Community, Advocacy and Labor

As developers bring more residents and employees to the South of Market (SoMa) district, the number of parking lots and garages they build for automobiles will largely determine how much the new tenants and commuters will drive.

Oakland's pedestrian fatalities are centered in neighborhoods of color, around freeways and arterials designed to quickly move cars at the cost of safety.

SFMTA crews are continuing the "green branding" of Market Street, installing "green-backed" sharrows for people who ride bikes across several different intersections headed eastbound between Octavia Boulevard and 10th Street.

Last summer, a coalition of bicycle groups and the City of Los Angeles joined forces to create the "Give Me 3" public service announcement campaign to encourage drivers to give cyclists a larger berth when passing. Less than a year later, the California Bike Coalition (CBC) has launched its own "Give Me 3" website and campaign to build support for Senator Alan Lowenthal's (D-Long Beach) Senate Bill 910. S.B. 910 would create a state 3 foot passing law for California. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa remains personally committed to enshrining a passing law in the California Vehicle Code.

A 23-year-old sheriff's cadet accused of gross vehicular manslaughter, drunk driving and hit-and-run in the death of a 61-year-old pedestrian on Masonic Avenue and Turk Street earlier this month pleaded not guilty to multiple felony counts in a San Francisco courtroom this morning.

After a years-long community planning process, supporters of the "Boulevard" proposal to redesign Masonic Avenue left City Hall with a mix of excitement and relief today after SFMTA staff approved the plan, and sent it to the SFMTA Board of Directors for its final hurdle. The hearing, which largely determined how soon massive safety improvements could come to the notoriously dangerous road, turned out a strong show of support from neighbors and advocates.

Oakland's official Bike to Work Day after-party kicked into high gear in Old Oakland last night. Over 600 people converged to dance, eat, drink, mingle, and just take in the atmosphere from the middle of the street.

Cycling San Franciscans have plenty to be happy about on the streets this Bike to Work Day, with new and greened bike lanes, new bike parking, sharrows, bike boxes, and traffic signals to make riding a little easier.

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee told Streetsblog today that he will look into having the SFMTA figure out a way to speed up the timeline for redesigning Masonic Avenue, a dangerous traffic sewer that has been the scene of two deaths in the last nine months, including a 61-year-old pedestrian who was killed one week ago by a drunk driver.