BOARD OF SUPERVISORS APPROVES MANNY YEKUTIEL AND FIONA HINZE TO SAN FRANCISCO MUNICIPAL TRANSPORTATION AGENCY BOARD OF DIRECTORS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Tuesday, January 5, 2021

Contact: Mayor’s Office of Communications, mayorspressoffice@sfgov.org

*** PRESS RELEASE ***

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS APPROVES MANNY YEKUTIEL AND FIONA HINZE TO SAN FRANCISCO MUNICIPAL TRANSPORTATION AGENCY BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Yekutiel and Hinze, nominated by Mayor Breed, will represent small business and disability rights communities and will complete the seven-member SFMTA Board of Directors

San Francisco, CA — The Board of Supervisors today approved Manny Yekutiel and Fiona Hinze to serve on the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) Board of Directors. They were nominated to the SFMTA Board of Directors by Mayor London N. Breed and will fill the remaining two vacant seats on the seven-member Board.

“Manny and Fiona will each bring their unique perspectives and experience to help guide the SFMTA during this critical time for our transit system and our entire city, and I’m proud to have nominated them to serve on the Board of Directors,” said Mayor Breed. “Our transit system is a critical City service that our residents rely on and that our economy needs to recover. As we’re dealing with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and facing significant budget deficits, it’s important that we have a full Board at the SFMTA guiding policy. With Manny and Fiona on the Board, I’m confident that we’ll have the leadership we need to help the SFMTA as it does the hard work of keeping our transit system running while advancing our efforts to make transit more convenient, easy to use, and equitable.” 

“I’m deeply grateful to the Board of Supervisors for their confirmation today and am honored to serve alongside my fellow nominee Fiona Hinze who has dedicated her life to access and advocacy,” said Manny Yekutiel. “On this board my goal is to serve as a bridge builder at a moment when our City and its public transportation system sits at a crossroads. I look forward to rolling up my sleeves and getting to work.”

“I am excited to work with SFMTA and community members to ensure that San Francisco’s transit system and streetscape is accessible and equitable for all San Franciscans, including seniors and people with disabilities,” said Fiona Hinze.

Mayor Breed nominated Manny Yekutiel to the SFMTA Board of Directors in October 2020. Yekutiel is the owner of Manny’s, a civic gathering space featuring a cafe, restaurant, and bookshop in the Mission District. He currently serves on the San Francisco Small Business Commission, a position he will step down from upon his swearing-in to the SFMTA Board, and is a board member of the Valencia Corridor Merchants Association.

The Valencia Corridor Merchants Association worked with the City to close Valencia Street as part of the Shared Spaces program, an initiative created by Mayor Breed to help neighborhood businesses to share a portion of the public right-of-way for outdoor dining and other neighborhood retail activity. Manny also served on the SFMTA 16th Street Bus Improvement Project Mitigation Task Force.

Yekutiel comes from a long line of small business owners; his grandparents owned a grocery store in Brooklyn and his father, who emigrated from Afghanistan, had a small business in Southern California selling tablecloths. Yekutiel is a graduate of Williams College, and was a public engagement intern focusing on the LGBTQ and Tribal communities under the Obama Administration. He currently lives in the Castro District in San Francisco.

Mayor Breed nominated Fiona Hinze to the SFMTA Board of Directors in October 2020 to advocate for people with disabilities and ensure equitable access to transit. Hinze lives with Cerebral palsy and she uses her power chair to get around the city, including on public transit. In addition to her own experience navigating transit, Hinze advocates for people with disabilities, with a particular focus on employment, transportation access, healthcare access, and civic participation.

Hinze currently works as the Director of Systems Change for Independent Living Resource Center San Francisco (ILRCSF), a disability rights advocacy and support organization. She dedicates her time to the development of strategies around ILRCSF’s systems change and advocacy efforts by tracking key state and local advocacy issues and attending community committee and task force meetings. She works to ensure consumers are aware of advocacy opportunities in the community. Hinze is a graduate of Stanford University and has a B.A. in Psychology, with a concentration in Health and Development. She was born and raised in San Francisco’s Outer Richmond neighborhood.