The Bay Area is replete with tightly knit, walkable, bikeable neighborhoods. But we stroll like nervous cats, always on the alert for a speeding car that can kill or severely injure us whenever we step off the curb, as advocates remind us every year during the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims.
We know how to solve this problem. For the price of an airline ticket, anyone can go to the Netherlands and experience safe streets first hand. Vision Zero isn't an ethereal goal--it's already a reality in many other nations. We must have protected bike lanes and intersections, bike boulevards, better sidewalks, inviting green spaces, and fast, reliable transit. That doesn’t mean banning cars, but we have to keep people safe.
Supporting those goals is what Streetsblog is all about.
But we depend on reader contributions to function. I wish there were an equivalent to big oil or big auto or some other trillion dollar industry to back safe-streets advocacy. But there just isn't. That's why we depend on so many dedicated people who recognize that our streets need to change. About a quarter of Streetsblog SF’s budget comes from donations no larger than $1,000. The majority comes between Giving Tuesday and New Year's, which is why we're starting our holiday fund drive now. So please give what you can to help. It makes all the difference in the world.
If you’ve given before, I hope you’ll continue to support this important work. And if you haven’t, now is a great time to start.
And please join us on Wednesday, Dec. 12, from 7-9 p.m., at Dalva, near the 16th and Mission BART station, for the annual Streetsblog holiday party.
Sincerely,
Roger Rudick
Edtior, Streetsblog San Francisco
