SFMTA

Streetsblog tipster Chris Waddling brought this to our attention: apparently a new bike lane in the Bayview District may soon get removed. "Supervisor Cohen is seriously considering bowing to people demanding that new bike lanes on Paul Ave be removed a mere months after they went in," wrote Waddling, in an email to Streetsblog.

A handful of determined seniors went to yesterday's SFMTA board meeting to plead with Director Ed Reiskin and members of the board to take immediate action to make the Fell Street and Baker intersection crossing, which connects the Mercy Terrace senior home with the Panhandle Park, safe.

Melodie, a woman in her late 50s who lives in a camper along one of the streets leading into the Hairball, pleaded with city officials and advocates to just give homeless people some sanctuary and peace. "There's no where else to go," she said to a group of some 40 bike and homeless advocates who attended a San Francisco Bicycle Coalition panel last night on homelessness in the Hairball.

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."