Who hasn’t heard a public figure give a sound bite on the news and thought “I hate that guy!” It’s hard to decide how much of our reaction is to the messenger, and how much is to their message. What is that guy really like? What does that woman do on her day off? What if we have a lot in common and he just happens to have a really tough job? Or maybe that woman really is a jerk and my gut was right all along!
In The Cut, the Appeal’s new long-form interview show, tries to help you answer some of those questions. Our goal with this show is to provide some insight into the people behind the public figures, balanced with some questions on the issues they’re facing today.
For our first episode, we talk to Nathaniel Ford, head of the SF MTA, the agency that oversees (among other things) parking, taxis, and our troubled transit system, Muni.
Ford moved to San Francisco in January 2006, almost four years ago, and we made sure to ask him if he’s committed to stay for the even longer haul. We also asked him about what some think of as Muni’s top problems — customer service and safety. In the interview, he promises to start a customer service training program by January 2010 and to let our cameras into the training rooms. We’ll hold him to it!
This is just the first in a series, so we’d love to hear your feedback. Who else would you like to see us talk to? What should we change? Let us know what you think.
