial to making sure children (and their families) make it to and from school safely in a city where crossing streets is clearly still risky business. The program is already short-staffed, without a guard for every school that wants one. Even so, SFMTA will propose eliminating them completely at its board of directors meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 18. (See slide #20)

What: SFMTA board of directors meeting; school crossing guards will come speak out against cuts
Where: SF City Hall, Room 400
When: Tuesday, Feb. 18. Meeting begins at 1 p.m. This is item #14 on the agenda; public comment is item #12.

Visuals for TV: Press availability with crossing guard Joel Kamisher at 6:45am (before his shift) and 8:20am (after his shift) at 19th & Judah. He will not be able to speak to media from 7:00-8:15am during his shift assisting pedestrians, but can speak before or after.

“If we want to get to zero traffic fatalities, we should be hiring more crossing guards, not getting rid of them,” said Joel Kamisher, who has been a crossing guard for almost 10 years. “We prevent accidents, which means we save lives. And not just that—in the long term, we also save the city money. By reducing accidents, injuries, and fatalities, we also reduce lawsuits against the city.” 

“A student was injured when a car struck an electric scooter on 23rd and Valencia — where we have no crossing guard — right before the start of the school day. The officer on the scene said that there have been multiple accidents at that corner, and that both the driver and scooter were confused, and mistakenly moved through the intersection when they should have stopped. The student left the scene in an ambulance,” said Nick Chandler, Buena Vista Horace Mann K-8 Community School Coordinator. “We rely on our crossing guards to keep our students safe. They are our eyes and ears outside the school, and over the years have not only assured safe crossing, but have helped us keep our students and families out of harm’s way when there is police activity around the school. If anything, we need more crossing guard support. Cutting this vital service now will make our streets less safe for students and families going to and from school.”

“Taking away crossing guards while street design prioritizes cars does not comply with our ethics around Vision Zero,” said Sam Murphy, parent of two children who attend Buena Vista Horace Mann K-8 School in the Mission District. “And nothing is more terrifying than seeing a child go into an ambulance. I was really afraid that she [the child injured by a car when trying to cross the street at an intersection with no crossing guard] was going to have a head injury that was going to impact her for the rest of her life. It scared all the other students and staff as well.”

“If we want to get to zero traffic fatalities, we should be hiring more crossing guards, not getting rid of them,” said Joel Kamisher, who has been a crossing guard for almost 10 years. “We prevent accidents, which means we save lives. And not just that—in the long term, we also save the city money. By reducing accidents, injuries, and fatalities, we also reduce lawsuits against the city.” 

Complicating the matter further is the presence and increase of self-driving cars in San Francisco. NBC Bay Area’s investigative unit spoke with 30 crossing guards last spring; fully a quarter of them reported themselves or pedestrians they were assisting nearly being hit by driverless vehicles at crosswalks.

“We are mostly retirees. We work a couple of hours a day in a split shift,” said Kamisher. ”Many of us rely on these wages to supplement fixed incomes, so these layoffs would be a personal hardship for many. But first and foremost, cutting these positions would endanger a lot of lives for minimal budget savings. 

“What’s more important to this city? Protecting pedestrians, including kids on their way to and from school, and saving lives? Or saving a few pennies here that could quite possibly end up as legal settlements down the road—with innocent pedestrians suffering or even dying in the process?”

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SEIU Local 1021 represents nearly 60,000 employees in local governments, nonprofit agencies, health care programs, courts, and schools throughout Northern California, including seven private colleges and numerous community colleges. SEIU Local 1021 is a diverse, member-driven organization with members who work to make our cities, schools, colleges, counties, and special districts safe and healthy places to live and raise our families.