The Mission District Streetscape Plan advanced out of committee to the full SFMTA board for a vote on Friday after years of community meetings and a full Environmental Impact Report. That's the good news. The bad news is that assuming it passes the Board, it will be 10 years before fully implemented at a cost of $96M.The entire 62MB PDF is available here: Of note to Noe Valley residents:
- Making permanent the much-maligned traffic-calming plaza at 28th and Guerrero (pages 50-51). A priority project: "The City will continue to look for funds to create a permanent plaza at this location per the designs shown in this plan."
- 24th St BART station improvements (pages 42-43). A priority project: "The City has received approximately $2.2 million in grant funds through the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s TLC program to build improvements to the 24th and Mission BART station, including plaza improvements, new bus bulbs on Mission Street, and raised crosswalks at alleys crossing 24th Street."
- Reducing Cesar Chavez to 2 traffic lanes in each direction from Hampshire to Guerrero with dedicated turn lanes, bike lanes, pedestrian bulb-outs, a 12-foot-wide median and a new plaza at Capp/Mission. All that will sacrifice 30 parking places. (pages 54-55, 66-67) Ironically, there is a lot of hate for the project from the bikes-only crowd commenting on StreetsBlogSF - the project doesn't go far enough to protect cyclists.
- Pedestrian safety improvements to Dolores St and the Dolores St park/plaza at San Jose we reported on last year (pages 42-47, 70-71).
[SF Planning: The Mission District Sreetscape Plan]
[SF Planning: Final draft of Better Streets (PDF)]
[NVSF: Proposed: Gateway Park At South End Of Dolores Street]
Thank you for covering this.
ReplyDeleteEditors: I don't think it is the "bikes-only crowd" that is upset that this expensive plan doesn't include bike-only lanes. I don't own a bike, yet I can't imagine why any new road designs or major road re-designs wouldn't include a protected bike lane. If they did, many San Franciscans would certainly start riding and we would likely see a healthier SF in general. In terms of healthcare costs, it would ultimately save us money.
ReplyDeleteThe renovated Cesar Chavez Street will have striped bike lanes - are those not considered "protected bike lanes"? There were commenters on StreetsBlog bemoaning the proposed median, wanting that space as a pedestrian/bikeway.
ReplyDeleteI am all for bike lanes, but it is expensive enough just to stripe them. I cannot imagine that money spent of constructing separate, protected bike lanes would ever be recuperated in saved health care costs.
How is anyone protected by a paint stripe on the road? Is it a force field? San Franciscans don't really take a lot of pride in their driving, and take no pride in parking legally. A lot of people will celebrate this change - they would be unwilling to double park on CC in the right travel lane now, but won't think twice about double parking in the new bike lane (something that even soft hit posts can prevent).
ReplyDeleteRecuperating the cost of a bike lane in saved health care costs is a red herring - we do a lot of things that are simply because we decide that's what we want to spend money on. I'm not recuperating any money from the Xmas Tree I just bought - but I like having it.
The commentary on the median is that if the median was less wide, we could make the bike lane and the sidewalks more wide. We probably get more value from a wider bike lane (out of a door zone) and wider sidewalks than a wider median.
Though I think the commenters are mostly letting perfect be the enemy of the good.
Protected bike lanes, no bike lanes, tons of bike lanes. Guess what? I don't care.
ReplyDeleteHere's what I do care about:
I'm just back from a great 2 week vacation to Sydney, Au. Yes, they have bike lanes, some great bikes only lanes, some protected,but here's what REALLY impressed me:
The bike riders in Sydney are the MOST courteous and polite I have ever seen. They stop at stop lights, stop signs, yield to pedestrians, use hand signals, and don't act like wild untamed children when riding. Wow! What a concept!
San Francisco bike riders have a LOT to learn to get my respect and support, like the Aussie riders do.
Think about it bike people. You really should.
"Protected bike lanes, no bike lanes, tons of bike lanes. Guess what? I don't care."
ReplyDeleteAll right then - tons of bike lanes! Let's start with Sanchez from 24th to 30th.
Obviously, like most bike fanatics, esp those on Streetsblog, you filter out any information that may challenge your beliefs or that you simply don't care to hear, or address.
ReplyDeleteI just feel good about spreading the word about more civilized bike riders in other cities.
"The bike riders in Sydney are the MOST courteous and polite I have ever seen. They stop at stop lights, stop signs, yield to pedestrians, use hand signals, and don't act like wild untamed children when riding. Wow! What a concept!"
ReplyDeleteMonkey see, monkey do. See good driver, be good cyclist. See bad driver - must be in SF.
@cr: Well, that's a new one for creating an elaborate excuse for bad and illegal behavior on a bike.
ReplyDeleteAnd so (our) ire against you as a cyclist is because we (drivers) don't understand "bad street design".
OMG..what have you been smoking?
Go to Sydney. See how intelligent, courteous bike riders behave in a big urban environment. You might learn something.
I don't know what your ire's about Rocky's Dad. You're a special case.
ReplyDeleteHowever, many things that you consider rude are legal in other states, cities, and countries. Bikes can treat stop signs as yield signs and can treat red lights as stop signs if there is no cross traffic. It will be legal in SF in 20 years. The reason is that it's safer for everyone. It's GOOD behavior.
I'm not talking about actual bad behavior by cyclists. We all know there's plenty of that.
It looks like my previous comment was eaten by blogger. Dunno...
I'm so glad you can predict what will be legal in SF in 20 years. You're very talented, CR.
ReplyDelete@murph: Ah, thanks for quoting me verbatim. much appreciated for your support.
However, let's be clear. As Rob Anderson says so often on his blog, you bike riders often have a way, when responding to another blog comment, of changing the subject, or twisting the words. For the record, I don't believe I mentioned any words about "drivers" good or bad. My comments which you should re-read were solely about bicyclists.
Check it out.
The first entry: Making permanent the much-maligned traffic-calming plaza at 28th and Guerrero (pages 50-51). A priority project: "The City will continue to look for funds to create a permanent plaza at this location per the designs shown in this plan." does not bode well for the "intelligent thought" that supposedly went into the whole plan.
ReplyDeleteThe "traffic-calming plaza at 28th and Guerrero" has completely blocked San Jose Ave so that last Monday night the SFFD team responding to a medical emergency was stuck (three vehicles, ambulance, rescue pumper and supervisor truck) mid-block and all three had to back out of the street because newcomers like NoeValleyPalin and her Coalition to Screwup Our Streets (plus boy wonder Andres Power, all who think they know what's best for everyone) have made a total mess of the neighborhood they don't live in.
If Ray have died because of their idiocy, because the ambulance could not get out of the street, one would wish there was a charge similar to "Involuntary Manslaughter" called "Incompetence Manslaughter".
Thanks kwk for that brilliant and powerful comment about the Guerrero Plaza. I could not agree with you more.
ReplyDeleteHad that insane concept of a "plaza" on Noe St at 24th gone ahead, in either "temporary" or permanent form we would have been stuck with the same danger and stupidity that the Guerrero plaza has wrought. I was strongly vocal and open about the Noe plaza for those reasons and many people came to dislike me and my opinions, a lot.
And I did not give a rats ass what they thought. Some of the pro-plaza supporters were new comers to our City and Noe Valley and strongly tried to push their suburban agenda on us, wanting to make Noe/24th a stupid cul-de-sac. They, of course, wanted us to live "just like them"..and they took a very holier than thou attitude much of the time. Thankfully their myopic view of urban life failed.
Some of them, including SF city planners and officials will continue to try and "screw up our streets" with poorly conceived bike lanes slowing down and congesting traffic, and silly parklets everywhere.
When will they realize that this is a CITY, a wonderful, dense urban village that is made up of streets and roadways we all use to move around and make our lives work? This is not a suburb. This is not some little rural town.
Let's not let the NoeValleyPalins and suburban newbies on fixies ruin it for the rest of us.
Thanks for your comments.
@kwk - the SFFD was stuck mid block? What were they stuck behind? The San Jose Guerrero plaza? How did the new street design cause an issue?
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to Ray? Hope he's OK. Why three vehicles?
You both overestimate the divide between "newcomers" and "natives". While it pains me to dive back into the same old debate - there were large numbers of "natives" on board with the plaza project - I have the proof. Not only do I have their signatures but they were a majority component of the people who volunteered to help out, and Bob Roddick of the NVA has lived here his whole life as well.
Scott Wiener very publically supported the project and signed our petition.
Rafael Mandelman was noncomittal.
Rebecca Prozan signed Joel Panzer's petition.
Results:
Last Place - Rebecca Prozan
Second Place - Mandelman
New D8 Supervisor - Scott Wiener.
Scott, trying to show his ability to take a tough stance, was quoted as saying his stance "probably cost me some votes". Nice try - he knows full well it gained him many more votes than he lost.
@rocky's dad -
ReplyDeleteHere's what I do care about:
I'm just back from a great 2 week vacation to Sydney, Au. Yes, they have bike lanes, some great bikes only lanes, some protected,but here's what REALLY impressed me:
The bike riders in Sydney are the MOST courteous and polite I have ever seen. They stop at stop lights, stop signs, yield to pedestrians, use hand signals, and don't act like wild untamed children when riding. Wow! What a concept!
I find this very interesting in the context of this article and the comments following it.
You were on vacation, and had your rose colored glasses on. You come home, you have your evil cyclist glasses on. The truth - in both cities, is in the middle.
@murph: doesn/t matter one iota about your obsession with data, facts and, or course: PROOF.
ReplyDeleteThe plaza failed.
And that's all that matters.
For the record, the plaza didn't fail. For it to fo fail there would have needed to be a trial, and there was no trial, because a vocal group of opponents shouted it down. I personally will choose to believe that the plaza would have been a rousing success and made Noe Valley a better place. Without a trial, there is NO proof to the contrary.
ReplyDeletePS - I also support bike lanes.
Oh, I see. you're playing word games, but you know what RD really meant didn't you?
ReplyDeleteThere was no trial plaza because it failed to be approved by city officials, and be overwhelming rejection by NV residents. That means it failed, and it also means the possibility of a permanent plaza failed.
Understand now?
I didn't realize that people who were not born in Noe Valley cannot have an opinion about the neighborhood...or a vision to make it a better neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteRocky's Dad, why are you so bitter?
There were maybe 200 people at the meeting where this project was "rejected". The other several thousand residents apparently don't get a say? Especially if they are evil people with babies in strollers who need to put children to bed at 7 PM, or even MORE evil people who work outside the city and might find working late more entertaining than listening to Joel Panzer throw a temper tantrum.
ReplyDeleteBut they did overwhelmingly support - in a public election held by mail and all day Nov 2 - the Supervisor candidate who supported the trial, and rejected the candidate who signed the petition against.
Soon he will be our Supervisor, not the well meaning, pothole fixing, email answering, but vision lacking current one. Good luck NIMBYs...
we're just so happy the plaza faileD and will continue to fight any attempt to turn our streets meant for vehicles into any other use.
ReplyDeleteIs that clear?
This is for Murphy. Bike riders are SUPPOSED to obey the rules of the road. There are laws on the books regarding this. I can not tell you how many times I have seen riders just fly thru Stop signs. A few years ago; I was with my mother who was ill and she was knocked down by a bike rider. You could all take a lesson from Australia. I'll hit you if you go thru a Stop sign and it is my right of way. Also, the people who can't drive cars here are people like you Murphy. They didnt grow up here and have no clue what they are doing.
ReplyDeleteI can not tell you how many times I have seen riders just fly thru Stop signs.
ReplyDeleteWhy not?