Photo: bhautik joshi/Flickr

More than a year after the Mayor’s Pedestrian Task Force began meeting to develop San Francisco’s Pedestrian Action Plan, the SFMTA said the agency expects to finalize the document by late summer. Unclear, however, is whether the plan will include a measurable commitment to implementing physical pedestrian safety infrastructure.

To meet the targets set in former Mayor Gavin Newsom’s Executive Directive on Pedestrian Safety — a 25 percent reduction in injuries by 2016, and 50 percent by 2020 —  the document will lay out a blueprint for safety improvements on wide, high-speed streets known as “arterials,” where pedestrians are most at risk of serious traffic injuries, SFMTA Senior Transportation Planner Frank Markowitz told the Pedestrian Safety Advisory Committee yesterday.

The plan would also set metrics to gauge the city’s progress toward four goals: Reducing severe and fatal pedestrian injuries, reducing injury inequities between neighborhoods, increasing walking trips as a share of all trips, and providing “high-quality walking environments.” The Task Force expects to begin conducting public outreach in May and to release a draft plan in mid-summer, said Markowitz.

“Most of the actions would be implemented in the next two, three years, funding permitting,” he said.

The strategies in the plan will include physical traffic-calming measures as well as media campaigns, upgraded speeding enforcement technology (i.e. LIDAR guns), and more thorough data collection on injuries, said Markowitz. Other efforts already underway, he added, include 15 mph school zones – 88 percent of which have been implemented as of last week, according to the SFMTA. The agency also continues daylighting street corners, installing pedestrian countdown signals, and more.

Physical street improvements, like corner sidewalk bulb-outs, improved crosswalks, and traffic-calming measures, said Markowitz, will be largely funded by incorporating pedestrian infrastructure into transit and bicycle projects, since dedicated revenues for pedestrian improvements are scarce. Funding would also depend on allocations from Prop B bonds, which include $50 million for pedestrian and bike projects.

Aside from the goals set by the mayor’s directive, specific measuring sticks haven’t been proposed yet, and there’s no word that they’ll include the type of commitments in New York City’s plan, after which San Francisco’s is partly modeled. The NYC Department of Transportation’s Pedestrian Safety Study and Action Plan set out to re-engineer 60 miles of streets each year, including 20 miles of “intensive safety redesign.”

Markowitz noted the need for concrete metrics to hold agencies accountable to the plan. “We need to increase the visibility of the commitments by all the agencies that are involved in this area — the MTA, Public Health, Public Works, the Police Department, and so on,” he said.

Walk SF Executive Director Elizabeth Stampe, who sits on the Task Force, said the organization is pushing for a commitment of fixing ten miles of streets per year, including three miles of major redesigns, as part of the plan.

“It’s great to have complete streets. These improvements absolutely should be made in concert with others,” said Stampe, who pointed out that calming motor vehicle traffic and improving pedestrian visibility make streets safer for all users. ”But they shouldn’t be the afterthought, and they shouldn’t be the first thing to get cut out, and that’s what we’ve seen a lot with street plans.”

Still, Stampe said she hopes the action plan will push various agencies to better coordinate on street projects that often overlook “a tremendous opportunity to add a bulb-out and improve safety for crossing,” which “frustrates a lot of people.”

Perhaps the biggest accomplishment of the Task Force so far, she said, has just been getting the various agencies to communicate on pedestrian issues. ”I think we’ve moved forward really well on that,” she added.

Bayshore and Alemany Boulevards, next to a Highway 101 onramp. High-speed motor vehicles on streets like these still pose the greatest threat to pedestrians by far. Photo: Aaron Bialick

In the midst of a wave of media attention around the recent bicycle-pedestrian death in the Castro, walking and bicycling advocates today re-affirmed the greatest dangers facing pedestrians on San Francisco’s streets: high-speed roads and dangerous driving behavior.

In a KQED radio forum this morning, Walk SF Executive Director Elizabeth Stampe, SF Bicycle Coalition (SFBC) Executive Director Leah Shahum, SF Bicycle Advisory Committee Chair Bert Hill, and Captain Al Casciato of the SFPD Traffic Company all seemed to agree that the recent death of Sutchi Hui was as tragic as any, and that safer streets will require better street engineering as well as more effective enforcement and education efforts to elicit more courteous behavior among people using all modes of transport.

Still, there’s no question, they said: The vast majority of the more than 800 pedestrian injuries or deaths on San Francisco’s streets every year involve motorists and occur disproportionately on high-speed “arterial” streets.

“In a way, this is kind of a man-bites-dog story,” Stampe said of the bike-ped crash — an event receiving an unusual amount of attention precisely because it happens so infrequently, while too-common car-pedestrian crashes go vastly under-reported. ”This is a real tragedy,” Stampe continued. “I don’t think anybody disagrees, a lot of people are upset, and it’s not okay for people to be hit in a crosswalk and killed in San Francisco. But the fact remains that three people a day are hit by cars… and that’s an underestimate.”

In fact, four other pedestrians have been killed this year alone, according to the SFPD, two of them in the same week as the bike-pedestrian fatality. The death of one still-unidentified victim killed by a Muni bus driver also made national headlines, but the other three victims killed by auto drivers, including 45-year-old Tom Ferguson (killed on the same day as the bus victim), received little more than a few blurbs in the media.

As the SF Bay Guardian pointed out, from 2000 to 2009, 220 pedestrians were killed in San Francisco, mostly by car drivers who rarely face criminal charges. None of those deaths are known to have involved bicycles. Media attention, however, seems to have focused on the two fatal bicycle crashes that occurred within the last year, and their reports rarely provide the statistics about traffic deaths in San Francisco. (Some of the more dramatic cases, like the Concord driver who ran over a family biking on the sidewalk this weekend, killing two, tend to garner more media attention.)

The behavior of Chris Bucchere, the bicycle rider who killed 71-year-old Sutchi Hui at Castro and Market Streets, has been roundly condemned, even by bicycling advocates, particularly in light of an online post in which Bucchere described “plowing through the crosswalk” and seemed more concerned about his broken helmet than about Hui.

“Of course, if there were problems and someone behaved recklessly, they should be held accountable. I would be the first to say that,” said Shahum of the SFBC. “Fortunately, though… these are very rare occurrences.”

The SFBC, Shahum pointed out, has long provided bicycling education classes and outreach efforts which instruct bicyclists to always yield to pedestrians. In fact, the organization released its new “Bicycle Rules of the Road” tip sheet for its Bicycle Education and Safety Week during the same week Hui was injured. Last Friday, in light of Hui’s death, the SFBC set up an outreach booth to hand out safety literature on Market Street and released a statement saying staff is “deeply saddened” by the news and “troubled” by Bucchere’s account of the crash.

While a few callers on this morning’s forum complained of bicyclists “flying all over” with impunity, Captain Casciato assured the audience that officers issue “quite a bit of citations” to bicyclists. He also pointed out the value of offering alternatives to traffic fines. In “the next couple weeks,” he said, the department will roll out a bicycle and pedestrian traffic school program, similar to the options available to drivers. The department will also make it easier for bicyclists who have received traffic citations to file formal complaints about street engineering that is difficult for bicyclists to navigate legally, he said.

Far more effective in reducing pedestrian injuries will be the SFPD’s new targeted enforcement plan, which focuses on the most dangerous violations in the areas with the highest rates of pedestrian crashes. As Stampe pointed out, over half of the city’s pedestrian injuries occur on just five percent of its streets — namely, high-speed roads in areas like the Tenderloin and South of Market.

“It’s pretty intuitive. It’s the wide, fast streets that act like freeways, where folks feel like they can drive really fast and don’t have to watch out for each other,” said Stampe. “What that tells us is if we can target our enforcement and our fixing the streets in those areas, we can make a big difference pretty fast and keep a lot more people safe.”

Photo: 305 Seahilll/Flickr

It’s Walk to Work Day in San Francisco tomorrow and in recognition of the occasion, Walk SF is asking San Franciscans to post about their walking commute on Facebook and Twitter. Participants will not only enter to win a prize from Walk SF, but they’ll be supporting good advocacy. GJEL Attorneys will donate $25 to Walk SF for each post made.

“We’re looking forward to hearing what people notice when they walk,” said Walk SF Executive Director Elizabeth Stampe. “What are the best parts of your walk? What feels unsafe? What would encourage you to walk more?”

Even if your trip to work is too long to walk the whole way, Walk SF is encouraging commuters to walk the first or last half-mile of their trip.

You can also join Walk SF for a pre-event happy hour tonight from 5:30 to 7:30 at Ma’velous at 1408 Market Street.

Photo: SFBC/Flickr

The San Francisco Police Department yesterday announced a commitment to reduce pedestrian injuries through targeted enforcement of dangerous driving.

In a joint statement with Walk SF, the SFPD said it will target violations like speeding and red light-running, especially in areas with the highest pedestrian injury rates. SFPD also plans to sign an agreement soon to share data with the SFMTA and the Department of Public Health, to implement “systematic” education and enforcement at new 15 MPH school zones as each one rolls out, and to streamline its reporting on enforcement to the Pedestrian Safety Task Force.

The new emphasis on pedestrian safety was prompted by last month’s incident in the Tenderloin, where a van driver slammed into an elderly pedestrian with the right-of-way in a marked crosswalk, writes Walk SF:

Walk SF recently met with the Police Chief and the Mayor’s office… We will be meeting with the District Attorney as well, to urge more action on penalizing dangerous driving.

This is a real milestone. This is a commitment to accountable enforcement of the laws that protect you when you walk.

Walk SF appreciates the commitment by the Police Department and the Mayor to making San Francisco’s streets better and safer for everyone.

In the joint statement, Walk SF and SFPD note that “these actions will help to meet the city goals set by the 2010 Mayor’s Executive Directive on Pedestrian Safety to reduce serious and fatal pedestrian collisions by 25 percent by 2016 and by 50 percent by 2021.”

Read the full statement after the break.

Joint Statement from the San Francisco Police Department and Walk San Francisco on Pedestrian Safety and Traffic Enforcement

March 28, 2012

After meeting with Walk San Francisco, the San Francisco Police Department would like to take the opportunity to join with Walk San Francisco in a statement of concern and action in response to the pedestrian hit in the crosswalk in the Tenderloin, as well as additional recent pedestrian collisions.

1) Update on the Tenderloin collision:

The Police Department heard the community’s concern about the crash in the Tenderloin and has issued a citation to the driver for failing to yield to a pedestrian in the crosswalk.

Walk San Francisco will meet with the District Attorney this month to discuss how and whether the driver in this instance can be charged and on how to penalize dangerous driving moving forward.

2) Additional actions to increase safety:

Enforcing 15-mph school speed zones:

The Police Department is currently implementing a systematic approach to enforcing all the city’s new 15-mph safer speed zones around schools, working closely with the Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA):

Each month, SFMTA gives the police the location of all new 15-mph zones. The following month, police go out and warn drivers at each school of the new speed limit, and the month after that, police issue tickets for speeding at each school.

This is an excellent precedent for citywide targeted enforcement. The police will continue to report on enforcement activity at each Mayor’s Pedestrian Safety Task Force meeting.

Enforcing pedestrian right-of-way:

Neighborhood enforcement: As part of each neighborhood police station’s regular traffic enforcement, police will carry out weekly actions citing drivers that fail to yield to pedestrians at crosswalks. These enforcement activities will be focused in the most dangerous areas, identified on the map of police data showing high-injury corridors and intersections.

Citywide enforcement: The Police Department’s central Traffic Company, the motorcycle police who carry out most of the city’s traffic enforcement, will also undertake weekly crosswalk right-of-way enforcement at the highest-priority locations identified on the map of police data showing high-injury corridors and intersections. This enforcement will rotate locations to ensure that over the course of a year, all of the most dangerous areas are covered.

Walk San Francisco will assist the Police Department in publicizing these activities to increase awareness.

Targeting enforcement on the most dangerous locations and behaviors:

Focusing enforcement: The Traffic Company is currently focusing traffic safety enforcement in high-injury corridors, citing the most dangerous behaviors:

• Speeding
• Failure to yield to pedestrians at crosswalks
• Running red lights and stop signs

Reporting on enforcement: The Traffic Company will report these enforcement efforts—citations, hours spent, locations, etc.—on a monthly basis to the Mayor’s Pedestrian Safety Task Force, of which Walk SF is a member.

Supporting the police’s ability to enforce: Currently, reporting on enforcement is made difficult by the fact that officers still have to actually hand-write citations and have them manually entered into a computer afterward. The SFMTA has committed to funding the purchase of 70 handheld electronic citation devices within the next six months, as well as setting up a computer program that will track and report on citations. This will be part of the Traffic Company’s reporting on a work order with SFMTA to do traffic enforcement on city streets.

Data sharing:

The Police Department, the Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), and Department of Public Health hope to sign a data-sharing agreement soon and continue creating a system to share collision data promptly; a key piece of this will be transitioning this year from handwritten police collision reports to a modern electronic reporting system shared among agencies. This will inform enforcement and engineering efforts to make the streets safer for everyone.

The Police Department is putting together a request for funds, tools, and staff needed to implement this.

3) Making San Francisco’s streets safer:

These actions will help to meet the City goals set by the 2010 Mayor’s Executive Directive on Pedestrian Safety to: reduce serious and fatal pedestrian collisions by 25% by 2016 and by 50% by 2021, increase walking citywide, and reduce inequities among neighborhoods in pedestrian safety.

The Police Department is currently working with the Mayor’s Pedestrian Safety Task Force on a Pedestrian Strategic Action Plan to be finished this year. The plan will include additional enforcement actions to meet these goals, such as deploying additional technology such as more accurate “Lidar” speed guns, and additional targeted enforcement around schools, including schools without 15-mph zones and with the Safe Routes to School program.

The Police Department is strongly committed to keeping San Francisco’s residents, visitors, and workers safe and comfortable on city streets and looks forward to working with other city agencies and with Walk San Francisco to help everyone enjoy the city on foot.

Image: ABC 7

It took a show of public outrage, but the SFPD has reversed course and decided to issue a traffic citation to the paratransit van driver who was videotaped running over a man who had the right of way at Leavenworth and Eddy Streets last week. The driver will be cited for failing to yield to a pedestrian; no criminal charges will be filed as of yet.

An SFPD spokesperson had initially said police wouldn’t cite the driver in the “unfortunate” crash because he cooperated with authorities, but the department apparently changed its mind after Walk SF rallied members to call on the SFPD and city leaders to “defend everyone’s right to walk safely.”

“What a shame that no action is being taken against the driver of the van who was obviously negligent,” wrote one member in a message to the mayor, the District Attorney, the SFMTA and the SFPD last week. “The message this sends to San Francisco drivers is that it’s okay to run over people that are obeying rules when crossing a street. Our streets are unsafe and we need to do something about it!”

The SFPD’s citation is the bare minimum that could be applied in this case, according to Shaana Rahman, an attorney who defends pedestrian victims in civil court. “The gross negligence of this driver is absolutely clear,” she said. ”Not only does the video show that the victim had the right of way, it also shows that the pedestrian was in the crosswalk for several seconds and was clearly visible to the driver, had the driver been paying attention.”

Denis O’Leary, head of the SFPD Traffic Company, said the driver wasn’t intially cited at the scene because “he was not feeling well and ended up in the hospital.” O’Leary said he ordered officers to cite the driver for failing to yield to a pedestrian after the crash was evaluated by a state-certified investigator. However, Rahman pointed out that the driver violated at least one other law — California Vehicle Code 22107, which prohibits moving “right or left upon a roadway until such movement can be made with reasonable safety.”

In the surveillance footage, the driver can be seen running the victim over in a highly-visible crosswalk while he had the walk signal. The man, who walked with a cane, was pinned under the van for 20 minutes and sent to the hospital with several broken bones.

While some would like to see criminal charges brought against the driver, the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office says there aren’t sufficient grounds without having more information. SF District Attorney George Gascón has prosecuted four drivers for killing pedestrians in recent months, but DA spokesperson Omid Talai said last week’s case is different because the victim is expected to survive.

“There’s no law on the books that we can point to to charge an individual who, without intent, negligently and accidentally injures a pedestrian, or bicyclist, or individual in their car,” said Talai.

However, the DA can file charges for reckless driving, which Talai said is defined “as any person driving any vehicle on a highway who is in willful and wanton disregard for the safety of other people and property. Often times, that’s when someone is under the influence, on their cell phone, or has a cast on their leg.”

Did the van driver’s actions in this case constitute “willful and wanton disregard for the safety of other people”? The DA’s office says they would need more evidence to decide. “If we’re presented with more information [by the SFPD], we would definitely take a hard look at the surrounding circumstances, and then make an informed decision,” said Talai.

Walk SF Executive Director Elizabeth Stampe said, “Gascón’s concern about dangerous behavior on the streets is commendable, but this kind of obvious endemic injustice needs action,” and that the organization “is eager to work with the District Attorney to develop the tools needed to prosecute these crimes.”

Talai could not say whether Gascón would consider lobbying to change state law to give prosecutors more leeway to press charges for dangerous driving.

“We do not relish having to prosecute people for these incidents. We’d all be better off if these accidents never occured,” he added. “Among California cities, San Francisco historically has the highest per capita vehicle-pedestrian collision injury rate. While [that has] declined over the last decade, we can and should do better to make our streets even more welcoming for pedestrians and bicyclists.”

The victim, who walked with a cane, was making his way through a crosswalk with highly visible markings while he had the walk signal. He was hospitalized after the crash with several broken bones. But because the driver stayed at the scene and was “cooperative,” SFPD spokesperson Albie Esparza told ABC 7 that police determined it to be nothing more than “an unfortunate traffic collision.”

“This video is shocking. You can see how dangerous a driver’s impatience really is,” said Elizabeth Stampe, executive director of Walk SF. ”Everyone I know has stories of cars that fail to yield when they’re crossing the street. Here we see how deadly that can be. Dangerous driving has been tolerated for too long. There has got to be a penalty.”

A disproportionately high number of pedestrians are run over by drivers in the Tenderloin. In November 2010, a UCSF shuttle bus driver was also caught on video killing a 65-year-old woman in a crosswalk at Leavenworth and Geary just three blocks away. The SFPD didn’t cite that driver either.

Although police typically charge drivers in similar cases if they are drunk or flee the scene, the SFPD apparently finds no fault with drivers who claim ignorance, no matter how clear the evidence of criminal negligence is.

“Dangerous driving has got to be penalized, or it’s not going to stop,” said Stampe. “We all have the right to walk safely in the city. The police, MTA, and the District Attorney need to show that they’re committed to defending safe walking.”

Photo: Myleen Hollero/Orange Photography

As Streetsblog Capitol Hill has been reporting, H.R. 7, the federal transportation bill being pushed by House Republicans, would be disastrous for transit riders and crippling for programs that fund pedestrian and bicycle safety.

In the Bay Area, the damage would be especially severe: “California receives a huge share of the federal funding for public transportation because of our extensive systems, and the House bill could end up zeroing out federal support for transit,” said Stuart Cohen, executive director of TransForm, a Bay Area transit advocacy group that lobbies at the state and federal level. Instead, transit “would have to battle in the ever-shrinking general fund.”

Transportation for America spokesperson David Goldberg told the San Francisco Examiner today that about $638 million annually could be withheld to Bay Area transit agencies, which “could ultimately lead to service cuts, fare increases and deferred maintenance on vehicles.”

Yesterday, Bay Area mayors Ed Lee of San Francisco, Jean Quan of Oakland, and Chuck Reed of San Jose expressed their opposition to the bill in an op-ed in the Examiner, calling on Congress to protect their cities’ transportation funding:

While roads and bridges are a critical component of California’s infrastructure, diverting vital funding for sustainable modes of travel is unwise. If this wrongheaded approach moves forward in the House, the nation’s transportation network will take a giant step backward to a “roads only” policy for dedicated funding…

Cities throughout California are dependent on a robust multimodal, accessible transportation system. Maintaining mobility in our communities is fundamental to our overall economic vitality, getting people to their workplaces, daily appointments and to downtowns for shopping.

We’ve seen that cities, particularly those in California, continue to drive our nation’s economic resurgence. To choke off our most important resource for transportation infrastructure would be devastating to our recovery. We mustn’t stay silent as the House considers this legislation.

“At a time when Muni needs over $7 billion just to mantain a state of good repair over the next generation, it could see devastating cuts — hundreds of millions over the next five years — to funding that now goes to maintain their system,” said Cohen.

“Improving mobility in our transit-first city is fundamental to improving our Muni system, our bike networks, pedestrian access and safety, taxi service, and car and ridesharing  resources,” said SFMTA Director of Transportation Ed Reiskin. “Both regionally and nationally, cities have depended on a strong multi-modal, accessible transportation system to further our economic resurgence. If members of the House turned their back on us now, it would slow any progress indefinitely.”

Cohen said the bill could also undermine the region’s “ability to provide great innovative models and pilot projects that can lead us to a new, more sustainable transportation system.”

“Some of the Bay Area’s most innovative programs are currently funded by federal sources,” said Cohen, including the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s Transportation Climate Action Campaign, which will fund projects like regional bike share.

Improvements for safer bicycling and walking would also lose all dedicated federal funding under the bill, which has been expressly opposed by the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition and Walk San Francisco. SFBC Deputy Director Kit Hodge told the Examiner that the organization is “appalled” by the proposal.

Cohen said programs like Safe Routes to Schools could still hunt for funding from local sources, “but we’ve been depending on federal funds for many infrastructure improvements near schools.”

H.R. 7 was recently split into three separate bills, and the latest reports indicate the House may not vote on the transportation component until after the President’s Day recess — a sign of weakness but far from a guarantee that the bill will fail. Advocates are calling on opponents to urge their congressional representatives to defend bicycle, pedestrian, and transit funding in favor of a better bill.

“Even though the House bill is not likely to pass as currently proposed, we fear that this is really the House Republicans drawing a new marker in the sand,” said Cohen. “As the Highway Trust Fund and the general fund continue to deteriorate, some of these proposals that now seem far-fetched could receive real consideration. We must take these threats seriously and have everyone join Transportation for America’s coordinated campaign for a bill that promotes efficiency, equity and sustainable jobs.”

Buffered bike lanes now run on fresh pavement on Sloat Boulevard. Photo: Mark Dreger, San Franciscoize

The six-lane speedway known as Sloat Boulevard has been somewhat tamed after Caltrans implemented a road diet last week, reclaiming two vehicle lanes for bicycles.

Long known as a virtual no-man’s-land for biking and walking, Sloat is technically a state highway that runs through the Parkside District. The stretch between 21st Avenue and Everglade Drive should be safer now, with new buffered (though unprotected) bike lanes running along the left side of parked cars and other pedestrian safety improvements.

“For too long, Sloat’s freeway-like design has been a danger to people who walk in the Sunset,” said Walk SF Executive Director Elizabeth Stampe. “This is a great step toward helping people feel safer and more comfortable walking around the Zoo, Lake Merced, and of course San Francisco State University.”

Mark Dreger first reported the installation on his new blog San Franciscoize (a spin-off of the famed beacon of bicycle culture, Copenhagenize):

This development is especially exciting because this portion of Sloat Blvd is a state highway (CA-35) under the jurisdiction of Caltrans. While California’s Department of Transportation does have a Complete Streets Program, they have a longstanding reputation of prioritizing movement of automobile traffic over other modes of transport. Nevertheless, the agency has gone ahead with enhancements to the safety and comfort of walking and bicycling on this important street and deserve some sincere credit.

With the roadway for cars now reduced by roughly 22 feet, drivers should feel less invited to speed. Caltrans also plans to reduce the speed limit in the near future from of 40 mph to 35 mph. Even by Caltrans’ automobile-centric standards, Dreger noted, ”there is not nearly enough volume to justify three lanes in each direction.”

Photo: Mark Dreger

The bike lanes are seven feet wide with four-foot buffers (seemingly plenty of room for protected bike lanes if such designs had the Caltrans stamp of approval). The improvements on Sloat also come with visible ladder-style crosswalks, painted “yield” arrows (often called “shark’s teeth”), and signage instructing drivers to yield.

“These changes are a good start,” said Stampe. “To reduce speeds further, it would help to see pedestrian islands, wider sidewalks, and some vertical additions like trees or soft-hit posts to visually narrow the street and signal to drivers that they are not, in fact, on a freeway.”

Historically, Caltrans has acted slowly to improve Sloat, particularly at the intersection of 19th Avenue – another Caltrans highway — which is commonly ranked among the most dangerous in the city. Last year, the intersection saw three vehicle crashes in which four people were injured, according to police data. Along Sloat, two pedestrians were hit by drivers last year, and in January of 2010, 54-year-old Feng Lian Zhu was killed by a driver near Forest View Drive.

The project was initiated by Caltrans after District 4 Supervisor Carmen Chu requested safety improvements on Sloat, which divides the Parkside neighborhood from Stern Grove and the Sunset District to the north.

“Congratulations to both Supervisor Chu and Caltrans for proactively reimagining a dangerous street in to one that makes walking and biking much safer and attractive, helping many more families from the neighborhood and far beyond enjoy the many wonderful destinations in this part of town,” said Kit Hodge, deputy director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC).

While bike lanes were also striped recently on nearby Portola Drive by the SFMTA as part of the SF Bike Plan, the newest ones on Sloat fall just short of connecting with those and others planned between the Great Highway and Skyline Boulevard [PDF].

No plans to connect the gaps are known as of yet, but the SFBC is encouraging supporters to let Caltrans staff and city leaders know they appreciate complete streets improvements and that more are needed.

Photo: Mark Dreger

New "continental", ladder-style crosswalks were installed along with yield signs and arrows (out of shot). Photo: Mark Dreger

At Walk San Francisco’s big member bash last month, Mayor Ed Lee celebrated San Francisco becoming the first big city in the state to take swift action to make neighborhoods safer for kids to walk to school by implementing 15 mile per hour zones at 60 schools out of 180 to come.

Mayor Lee speaks at a Walk to School Day press conference in October. Photo: Marianne Szeto

“We will, in our lifetimes, get to zero” pedestrian deaths, declared the Mayor, calling for “experimenting out of the box with every possible idea to make streets safer.”

The mayor set a bold vision for San Francisco, and an “out of the box” approach may be just what we need to reach it. But to stand by his commitment, Mayor Lee must provide the leadership our city needs to make smart, immediate investments to improve pedestrian safety in 2012.

Over half of the city’s serious and fatal pedestrian crashes occur on just 7 percent of the city’s streets, according to the Mayor’s Pedestrian Safety Task Force, which started work last year on former Mayor Gavin Newsom’s December 2010 Executive Directive on Pedestrian Safety [PDF].

That finding can provide critical guidance for the city to effectively direct its resources — from traffic enforcement to street redesigns — to save the most lives. Streets that are safer and more pleasant to walk on, research has shown, also tend to increase home values and benefit the bottom line for local businesses and city coffers.

We have the funds available to invest in safer streets. San Francisco voters in 2010 approved Prop AA, a vehicle license fee that helps fund pedestrian safety improvements, as well as last fall’s Prop B, which provides $50 million in bonds for both walking and biking.

As Mayor Lee begins his first full term in 2012, here are a few key initiatives he can take to save lives and help boost the economy:

Half of the city's serious and fatal pedestrian crashes occur on 7 percent of its streets. Image: SFDPH

• Create a Pedestrian Action Plan to fix 10 miles of streets per year. New York City has committed to improving pedestrian safety on 60 miles of streets per year, and San Francisco can set similar goals. The Better Streets Plan was a good start, but it lacked any commitment by the city to implement it. How much will the city do, and how soon? What can city agencies do to reduce the costs and time it takes to calm motor traffic and widen sidewalks?If Mayor Lee is serious about pedestrian safety, he will set clear goals for delivering the better streets our city has been promised for so long.

• Pilot low-cost projects to fix the worst streets. It’s time for a new approach to fixing our most dangerous streets with the haste we need. Mayor Lee can support low-cost pilot projects to make quick and visible changes by scaling up the parklet-and-plaza approach — let’s see what happens if we paint SoMa’s high-speed arterials to look less like freeways, install a parklet along an entire block, and put planters on street corners to make crossings safer. This week’s pilot project to reappropriate car parking lanes for pedestrian space on Stockton Street in Chinatown during the Chinese New Year is an excellent example of a way to support the local economy and improve the pedestrian experience.
• Enforce the laws that keep people safe. San Francisco police are now systematically enforcing the new 15 mph speed limits around schools, but we need to expand this strategy citywide to target the most dangerous behaviors like speeding and red-light running. Mayor Lee must work with the Police Chief Suhr and District Attorney Gascón to make it clear to the public that endangering others will not be tolerated.
• Make Sunday Streets a part of the city landscape. Sunday Streets is a proven success, and it shouldn’t just be a pilot anymore. It’s more than a street fair, more than an event — it transforms car-dominated streets into public space and provides health benefits that outweigh the costs of running the program. Mayor Lee can show his pride in Sunday Streets by making it a permanent and regular part of the city landscape that residents can rely on. San Franciscans should be able to know that on Sundays throughout spring, summer, and fall, they won’t have to worry about cars on streets like 24th in the Mission, Grant in Chinatown and North Beach, or the Great Highway along Ocean Beach.
• Use the America’s Cup “People’s Plan” to make the streets work better for people. This is the year to show the world that San Francisco has smart alternatives to snarled traffic. Let’s put up wayfinding signs showing how long it will take to walk to the water. Let’s finally really get rid of the Embarcadero Freeway by providing more room for people to enjoy the waterfront on foot or by bike. Let’s expedite transformative projects like the Fisherman’s Wharf Public Realm Plan and reserve some streets exclusively for walking — who knows, we might like it so much, we’ll never go back.

Mayor Lee knows that improving streets can make the city thrive. Getting Prop B passed was a great start; now it’s time to walk the walk and use it wisely.

Haight Street looking eastbound from Octavia to Gough. Image Courtesy of the SFMTA and the SF Planning Department

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) Board of Directors yesterday unanimously gave the green light to a project that will convert the easternmost block of Haight Street to two-way bus operation.

When constructed in 2014, the project is expected to improve transit reliability for the roughly 20,000 daily riders on the 6 and 71 Muni lines by eliminating unnecessary detours that delay buses behind congested car traffic.

The current experience on the 71, said SFMTA Director Joél Ramos, is a ”long and painful ride.”

“I take offense at people who have guffawed at the 3-minute savings,” he said. “When you’ve got a bus load of people, that’s 60 people times 3 minutes each. That turns into hours which quickly turns into days of time for people that are late to work, away from their families, and these are people that are doing the right thing by not driving and getting out of our cars in this transit-first city.”

Britt Tanner, the head of the project for the SFMTA, addressed fears voiced at the hearing by several committed detractors of the project who live on the affected blocks. They contended that the change will add danger to the intersection of Market, Haight, and Gough Streets, which buses will cross in the opposite direction under the redesign.

“This project actually has many safety improvements included in it,” said Tanner, citing sidewalk bulbs, pedestrian signals, pedestrian refuge islands, and crosswalk realignments. She also noted that vehicle crashes at the intersection have dropped 75 percent in recent years after traffic signal improvements were made.

The redesign will convert a car parking lane on the south side of the easternmost block of Haight to an eastbound bus-only lane. That arrangement was based on community concerns raised at workshops over inviting unwanted vehicle traffic to use the new cut-through to Market Street.

But removing one of the westbound traffic lanes instead would further improve safety, said Livable City Director Tom Radulovich and Walk SF Executive Director Elizabeth Stampe, who otherwise voiced their support for the project.

“The street actually has effectively been widened,” said Stampe. “It’s an interesting idea that that could be changed back – having parking along the south side can provide a buffer for pedestrians from moving traffic.”

The intersection of Market, Gough, and Haight Streets. Image Courtesy of the SFMTA and the SF Planning Department via Haighteration

Mayor Ed Lee walks to school with students from Marshall Elementary in the Inner Mission. Photo: Marianne Szeto

Yesterday marked the first Walk to School Day since San Francisco began installing 15 mph speed limit signs near dozens of schools, and thousands of students were a little safer from speeding cars as they made their way to class.

“The new safer speed zones will calm traffic in neighborhoods throughout the city and help more people enjoy walking,” said Walk SF director Elizabeth Stampe, who joined students from Marshall Elementary in the Inner Mission on a “walking bus” along with Mayor Ed Lee, D6 Supervisor Jane Kim, Recreation and Parks General Manager Phil Ginsburg, and SFMTA Director Ed Reiskin.

Fourty-four schools around the city yesterday held Walk to School Day events involving over 7,000 students. According to the SF Department of Public Health, 56 percent of students at Marshall walk to school, and 70 percent live within one mile. School re-assignments this year allowed more students to attend schools in their neighborhood, close enough to walk or bike.

“Providing safer streets throughout San Francisco is a top priority for the SFMTA,” said Reiskin. “As we continue our work to install new speed-limit signs around schools like Marshall, we are collaborating with the Police Department to educate surrounding communities of the significant, but necessary change that will help keep our students safe.”

The SFMTA plans to install 15 mph signs at 213 K-12 schools by December 2013.

A Marshall Elementary parent speaks with Mayor Lee, Supervisor Kim, SFMTA Director Reiskin, and Rec and Parks' Ginsburg behind. Photo: Marianne Szeto

Photo: kowitz

Walk San Francisco’s seventh annual Peak2Peak Walk this Sunday promises to be an exciting adventure through the spine of the city.  The walk starts at West Portal, where participants will embark on a 12-mile, 15-peak journey from Mount Davidson to Coit Tower:

You’ll cross the city over wide sidewalks, dirt trails, hidden stairways, and take in glorious views from 15 different peaks! From climbing the slopes of Mount Olympus in the morning to enjoying the view from Coit Tower in the afternoon, this full-day walk will offer you a whole new way to see San Francisco.

The walk is fully guided, and you’ll get directions at the event when you sign in. You’ll also be treated to a delicious picnic lunch midway through.

Explore the city, and support pedestrian advocacy by taking part in Walk SF’s annual fundraising walk. The cost is $75 (well worth it) and the registration deadline is this Thursday, so click here and sign up now!

Photo: Bryan Goebel

Two important projects will get a hearing before an SFMTA engineering panel tomorrow, and advocates say a show of support is crucial.

First up is a hearing for the third set of 15mph school zones, championed by Walk San Francisco. More than 70 streets are on the latest list. As we’ve written, the 15mph school zone campaign is part of a groundbreaking citywide initiative pushed by Walk SF to implement safe speed zones around 200 schools, and comes just a few weeks before Walk to School Day on October 5.

The second item to convert Haight Street between Octavia and Market into a two-way street is a project that could face some opposition, but is being pushed by pedestrian, biking and transit advocates as a much-needed measure to calm traffic, improve walking conditions and speed up Muni service on the 6 and 71 lines. The plan would also give us San Francisco’s first red bus lane.

You can read the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association’s letter of support here [pdf].

Tomorrow’s hearing starts at 10 a.m. in Room 416 at San Francisco City Hall.

Photo: Aaron Bialick

Eight mayoral candidates turned out for last night’s forum on streets and parks sponsored by Walk San Francisco, the Neighborhood Parks Council and Friends of the Urban Forest. The Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club’s endorsement meeting was also going on, and some of the candidates, who were juggling schedules, either showed up early and had to leave (Dennis Herrera), late (John Avalos, David Chiu) or not at all (Ed Lee, Bevan Dufty).

The candidates fielded a number of questions on pedestrian safety, walkability issues, parks, open space and urban forestry. It was moderated by San Francisco Chronicle urban design reporter John King.

You can listen to the audio below, or download the MP3 here. Special thanks to Aaron Bialick for the photo and audio. Did you attend? Who stood out the most to you?

(Note, there’s a slight technical glitch at 1:15, but it picks up about 30 seconds later).

Download audio file (Mayoral-Forum-1.mp3)

Sponsored by Walk SF, the Neighborhood Parks Council and the Friends of the Urban Forest, the forum will tackle a variety of important questions on pedestrian safety, sustainable transportation, parks and the state of our streets. It will be moderated by San Francisco Chronicle urban design writer John King.

What would you ask the mayoral candidates? You can submit your questions when you RSVP here.

The forum, which starts at 6 p.m., will be held in the State of California building at 455 Golden Gate Avenue in the Milton Marks auditorium.

We’ll have full coverage on Tuesday.

William Cox was walking in this crosswalk Tuesday morning, just like this man, when he was run over and killed by an SUV driver. Residents say the intersection of 14th Street and Noe has long been a trouble spot. Photo: Bryan Goebel

On most recent mornings, 59-year-old William Cox walked several blocks from his Mission District apartment to the bustling Peet’s store on Market Street in the Castro for his daily dose of coffee, crossword puzzles and conversation. He had given up his Jeep Cherokee shortly after moving to San Francisco from San Rafael two-and-half years ago and got around mostly on foot and transit. On Tuesday morning, he paid a visit to his best friend, David Douma, who lives across the street from Peet’s.

“Around 9 a.m. he would usually ring my phone to announce he was at my front door, and then he would hang out in my apartment for awhile, every day,” said Douma.

On this day, Cox — known to his friends as Bill — arrived early, around 8:24 a.m., because he was scheduled to help a friend who lives near Ocean Beach move some large musical equipment. It was in his nature, said Douma, to always offer help when a friend needed it. He didn’t stay as long as he usually did, and left a half-cup of coffee behind. Cox then stopped at nearby Rosenberg Deli, Douma later confirmed, before embarking on the four-block walk up Noe Street to catch the N-Judah train.

Sadly, he never made it.

According to San Francisco police, Cox was in the crosswalk on 14th Street at Noe around 10:39 a.m. when he was run over by an unidentified driver behind the wheel of a Ford SUV who had been southbound on Noe, and was making a left turn onto 14th. Cox underwent two operations and despite the best efforts of trauma surgeons at San Francisco General Hospital was pronounced dead at 5:36 p.m., becoming the 10th pedestrian to be killed on the streets of San Francisco this year.

“The surgeons told us that not only was he hit, but he was injured from head to foot. He was completely run over,” said Douma, who was listed as the emergency contact, and spent the afternoon at the hospital with his husband, Claude Wynne, and some of Cox’s roommates and closest friends.

Police said the driver stopped, and cooperated with police, but was not cited or arrested. Details about the driver were not made available.

“We don’t usually release that kind of information,” said SFPD Sgt. Michael Andraychak. The investigator handling the case, Inspector Clifford Cook, would only confirm that the driver was a male and that there were witnesses. He referred Streetsblog’s calls to SFPD public affairs and said he was still in the process of conducting the investigation and it would be up to the District Attorney to decide whether charges would be filed.

‘A Gentle Man’

2008 photo of William Cox courtesy of David Douma and Claude Wynne.

When Douma first met Cox at a bar in SoMa a few years ago “he was coming out of his shell.” As Douma tells it, Cox had been in a long-term relationship with a man suffering from pancreatic cancer and had served as his partner’s full-time caregiver until his death. Cox then decided to move to San Francisco.

Although Cox had a hearing problem and other disabilities, Douma said “he flat out refused to consider himself a handicapped person.” Douma bristled at the suggestion made in some media reports that hearing had anything to do with Cox’s death: “There is no excuse for a left-hand turning vehicle to clobber a pedestrian in the crosswalk.”

Cox wore a small hearing device and “it was amazing what that man could hear with that little thing.” Douma recalled that when he and Cox would go into cafes or bars with loud “boom, boom” music, which he has a very low tolerance for, “Bill would would just reach in his pocket, turn down his device, give me an impish grin and stick his tongue out at me.”

Douma said those who knew Cox, including the regulars and some of the staff at Peet’s, were terribly saddened to hear the news of his death. Gentle was the common word members of the congregation at St. Giles Episcopal Church in Moraga used to describe Cox, who was a volunteer greeter and usher and attended services there on a semi-regular basis, Douma said.

The parish priest said in a newsletter that he was “a gentle spirit who was extraordinarily kind and self-sacrificing ” while a member of the choir described him as “the perfect gentleman.”

Last night, according to Douma, Cox’s two older brothers, Clyde and Darrel, arrived in San Francisco from Hawaii.

A senior (pictured behind the white car) stepped off the curb, and into the crosswalk, but was forced to stop as a driver ignores the pedestrian right-of-way and speeds through the crosswalk. Photo: Bryan Goebel

A Troubled Intersection

Fourteenth Street at Noe is a four-way intersection with stop signs, and sits at the bottom of a hill, surrounded by Victorian homes and apartments, landscaped sidewalks with street furniture and tall trees, and Davies Medical Center. The famed Duboce Park, with its renovated playground, is just one block away, and McKinley Elementary School is a block up the hill at 14th and Castro.

When I visited the intersection yesterday afternoon, I encountered large volumes of walkers that reflected the neighborhood’s diverse population: a group of schoolchildren, medical staff from the hospital, seniors with armfuls of orchids, mothers pushing strollers and neighbors carrying satchels of produce from the Castro Farmer’s Market at Noe and Market. At the same time, I witnessed drivers who blew through the intersection, many talking on their cell phones or texting.

“It’s like everybody’s racing to the next stop sign as fast as they can,” said Emma, a resident who lives near the northeast corner. “It’s stupid. I hear a lot of honking and there’s a lot of traffic.”

According to the SFMTA, the traffic volume on the street is about 4,500 vehicles per day. Many drivers are rushing to the freeway. It’s been a known problem area and residents have been fighting to get traffic calming measures in place, said Peter Cohen, who sits on the board of directors of the Duboce Triangle Neighborhood Association. Although ladder crosswalks were recently striped, something that took several months to get, a frustrated Cohen said a lot more needs to be done.

“I’m pretty grumpy about the whole situation and it’s really tragic that someone was killed because we raised this issue several years ago,” said Cohen, who lives just a half-block down and walks through the intersection daily with his children. “The intersection of 14th and Noe and 14th and Duboce are really pedestrian hazard intersections, and it seems like it’s not even really an issue for the city.”

Drivers like to speed down the hill on 14th Street at Noe.

A group of schoolchildren near the crosswalk where Cox was killed.

Cohen said he pointed out to the SFMTA that there is a lot of high-speed traffic coming down the hill on 14th, and felt as if the agency shunned his requests to implement more traffic calming measures. He suggested removing some of the parking around the intersection to daylight it, and get rid of some of the blind spots that currently exist for drivers.

“How many deaths do we have to see for the city to get serious about committing resources to making it safer to walk?” said Elizabeth Stampe, the executive director of Walk San Francisco. “Drivers frequently fail to stop at 14th. It runs like a mini-freeway through a quiet neighborhood. We know how to calm these streets and save lives. The city needs to commit to fixing a certain number of miles of these dangerous streets every year.”

For Douma, and Cox’s close circle of friends, the sadness is mixed with anger. Douma, who used to live on 14th Street and said he was “almost clobbered by drivers a few times,” is furious the driver wasn’t arrested.

“Just on the basis of the fact that that vehicle hit and ran over Bill, the driver should have been detained and arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter, and sort it out later,” he said. “By not detaining that driver now there’s the window of not taking responsibility for one’s actions.”

“And I’m not a conservative,” Douma continued, “I’m a bloody bleeding heart liberal but there are just some things that have to do with justice and doing right by other people that get triggered when something like this happens, and this is a case.”

A cop ticketing a bicyclist on Market Street earlier this year. Photo: SF Citizen

Despite the department’s insistence that officers are not targeting bicyclists on Market Street, new numbers from the San Francisco Police Department confirm that cops are going after people on bikes following two high-profile crashes.

Last Friday, as part of SFPD’s traffic safety campaign [pdf], officers beefed up enforcement at 5th and Market and issued a total of 83 citations, mostly to bicyclists, but not a single driver was cited.

Here’s the breakdown, according to numbers provided to Streetsblog by SFPD:  30 bicyclists were cited for running red lights, 21 bicyclists were ticketed for riding on the sidewalk, 16 were cited for “bikes without brakes,” 3 “skateboarders on the sidewalk” were given tickets, and 1 pedestrian was cited for “jaywalking.” The SFPD said “12 misc. citations” were handed out, but withheld specifics.

Why weren’t drivers given any tickets?

“Because the drivers actually followed the rules of the road during the period that the officers were out there that day,” said SFPD spokesperson Albie Esparza.

In an interview with Streetsblog yesterday, Police Chief Greg Suhr insisted that officers aren’t specifically targeting bicyclists. He confirmed that the department has stepped up enforcement in general on Market Street.

“It’s just vehicle code violations, generally. It’s actually the pedestrians too. You know, if everybody’s a little bit mad at me, but it’s safer, then that’s okay. It’s basically who raises their hand that’s going to get called on.”

He added he thought the enforcement was “going well,” and further explained: “We’re trying to get Muni to run on time, and we have had a series of accidents. I’m not casting any blame, but just more enforcement.”

The numbers were troubling to biking and walking advocates because the enforcement did not yield any tickets for drivers.

“This is a failure to focus on the real threat. We need to see police out there ticketing the people who pose the greatest risk to others. That means drivers who fail to yield, speed, fail to stop, or are on their phones — those behaviors cause the serious injuries and deaths we see in SoMa and that’s what the police need to tackle,” said Elizabeth Stampe, the executive director of Walk San Francisco.

San Francisco Bicycle Coalition Director Leah Shahum also issued the following statement:

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition supports efforts to encourage safety on our streets among all road users, whether people are bicycling, driving or walking. It is the responsibility of everyone using our roads to watch out not only for their own safety but also for the safety of others.

And we encourage the SF Police Department to focus on those behaviors on our streets that are most dangerous. There should be no selective enforcement of the laws on certain road users, but rather equal opportunity enforcement of those actions that are putting others at risk. There is a hierarchy of dangerous types of behavior and those threatening the most people should be prioritized for enforcement.

We will continue to encourage the growing number of people bicycling in San Francisco — from moms to downtown commuters to people taking care of errands by bicycle — to take our free Urban Cycling Workshops, held regularly in neighborhoods throughout the city and to learn about our Give & Get Respect campaign, which encourages safe, respectful bicycling.

The SFPD is continuing to enforce the required right-turn on 10th Street at Market. Yesterday, an officer was seen ticketing numerous drivers who had violated the rule.

An officer tickets a driver yesterday afternoon for violating the right-turn only rule at 10th Street. Photo: Bryan Goebel

Drivers ignore the signs and routinely block the crosswalk and speed at the intersection of Harrison and Main streets. Photos by Bryan Goebel.

On December 10, 2004, Katy Liddell had just stepped off the N-Judah with a sack of cleaning supplies and was walking to her Portside apartment at Harrison and Main in Rincon Hill, when she noticed a cadre of emergency vehicles surrounding the intersection. As Liddell drew closer, she saw something that horrified her.

“I saw a tarp covering a body in the middle of the street,” Liddell recalled. “I found out that one of my neighbors had been hit and killed.”

The violent force of a big rig truck had thrown 63-year-old Beverly Kees out of the crosswalk, killing her. Kees, a popular SF State journalism professor who had recently retired, lived across the street from Liddell in the BayCrest Towers. The dog she had been walking was also hit and injured.

“Beverly saved his life. She saw the truck coming and she picked him up,” said Debi Gould, Kees’ friend and neighbor and owner of the dog who was with her when she died, a rat terrier mix named Harp. As Gould tells it, Kees, who lived two doors down, had been told by her doctor that she needed to walk more. She asked Gould if she could walk Harp one day, and the two formed a close bond.

“She started walking him to the point where he loved being with her, and instead of a couple of times a week, it ended up being every day that I went to work,” said Gould, a retired flight attendant who also walks a lot and feels like pedestrians in San Francisco “are considered an inconvenience.”

Beverly Kees and Harp. Photo courtesy of Debi Gould.

Not long after coming across the aftermath of the crash that killed Beverly Kees, Katy Liddell found out about Walk San Francisco and began advocating for changes at the intersection, along with other residents, including Gould. They formed a committee, organized a petition drive and turned in more than 200 signatures to the Department of Parking and Traffic (DPT). The response was not what they wanted to hear.

“We appreciate the petition that was submitted to DPT’s Livable Streets Program and continue to evaluate and prioritize applications for traffic calming. Unfortunately, your location is not a viable candidate for traffic calming measures,” wrote the agency’s former deputy director of planning, William Lieberman [pdf]. “The current pedestrian issues at the intersection are of a nature that requires active traffic enforcement.”

Although the news was disappointing, the committee kept pressing. Two years later, after urging from the office of former Mayor Gavin Newsom, the SFMTA’s former lead traffic engineer Jack Fleck sent a letter out announcing a series of engineering changes, including repainting crosswalks and adding pedestrian signals, at several SoMa and Rincon Hill intersections, but nothing was planned for Main and Harrison.

On a recent Friday afternoon, Giants fans were forced to maneuver around cars blocking the crosswalk.

A man's motorcycle is tripped by a nasty pothole.

A Mean Intersection

The intersection of Harrison and Main is the kind of place that’s so dangerous by design, it’s easy to see how drivers can lose their sense of humanity. In one of the city’s densest neighborhoods, Harrison serves as a four-lane westbound arterial (there is a fifth eastbound lane) that carries 12,600 drivers daily, most headed to the Bay Bridge. In peak-hour afternoon traffic, drivers routinely speed and block the crosswalk. Since 2003, three people have died there, including Kees, and many more have been injured.

“It’s horrible,” said Sam Kabash, who owns the corner market. “Drivers come by, they go, and they don’t care that people are passing by. There’s been too many accidents, too many crashes and too many people getting run over.”

On a recent Friday afternoon, many drivers appeared anxious and at their worst, frustrated by the blocks-long queue of traffic inching toward the First Street on-ramp. A man who was knocked to the ground after his motorcycle tripped over a nasty pothole quickly rebounded as drivers flew past him. Giants fans walking to the ballpark were forced to squeeze between cars hogging the crosswalk.

“We’re under siege by cars Monday through Friday,” said Jamie Whitaker, a pedestrian advocate and resident of the BayCrest Towers, one of several high-rise residential buildings surrounding Harrison and Main.  Traffic lightens up at night and on the weekends, but that’s not much comfort to Whitaker and other residents who’ve been lobbying for a “radical re-engineering” of the intersection for seven years now.

“Walking through this intersection every day might make you a little crazy,” said Whitaker, standing just outside Habash’s market. Not long after moving into the neighborhood from Detroit five years ago, Whitaker started a blog, and more recently has been documenting the ugly conditions on video.

Other intersections along Harrison are just as problematic, including pedestrian crossings at Fremont and at 1st Street, where drivers are led onto the Bay Bridge in front of One Rincon Hill.

A westward look at the traffic queue on Harrison from Main Street.

Looking eastward toward the Bay Bridge from Fremont.

Rincon Hill Plan

Rincon Hill was once a forgotten “jumble of freeway and Transbay Terminal ramps,” notes this SPUR report, but it’s now a 12-block high-rise neighborhood that could see more than 10,000 new residents by 2025. Its streets, however, are not yet ready to accommodate those new residents, whom the city would like to encourage to walk as much as possible.

In practice, developers eyeing future high-rise residential buildings continue to request a high ratio of parking, which means yet more cars in an already congested neighborhood. There are no parking requirements in Rincon Hill and the maximum is one space per two units, required to be built underground, but exceptions have been granted to some developers to build, in some cases, one space for every unit.

“It would be a shame to build a high-rise neighborhood with close proximity to downtown for people who drive to Silicon Valley,” said Tom Radulovich, the executive director of Livable City. “We don’t need more drivable neighborhoods in proximity to downtown.”

The Rincon Hill Plan, passed in 2005, makes the 55-acre neighborhood “a high-priority housing site” because it’s so close to the Financial District and has a number of vacant or underutilized parcels. It acknowledges the neighborhood’s streets are unsafe and unpleasant for pedestrians. The sidewalks are narrow, the intersection crossings are dangerous, and the noise levels exceed state and city standards. In addition, many walls facing the sidewalk are blank and featureless and there is a general lack of open space.

The streetscape component, currently being revised by the San Francisco Planning Department, envisioned fundamental changes, but it’s been sitting on the shelf for a number of years, due to stagnant development that isn’t bringing in the impact fees required to pay for the improvements. It calls for “extensive sidewalk widenings, tree plantings, street furniture, and the creation of new public spaces along streets throughout the district.”

Some aspects, such as widened sidewalks and landscaping, have already been implemented on portions of some streets, such as Beale and Spear, with the ultimate goal of turning them into living streets. On Harrison, the streetscape plan would widen the sidewalks from 8 to 12 feet, add bulbouts on each block, and narrow the traffic lanes. All the public improvements would cost $26 million. The street components alone would cost $12 million.

Joshua Switzky, a citywide policy planner for the Planning Department, told Streetsblog he is organizing a meeting with residents to unveil the revised streetscape plan and set priorities, given the limited funding. A community meeting has been tentatively scheduled for July 19.

A One Rincon Hill resident walks across the intersection of Harrison and 1st streets, one of the city's ugliest intersections.

A woman and her child cross Harrison and First Street, which was backed up all the way to Market, and along Battery.

The vacant parcel at Harrison and Fremont.

Pedestrian Safety as a Priority in District 6

The advocates working to bring change to Harrison and Main streets have been empowered of late by Supevisor Jane Kim’s efforts to improve pedestrian safety in District 6, which has the highest rate of pedestrian deaths and injuries of any district. Most recently, Whitaker has been leading the charge to improve Rincon Hill’s streets.

“Jamie has been amazing and it’s to his full credit that things are actually happening,” said Matthias Mormino, an aide to Kim. In an interview in her City Hall office last week, Kim told Streetsblog that she is working to push the various city agencies handling pedestrian safety issues to move quicker.

“Without a little bit of attention and visibility given to the issue here at City Hall, work just gets shuffled around,” said Kim. She pointed out that many city staffers who have advocated for pedestrian safety have been grateful for the attention she’s given to the issue.

“It’s not like I had to create new ideas and figure out what our priorities are,” Kim said. “It’s just about implementation. On a certain level, that’s easier and more challenging to do.” Kim said if voters approve a streets bond measure on the November ballot, she will work to get some of that money directed to pedestrian safety improvements in District 6.

SFMTA Measures

While Rincon Hill’s residents wait for streetscape improvements, the SFMTA is finally planning some engineering measures they hope will help at Harrison and Main, thanks to Whitaker’s relentless advocacy. According to the SFMTA, the changes include:

• A head start for pedestrians crossing Harrison Street.  “The head start will allow pedestrians to cross 4 seconds before any conflicting vehicles receive the green.  Thus, pedestrians are given a head start to establish their right-of-way in the intersection, with the intent of making drivers more aware of the pedestrians in the intersection.”
• “The flashing red hand will now count down from 15 seconds (currently 9 seconds) for pedestrians crossing Harrison St before going to a solid red hand.  After the flashing red hand goes to a solid red hand, there are still about 4.5 seconds before the cross-auto-traffic on Harrison Street will be shown their green light.  This intentional delay is extra time that pedestrians can use to complete their crossing.”
• Painting white continental crosswalks at the intersection. They feature a ladder design with “white longitudinal lines at a 90 degree angle to the line of the crosswalk,” according to the Federal Highway Administration’s pedestrian crossings page.
• Pursuing legislation for No U-turns for eastbound Harrison St at Main St.  “During our field investigation, we noticed a number of vehicles traveling eastbound on Harrison and making a U-turn at Main St to cut in the queue of vehicles, increasing the number of vehicles in the intersection, trying to get onto the Bay Bridge on-ramp.”

In addition, the agency is planning to assign a parking control officer to the intersection. While it’s not the “radical re-engineering” advocates had hoped for, “it’s a start,” said Gould. “I realize there’s a lot of red tape involved with City Hall but where pedestrian safety is concerned it’s been a serious frustration.”

“I’m elated. I’m anxious to see these improvements,” said Whitaker. “This is just one intersection in South of Market. There are many more that need help because there’s 30,000 more people that have moved to SoMa since 1990, and there’s more coming.”

Supervisor Kim, on the right, with WalkSF's Elizabeth Stampe and Michael Radetsky, on their way to City Hall on Walk to Work Day. The weather was gorgeous for walking today. Photo: Manish Champsee

You may not have known it, but today is National Walk to Work Day, and pedestrian advocates from Walk San Francisco marked the occasion by walking to work with Supervisor Jane Kim and reminding residents about two important City Hall hearings coming up on pedestrian safety.

Kim will hold a hearing on pedestrian safety at a Public Safety Committee meeting next Thursday, April 7 at 10:30 am in City Hall, Room 250. The following Monday, April 11 at 10 am, D1 Supervisor Eric Mar will hold another hearing to address citywide pedestrian issues.

“Walk SF will be calling for safe-speed school zones, a Pedestrian Action Plan with clear commitments, more funding for street improvements, and police enforcement of laws that protect pedestrians,” the organization said in its newsletter.

Kim, whose District 6 includes the Tenderloin and SoMa — which has the highest rates of pedestrian injuries and fatalities (see graph below the break) — has made pedestrian safety a top priority.

“When she looked at the public safety issues in her her district, she found that injuries to pedestrians was the biggest issue that affected all her constituents,” said Elizabeth Stampe, Walk SF Executive Director. “They found that a lot of people knew people who’d been hit by cars, especially kids.”

As we’ve written on Streetsblog, there is growing momentum around pedestrian safety in San Francisco. A task force is currently developing a Pedestrian Action Plan to meet the goals of an executive directive issued by the Mayor’s Office late last year, which calls for reducing serious and fatal pedestrian injuries 25 percent by 2016, and 50 percent by 2021.

Image: Walk SF

Photo: Myleen Hollero/Orange Photography

Despite a growing political focus on pedestrian safety, a thick layer of city bureaucracy and lack of funding are stalling real change to prevent pedestrian injuries and fatalities on San Francisco streets, including three deaths in just the last week.

The red tape and dysfunction became abundantly clear at a presentation and discussion at City Hall this morning on San Francisco’s efforts to improve pedestrian safety, which was centered more on the challenges than the solutions.

“We are experiencing a little bit of paralysis by analysis,” said Board of Supervisors President David Chiu. “I do think we have solutions and it’s a matter of putting them together and having the will to execute them.”

A report on the city’s pedestrian safety efforts [pdf], requested by Chiu, was presented to the San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA) Board’s plans and programs committee.

Tilly Chang, the SFCTA deputy director of planning who prepared the report, responded to Chiu: “We do know that there is a demand, a justified demand, for capital improvements that have already been effective: the countdowns, the bulbouts, the crosswalks. To some extent the MTA is working on them. We do need more funding.”

Chang said even though there has been “fragmented responsibility” on pedestrian issues, something that’s not unique to San Francisco, the SFMTA is “arguably” the lead agency on pedestrian safety, as it is in charge of managing the city’s streets. However, for many advocates, that agency is not moving fast enough.

“In some ways having the MTA be the agency where it’s centered makes sense, but in some ways the work that the other agencies are doing gets translated into real action on the streets faster and in a way that satisfies people more,” Elizabeth Stampe, the executive director of Walk San Francisco, told Streetsblog after the meeting.

SFMTA Deputy Director of Transportation Planning Timothy Papandreou delivered a presentation that mostly touted the agency’s accomplishments over the last 10 years, and some of its goals and next steps. He said a Pedestrian Task Force — which has 25 members, including representatives from 12 city agencies — “wants to develop the framework to implement the early actions” mandated by the Mayor’s executive directive on pedestrian safety “as soon as possible.”

Chiu told Papandreou that his agency needs to make it clear who is leading pedestrian safety efforts. “The fact that there are so many different agencies working on this is making it confusing for those of us who are not part of your administration, and it would be great to have a real sense of who is in charge,” Chiu said.

Papandreou did acknowledge reducing the speed of automobiles will be key, a point that was hammered home by Rajiv Bhatia, the environmental health director for the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

“We’ve calculated that serious injuries could be reduced by over 50 percent from a 5 mile an hour reduction in the traveling speed,” said Bhatia, who added that there are legal and traffic design standard obstacles getting in the way of improvements.

Despite the frustration among advocates and some supervisors, Bhatia said all of the city agencies were making “a good faith effort” to address the problem.

Today’s discussion also focused on the need for data integration and better enforcement efforts by the San Francisco Police Department, which had no representative at the meeting. The committee agreed to bring the item back for discussion at a later date.

Stampe of Walk SF said she is anxious for something to start happening on the streets, and agreed with Chiu’s “paralysis by analysis” statement.

“I am concerned about analyzing the problem into oblivion. We need action. We have a lot of good plans for how to change our streets in the city. Where is the implementation? People have been waiting a long time,” she said.