Community, Advocacy and Labor

In response to concerns that the SFMTA is taking too long to put in more green protected bike lanes and other innovations on Market Street, the agency's Sustainable Streets Director, Bond Yee, in a letter to the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, has outlined and provided a timeline for his agency's planned improvements.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's (SFMTA) options for fixing Masonic Avenue, a major north-south traffic sewer that was the scene of the city's first and only bicycle fatality this year, have been narrowed to two designs. While each option would calm auto traffic in slightly different ways and offer different amenities for bicyclists, both would significantly transform the street into a greener, friendlier corridor for all users.

Nearly five months after the SFMTA installed the green protected bike lanes on Market Street, which most agree has been a successful trial, bike advocates are urging the agency to finish the job and plug in the gaps from 8th Street to Octavia Boulevard.

The organizers of Walk SF's annual "Peak to Peak Walk" October 16th have mapped out a new "North by Northwest" route this year that will take participants from the heart of the Mission to Land's End, a 13-mile trek along some of San Francisco's hidden stairways, paths and streets. In all, the walk will span 10 peaks.

Transit advocates have joined a broad coalition of opponents mounting a fight against California Pacific Medical Center's (CPMC) long range development plan for its San Francisco facilities, decrying the significant increase in parking being proposed, and the attendant impact that will have on traffic, transit and pedestrian safety. They argue the increase in parking supply will induce more driving to already crowded streets and will deteriorate Muni service and cause conflicts with pedestrians and bicycle riders.

At the heart of the San Francisco Planning Department’s 328-page Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for CityPlace, sustainable transportation advocates have pinpointed one glaring flaw. In assessing the impacts of new off-street retail parking, the environmental analysis [pdf] concludes that building a 167-space garage will have the same effect on traffic as building no garage at all.

On the eve of another significant vote to proceed with the contract to build the controversial Oakland Airport Connector, BART and project supporters received a positive indication from Federal Transit Administration (FTA) head Peter Rogoff of his agency's commitment to give BART $25 million in New Starts funds for the project, a necessary step to close the funding gap resulting from the loss of $70 million in stimulus funds earlier this year.

The girlfriend of a drunk driver charged with killing a 22-year-old bicyclist on Masonic Avenue a month ago is still being investigated for allegedly taking over the wheel and fleeing the scene after the crash, though a spokesperson for District Attorney Kamala Harris said a decision has not been made on whether she'll be charged.

The fatigue is palpable, but the battle over BART''s Oakland Airport Connector (OAC) is nowhere near its conclusion. That's the message coming out of yet another marathon hearing today at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), the region's transportation planning body, over the merits of the airport connector, which I would argue has now become the second most controversial regional transit proposal behind the California High Speed Rail Peninsula alignment.