Community, Advocacy and Labor

Construction will begin this month on physically separated bike lanes and pedestrian safety improvements on three critical blocks of Fell and Oak Streets after the project was approved unanimously yesterday by the SF Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors.

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Seventeen blocks of Shattuck Avenue, normally one of Berkeley's most traffic-clogged streets, were filled with an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 people walking, biking and skating for the debut of Sunday Streets Berkeley this weekend.

Take a shot at budgeting San Francisco's future transportation revenue with the new online "Budget Czar" simulator from the SF County Transportation Authority, and it will quickly become clear: If residents want better transit and safer streets for walking and biking over the next 25 years, the city needs to collect new sources of transportation revenue in a way that effectively reduces motor vehicle congestion.

A continuous "walking bus" of school children spanned several sunny blocks of the Mission this morning as the kids made their way to Buena Vista Horace Mann School.

BART released results Friday from its survey of riders' attitudes toward the pilot program that lifted the rush-hour ban on bikes each Friday in August. Although BART and media reports have called the findings "split" and "varied," the responses in some key areas look promising.

City planners continue developing a vision for a network of lush, pleasant streets prioritized for walking and biking between the city's parks and waterfronts. Staff from the SF Planning Department plans to present its draft network [PDF] for the "Green Connections" project at an open house next Wednesday, October 3, and the public is invited to weigh in on the selected routes.

A bill allowing many residential parking spaces to be rented to residents citywide was passed unanimously by the SF Board of Supervisors yesterday despite criticisms that it could encourage car commuting and discourage property owners from converting garages to housing units.

When Park(ing) Day started in San Francisco seven years ago, setting up camp on a sliver of street space normally reserved for storing cars was a somewhat radical idea. But these days, evidence of the movement's continuing success can be seen year-round with more than 35 (and counting) semi-permanent, city-sanctioned parklets around the city.