Streetsblog San Francisco

Landscape designer Walter Hood gives a walking tour of the promenade after today's ribbon-cutting ceremony and press conference. Photos: Bryan Goebel

San Francisco cut the ribbon on an innovative public space “in the heart of downtown” today that will greatly improve the pedestrian realm in the Union Square shopping district. Hundreds of people spilled into the two-block Powell Street Promenade on Powell between Ellis and Geary for the official grand opening.

“Two-thirds of the millions of annual visitors make their way down here to Union Square and that’s why it produces 10 percent of our sales tax revenue,” said Mayor Ed Lee. “They love coming here, and why not link the historic cable car stop on Market Street and make the experience of getting up here and the rest of the city a wonderful experience.”

Lee lauded the spirit of cooperation on the project between the various city departments and the Union Square Business Improvement District. He called automobile company Audi a “great corporate citizen” for providing the $890,000 it took to construct the promenade, which became an immediate magnet for passersby.

“This unique public private non-profit partnership creates a safe, green, forward thinking and contemporary space for everyone to enjoy,” Lee said in his prepared remarks.

Landscape designer and architect Walter Hood designed the eight six-foot wide parklets, which have been hailed as the marquee project of the city’s Pavement to Parks program.

Audi said the promenade “was inspired by the same philosophy of design and innovation that defines our approach to car making.” The company’s logo was clearly on display at today’s press event and its symbol emblazoned on the solar towers. No official advertising is allowed in the promenade, however.

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Mayor Lee on SFGov TV during question and answer time yesterday.

The future CEO and executive director of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) should be a visionary who can focus on implementing a labor agreement with transit operators, improve Muni reliability, make more taxis available, focus on pedestrian safety and expand bike facilities, Mayor Ed Lee told the Board of Supervisors yesterday.

“There is not just one person that can lead the MTA. It’s got to be a very dedicated team. I also want to make sure that the person exhibits a high level of collaboration,” Lee said during question and answer time. He was responding to a question from District 4 Supervisor Carmen Chu.

Lee’s mention of Muni centered around meeting on-time performance, a feat that has seemed impossible since San Francisco voters first passed the 85 percent on-time mandate in 1999. He mentioned the labor agreement first and reliability and on-time performance second.

“Even the on-time performance is not just Muni alone. There are so many other entities that affect the streets,” he said. “We also want to make sure that someone has the ability and the willingness to…build relationships with everybody and strong relationships with its own workforce.”

This week, SFMTA Chair Tom Nolan, who has said that he would prefer someone local, began sifting through the resumes of more than 30 people who have applied for the job since the agency begin accepting applications three weeks ago. Ed Reiskin, the head of the Department of Public Works, is seen as the inside favorite, but sources told Streetsblog that Transportation Authority Executive Director José Luis Moscovich, SFMTA Transit Director John Haley and Acting SFMTA Chief Debra Johnson have also applied for the job.

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The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition’s Golden Wheel Awards event last night paid tribute the SFMTA’s Livable Streets staff for the green protected bike lanes on Market Street, and honored the Union Square Business Improvement District for the Powell Street promenade, which began construction this week.

“Both of these projects are connecting our city by making it more enjoyable to live, work, shop, play and visit by bicycling and walking,” SFBC Executive Director Leah Shahum told the estimated 350 people who attended the 19th annual awards ceremony in the green room of the War Memorial Building across from City Hall.

“I need to thank the Bicycle Coalition for bringing fun back onto our streets,” said Mayor Ed Lee, adding that he planned to boast about San Francisco’s new bike lanes at the U.S. Conference of Mayors this week. He said he would tell other mayors that “if you want to be a World Series Champion city like San Francisco, you’d better get working on your bike lanes.”

The SFBC also debuted its latest promotional video (above) for “Connecting the City,” which envisions 100 miles of new crosstown bikeways in the city. The video was beautifully shot and edited by Streetfilms’ John Hamilton and produced and written by SFBC Policy Director Andy Thornley.

For more on last night’s event, see Steve Jones’ nice write-up in the Guardian. And check out some photos below the break, and on the SFBC’s Flickr page.

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Mayor Lee and Leah Shahum bike the Wiggle to City Hall. Photo: Aaron Bialick

In the strongest showing of political support ever for bicycling in San Francisco, Mayor Ed Lee, ten of the eleven members of the Board of Supervisors, and a range of city officials pedaled to City Hall with advocates and thousands of commuters on the 17th Annual Bike to Work Day. Commuters pedaling along the city’s most important route, Market Street, were greeted with new green paint and protected bike lanes thanks to SFMTA crews who have been racing to fill in the gaps.

“We have more to celebrate than ever before in the history of Bike to Work Day,” said San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC) Executive Director Leah Shahum, “from the beautiful new green separated bikeways on Market Street, to dozens of new bike lanes in every neighborhood throughout the city, to hundreds of new bike racks, to dozens of new on-street bike parking corrals.”

Riding in on some of the city’s major routes, supervisors proclaimed their support for safer streets and expanding the city’s bikeway network. Mayor Lee announced that a separated bikeway would be in place on John F. Kennedy Drive by the end of the year, filling a crucial segment on the popular Bay to Beach Connecting the City route being pushed by the SFBC.

“I want to see that 100 miles from the Bay to the ocean, north and south, painted by the year 2020 to see everybody ride the whole city and connect up either way using their bikes,” said Mayor Lee, who rode to City Hall from Golden Gate Park via the Wiggle with Shahum, SFMTA Board Chair Tom Nolan, and a convoy of others.

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Supervisor Scott Wiener. Photo: Dennis Hearne Photography

For the last 16 years, Jon Rubin has served as the Mayor’s appointee on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the Bay Area’s regional transportation planning and funding body, originally appointed by Frank Jordan in 1995. Last week, Rubin was forced to resign and turn over the seat to Supervisor Scott Wiener, whose four-year term begins May 1.

While it’s true the Mayor was looking to strike a compromise because the Board of Supervisors was deadlocked over its appointment between Wiener and Supervisor David Campos, as reported by the Chronicle, sources told Streetsblog that a behind-the-scenes effort has been underway for some time to get Rubin replaced. Some advocates and City Hall insiders who didn’t want to be identified said they were disappointed with Rubin’s record on the commission, and felt he hasn’t been aggressive enough on San Francisco’s behalf.

Rubin, the president and CEO of the Peninsula Coalition, did not respond to requests from Streetsblog for an interview.

In a letter [pdf] to the MTC dated April 13, Mayor Ed Lee said he was appointing Wiener for “his special familiarity with the problems and issues in the field of transportation.” Wiener currently sits on the plans and programs committee of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority Board, and is a regular Muni rider. As we’ve written, he holds great promise on sustainable transportation issues, and hired transit advocate Gillian Gillett as one of his staffers.

Wiener told Streetsblog that he wants to make sure San Francisco “is getting the funding and priority we deserve for transit projects that don’t just benefit the city, but the entire region, whether it’s Transbay, or Caltrain, which we depend on.”

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Mayor Lee on the Embarcadero yesterday with Board of Supes President David Chiu, SFMTA CEO Nat Ford, and Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi. Photo: Aaron Bialick

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee has unveiled the People Plan [pdf], a document laying out strategies to meet the quickly approaching challenges of bringing hundreds of thousands of visitors to the city’s waterfront for the 2013 America’s Cup yacht race.

Transit advocates see it as an opportunity to boost sustainable transportation and build out some long-term improvements that will benefit transit and bike riders and pedestrians on the Embarcadero.

“Whatever we do, whatever we build, whatever we improve, has got to be an improvement that benefits all San Franciscans for future generations to come,” said Mayor Lee. “We’re looking at transportation and the infrastructure that we invest in with a future that will not only handle the 200,000 people a day, the millions of people that come here, but will benefit our city in the long run.”

A new sense of urgency should compel city agencies to implement changes prioritizing transit, bicycle, and pedestrian trips to the Embarcadero if the city is to avoid inundating the streets with gridlocked private automobiles during the series of events. The initial draft of the People Plan outlines how that could be done.

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Photo: geekstinkbreath

Despite the prevailing threat of rain, the clouds scattered for yesterday’s first Sunday Streets of 2011 from Fisherman’s Wharf to China Basin, allowing intermittent sunshine to grace the San Francisco waterfront. The event attracted thousands of people, including Mayor Ed Lee, who were able to tuck away their umbrellas and enjoy the car-free streets.

The new 11am-4pm schedule worked very well for the day, allowing people to play on the Embarcadero even later into the afternoon, said Sunday Streets coordinator Susan King of the non-profit Livable City, which organizes the healthy, community-oriented events.

“Thank goodness for the extra hour because as the day wore on it became clearer, literally and figuratively, that it was going to be a nice afternoon and it was,” said King. “There was enough sunshine that I was sunburned.”

King said the attendance was lighter than usual but she felt vindicated by the Sunday Streets rain policy, which calls for volunteers and organizers to set up regardless of the wet stuff, and decide by noon whether to keep it going. Yesterday the skies dropped the last bit of rain during the noon hour, and it was dry for the rest of the day.

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Mayor Ed Lee with (left to right) Livable City Program Manager Susan King, Supervisor David Chiu, and SFMTA Sustainable Streets Director Bond Yee. Photo: Aaron Bialick

Chinatown and North Beach, the “densest neighborhoods west of the Mississippi,” are set to be graced by Sunday Streets for the first time this year, Mayor Ed Lee announced today. City leaders and advocates said they’re eager for the opportunity to let residents experience Grant Avenue and California Street free of car traffic.

“Sunday Streets will be different from a street fair. It will allow residents to explore all uses of the streets,” said Mayor Lee. “This is about working with all of the elements of the community and breaking down bureaucratic walls to make things happen.”

The growing demand from neighborhood and merchants associations had initially put Sunday Streets on the horizon for next year, but a 2011 date is being chosen at the insistence of Mayor Lee, said Livable City Director Tom Radulovich.

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