SFMTA

Over the weekend, the guerrilla safety group, SFMTrA, installed safe-hit posts and painted bulb-outs at the intersection of Fell and Baker, on a crosswalk where David Grinberg, a 90-year-old man, was killed on Wednesday, Oct. 4. The city, which apparently has no immediate plans to improve the crosswalk that connects the Mercy Terrace senior-living apartments with the Panhandle Park, removed the unauthorized safe-hit posts earlier this week.

David Grinberg, 90, was crossing Fell Street at Baker, returning to his home at the Mercy Terrace Apartments, a senior facility, yesterday around 5:20 p.m. He was struck by a motorist and died of his injuries later that evening.

"Every year, 360 people are killed in the Bay Area as a result of traffic crashes," said Jenn Fox, with the Vision Zero Network. "Each of these tragedies is a person--a family member, a community member ... we must get over our complacency."

Last week, members of the Board of Supervisors’ Land Use and Transportation Committee were "shocked" to hear that a hugely disproportionate number of traffic violations in downtown San Francisco are committed by Transportation Network Companies (TNC), mainly, Uber and Lyft. The rub is that Uber and Lyft, since the cars are owned by private citizens, are regulated by the state--beyond San Francisco's jurisdiction. The city can issue them traffic tickets, but that's it.

Some two-thirds of citations for driving in transit lanes and bike lanes, failing to yield to pedestrians, and other motor vehicle violations, are issued to Transportation Network Company (TNC) cars such as Uber and Lyft--this according to a study from the police department of violations in downtown San Francisco.

It's the one time of the year "to say thanks to transit riders," said Rachel Hyden, Executive Director of the San Francisco Transit Riders (SFTR), at today's noontime Transit Week kick off event, held on the steps of San Francisco City Hall. "The transit rider contributes to SF. We lower carbon emissions, reduce congestion, and make it easier for everyone to get around."

At this morning's meeting of the Government Audit and Oversight Committee, four of San Francisco's Supervisors made it clear they want to give money directly to businesses that are taking losses because of the city's many ongoing construction projects. "Small businesses are feeling squeezed on every side. Small businesses are already struggling to keep up in an increasingly expensive city. For residents, impacts are short-lived, but for merchants these impacts can seal their fates," said Supervisor Norman Yee, whose constituent merchants in West Portal were hit by sewer and curb work a couple of years ago. "I am committed to exploring how to prevent future businesses from shuttering."

Urban planners, at least when it comes to bikeway design, are still trying to undo the damage caused by vehicular cyclists in the 1970s and 80s, explained Bill Schultheiss, a traffic engineer who specializes in bike design and a member of the Bicycle Technical Committee and the Pedestrian Task Force of the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (NCUTCD), with the Toole Design Group. "There was a fear that cyclists would no longer be able to ride in the streets and would be relegated to sidewalks," he added. "To this day, that has discouraged protected bike lanes in the [road engineering] guidance."

Yesterday evening, some thirty bicycle advocates in yellow t-shirts again cordoned off a section of Valencia Street's Uber drop-off zone (also known as the bike lane) in the Mission, between 18th and 19th.