Board of Supervisors

City supervisors have reached a compromise on a contentious measure in the zoning plan for the western South of Market District that would have diverted some developer impact fees away from transit and street improvements to fund affordable housing.

While San Franciscans eagerly await the repeatedly-delayed launch of the Bay Area's small-scale bike-share pilot program, which has now been downsized to a minuscule 700 bikes (350 of them in SF), Supervisor Scott Wiener says San Francisco needs to take the initiative to move ahead and launch a "full-scale system" throughout the city by next year.

Constructing raised, protected bike lanes on downtown Mission Street would cost more than building them on Market, according to SF Municipal Transportation Agency Director Ed Reiskin.

San Francisco has two new faces on the Board of Supervisors: London Breed, representing District 5, and Norman Yee, representing District 7, both inaugurated last month after winning election in November. At a meeting of the Inner Sunset Park Neighbors last week, Streetsblog asked the two San Francisco natives to talk about their priorities for improving streets and transportation, both in the neighborhoods they represent and throughout the city.

Somewhat inexplicably, D2 Supervisor Mark Farrell has suddenly come out as "strongly opposed" to the expansion of parking meters. At a Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday, he called for a hearing to scrutinize the SF Municipal Transportation Agency's parking meter expansion plans, apparently concerned about new meters that will create parking turnover in his district, even though, as Bay City News confirmed, the agency says it has no such plans.

Mayor Ed Lee has made it clear that he has no plans to take leadership on funding San Francisco's vision for making bicycling a mainstream mode of transportation.

Members of the SF Board of Supervisors are calling attention to the need to fund the SFMTA's Bicycle and Pedestrian Strategies, as well as the delayed Better Market Street project, which suddenly looks like it might not include space for bicycling.

District 7's new supervisor, Norman Yee, took the earliest opportunity to call for a hearing on pedestrian safety in the neighborhoods he represents, which include West Portal, Parkside, St. Francis Wood, Forest Hill, Ingleside Terrace, Sunnyside, and Park Merced.

Just how bad is Muni? And is it getting any better? Supervisor Scott Wiener has called for monthly reports from the SF Municipal Transportation Agency and the City Controller's Office to tally up the true cost of transit delays and track progress on Muni's reliability.