SAN FRANCISCO—The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors are at a standstill over the name of the Central Subway Chinatown station after a three-hour meeting on Tuesday, June 4. This was the second time in three years that the board of directors have voted on naming the station after community organizer Rose Pak.
Board directors have been stuck in a 3-3 tie on whether to name the station after Pak. Art Torres, SFMTA board director, proposed a vote to postpone the name vote until a seventh member has been added. The next vote will take place with Steve Heminger as the seventh board member, who was confirmed after Tuesday’s meeting.
In 2016, the SFMTA Board of Directors adopted a proposal that requires stations to be named after geographical locations to lessen confusion for passengers. The same policy states areas in a station can be named after people with “historical, cultural or political significance.”
Pak, who passed away in September 2016, was known as an activist for the Chinatown community in the city. She lobbied for grant funding of the subway which broke ground in 2013 and is set to be finished in 2019.
Five-hundred supporters of the name marched at San Francisco City Hall in red shirts with Pak’s face and the words “Chinatown Rose Pak Station” on them. Supporters marched with Chinatown leaders, advocacy groups, and non-profit organizations who support the station being named after Pak.
As of now, the SFMTA Board of Directors have confirmed the vote has been tabled and is not expected to be brought up before the next SFMTA board meeting.
