Eyes on the Street: Progress at 14th/S. Van Ness

2:53 PM PDT on September 27, 2019

Paint and safe hit posts have made it clearer to Audi that they can’t leave cars in the red zone. Photos: Streetsblog/Rudick unless indicated

SFMTA installed safe hit posts and painted beige no-parking zones at two corners of 14th and South Van Ness earlier this week, in an attempt to stop an Audi dealership from continuing to illegally park its cars there. The parked cars were blocking sight-lines and creating a hazard.

"The shops finished the painted safety zone on Tuesday, Sept 24th, at the corner of 14th St/SVN," explained Ben Barnett, a spokesman for SFMTA, in an email to Streetsblog. "It met criteria for a painted safety zone due to repeated violations of the red zone."

SFMTA also improved the paint on the crosswalks

Streetsblog readers will recall families in the Mission have long complained that the Audi dealership parks cars in red zones and on the sidewalks. They also report that car buyers use the neighborhood streets--where children play--as a speed strip for test drives.

Activist Taylor Ahlgren, who lead last month's protest against the dealership, tweeted about the upgrades--and the behavior of Audi employees:

This morning I thanked the street painters for making our neighborhood intersection in front of Audi SF safer - they were happy to get the Zebra striping done Saturday night. Hoping posts and fresh bike lane are going in after this. Still this is just a mediocre upgrade. #walksf pic.twitter.com/X3IhjZuLn8
— Taylor A 🚶🏽🚲🚃 (@TayTay__Hey) September 23, 2019

In addition to Ahlgren's concerns about the quality of the upgrades, Streetsblog noted that SFMTA crews once again just striped the corners, as seen below, rather than placing some kind of solid object there to force motorists to slow and take the turn safely.

Paint alone doesn't work to reduce turning speeds

A car turning right sweeping the corner, inviting conflict with cyclists and pedestrians — Note this motorist driving right over the paint, sweeping the corner, inviting conflict with cyclists and pedestrians

Streetsblog asked Barnett if the city has a timeline for upgrading the paint and posts to concrete, or if further improvements are planned. As seen in the photos, the opposite side of S. Van Ness hasn't gotten daylighting treatments at all yet. "We are also looking at daylighting additional corners of the intersection, but I do not have a timeline on that yet."

Limitations of the treatments aside, clearly the protesters and neighbors are making some headway against this scofflaw Audi dealership.

A reminder that Streetsblog San Francisco will be off Monday, Sept. 30, returning on Tuesday, October 1.