GJEL

The San Francisco Transit Riders, the advocacy group that brought us the 22-day Muni challenge, all-door boarding on buses, “Transit Week,” and too many other transit-improvement campaigns to list here, hit a major milestone this year: they're going pro!

Yesterday evening, some 100 riders gathered at the Fruitvale BART station to head out on a tour of Alameda's holiday lighting displays. David Coldiron, the events organizer, started the "Alameda Holiday Lights Ride in the Island City" back in 2011. As he explained it, the event lets him show his love for his home cities of Oakland and Alameda. "People beg me to keep hosting and it makes me happy, so I keep doing it," he said.

Last week, cyclist Dana Cray Fernie was out riding on Potrero when she was hit and knocked down by a motorist. AnnaGrace Arnold, a close friend, wrote this description on the SF Bike Ride Crew Facebook page:

Saturday morning, the San Francisco Department of Recreation and Parks (RPD) held an open house to get feedback about potential pedestrian and bicycle safety improvements for Golden Gate Park. It was held in the County Fair Building Auditorium in the park and was attended by some 40-50 people.

Yesterday evening, the South of Market Committee of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC) met at their Market Street office to discuss advocacy tactics for making sure SFMTA follows through on Mayor Edwin Lee's Executive Directive on safety in their neighborhood. "They’re hoping to get this in the ground by May of 2017," said Charles Deffarges, community organizer with the Bicycle Coalition. He pointed to SFMTA designs, projected on a screen for the group, of 7th and 8th streets, with physically protected bike lanes. "This design is not all the way there, but it is a first phase," he said.

The San Francisco County Transportation Authority (CTA), along with SFMTA, is completing its final environmental review for "Bus Rapid Transit" and other street improvements on Geary. Last week, the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR) held an update/discussion about this busy corridor.

Yesterday afternoon, advocates from Walk San Francisco joined the newly formed "Families for Safe Streets" and others, for a walk of remembrance for traffic victims. The walk, with a crowd of nearly 100 participants, started at 16th and Mission and followed a circuitous route through some of San Francisco's most notorious intersections, concluding with a vigil in front of City Hall.

Sunday afternoon was the last "Sunday Streets" of the season, on Embarcadero in downtown San Francisco. This time the event, which went from 11 to 4 p.m., ran from AT&T Park to Broadway. The Embarcadero is where "Sunday Streets" first started in San Francisco, back in 2008.

This afternoon, the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR), hosted a post-election analysis of local races and measures with political consultants David Latterman of Fall Line Analytics and Alex Clemens of Lighthouse Public Affairs.