Walk San Francisco

Extended Parking Meter Hours Study Debated

On October 20, the SF Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) Board heard an introductory presentation of the SFMTA’s Extended Parking Meter Hours Study, commissioned by the SFMTA Board last spring during their budget deliberations, in which Muni service was cut and fares were raised while parking rates remained essentially untouched. When the Board of Supervisors threatened to veto the budget, the SFMTA Board called for a study of parking meter hours.

At the following Tuesday’s SFMTA Board meeting, about 50 people spoke for and against the study’s recommendations to extend meter hours in several well-defined commercial corridors. While understandably controversial, it’s an ultimately essential move towards making Muni a reliable and convenient transportation option, reducing the danger of traffic “cruising” for parking for the sake of safer walking, and rebalancing the inequitable state of encouraging cheap driving in a city with a bold commitment for sustainable streets.

Walk San Francisco will continue to work with transit and bicycle advocates to properly balance SF’s transportation revenue options. Read Walk San Francisco’s letter to the SFMTA Board and send your own note of encouragement to them at MTABoard@sfmta.com.  To learn more, please listen to this interview with UCLA Planning Professor Dr. Donald Shoup.

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WalkSF’s Response to “Careless Pedestrians” Article in Chronicle

The following is a response to the C.W. Nevius authored column “S.F. a dangerous city for careless pedestrians”

Mr. Nevius:

I read with interest your column today entitled “SF a dangerous city for careless pedestrians”.  First one of the things that I always like to say is “Everyone is a pedestrian, even if all of the walking you do is to and from your car.”  The point is that everyone is a pedestrian and many people drive or take transit or ride a bike.  Few people get around exclusively by walking, but everyone does walk as part of their means of getting around.  Its a question of care and courtesy no matter which mode of transportation you happen to be engaging in.

Having said that, in the SFMTA report that you cited in your column ( http://www.sfmta.com/cms/rtraffic/documents/Collision_report_2007.pdf ) if you look on page 5, in table 3 it notes that “Violations by the Pedestrian” was cited as the cause for 8% of all collisions in 2007.  Now to be fair, the report notes that 26% of all injury collisions involve a pedestrian.  However, this still means that less than 1/3 of all collisions involving a pedestrian are the fault of the pedestrian with the other 2/3 the fault of the driver.

I do appreciate your advocacy for traffic calming.  In addition to naked streets, London is also experimenting with turning off traffic lights  ( http://tr.im/BU50 ).  While “roundabouts” might not work in much of San Francisco, there is a smaller version of these known as “traffic circles” that are appropriate for neighborhood streets.  Berkeley and Seattle have used traffic circles with great success, Seattle seeing many intersections go to 0 crashes.  We attempted these in 2004 on Page St., however, they were a failure because the circles weren’t large enough as per best practices in other cities.

Feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss this further.

Thanks,

Manish Champsee
President
Walk San Francisco

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Announcing WalkSF’s Fifth Annual Peak to Peak Walk

This is no ordinary walk in the park!

The fifth annual Peak to Peak Walk is a 12 mile challenge that will inspire even the most avid walker. You’ll get a unique view of San Francisco’s skyline, stairways, paths, parks, and monuments—all while raising money for Walk San Francisco’s vital pedestrian safety and advocacy work.

Join us as we meander up and down along the spine of the city from Mt. Davidson to Coit Tower, with 15 different peaks along the way. In addition to dirt trails and stunning vistas, the walk also features a delicious gourmet lunch and the chance to win great prizes.

From climbing the slopes of Mt. Olympus in the morning to enjoying the view from Coit Tower in the afternoon, this full-day walk will give you a whole new perspective on San Francisco.

What does my registration include?
The walk will be fully guided, and you’ll receive a map of the route when you sign in. Each group leader will carry snacks and be in contact with other groups along the way. Around halfway through, we’ll take a relaxing break for a gourmet lunch in the Panhandle. Your registration also includes membership in Walk San Francisco for one year. We have some fabulous prizes including Sports Basement gift certificates, a one of a kind hoodie from Gama-Go, massage gift certificates, dinner at local restaurants and many others.

What will I need to bring?
You should wear comfortable shoes and bring clothing for variable weather conditions during the day, including fog, wind, and (we hope!) sunshine. We recommend a hat and backpack to carry water, light clothing, and snacks. Although rain in October is rare, heavy fog, wind, and mist in the morning are possible, especially on the higher summits.

 

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Annual Meeting on October 6th

Walk San Francisco Annual Meeting – RSVP Online
Please join your Walk San Francisco friends at our annual meeting on

Tuesday, October 6th
6:00 pm to 7:30 pm
SPUR’s beautiful new Urban Center
654 Mission Street (between 2nd & 3rd)

We’ll have Amit Ghosh, the Deputy Director of Planning from the MTA to tell us about plans for pedestrian improvements here in the City.

We truly hope you’ll join us for this once-a-year event so that we can get reacquainted and talk about our objectives.

Pizza and soft drinks will be served. Please RSVP  by Sunday, October 4th, so that we know how much food to order.

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Cars, pedestrians in The City should be on the level

The following originally appeared in the 1/15/2009 edition of the San Francisco Examiner, Opinion section.

“Jaywalker killed” blared off the front page of the Dec. 15 edition of The Examiner with a photo of a grisly scene. The subhead was equally jarring: “Elderly man with walker ignored no-crossing sign.”

When you opened up the paper, you were treated to the headline of “Illegal shortcut claims a life,” and you also learned that The Examiner is running a poll on its Web site asking whether there should be a crackdown on jaywalkers.

Cut and dried. The pedestrian did something illegal and paid for it with his life.

But is that really the whole story? We later learned that the name of the victim was Victor Cinti. He was an 87-year-old man who used a walker to get around.

So why would an 87-year-old man in a walker decline to use a pedestrian bridge and choose to jaywalk against the light? He doesn’t exactly fit the profile of someone who would dart across traffic — damn the consequences — because he was in too much of a hurry.

The first issue is the bridge itself. The bridge was built prior to the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. As such, the bridge is considered too steep for use by people with mobility problems. It is also seismically unsafe. Furthermore, there is no good way to inform blind pedestrians about the bridge, meaning that many blind folks end up crossing the street when they hear cars moving in their direction (as they are trained to do). The irony of this pedestrian bridge is that our most vulnerable citizens can’t use it, and we’ve taken away the one option that everyone can use and from anecdotal evidence many prefer: street-level crossing.

Furthermore, Cinti was killed on the west side of the street, while the bridge is on east side. This means that in order for Cinti to have used the bridge he would have had to cross Webster Street twice just to cross Geary Boulevard on the bridge, in addition to climbing up to cross. That’s a lot of extra effort for someone using a walker.

If the intersection of Geary and Webster allowed crossing at the street level, city standards would dictate more time to cross than what is currently the case. They would also dictate pedestrian countdown signals, along with pedestrian refuge islands in the medians, so someone who couldn’t cross the entire length of the street in one light cycle could continue at the next cycle.

The solution to avoid this kind of tragedy at intersections with a pedestrian bridge is not to crack down on “jaywalkers,” but rather to allow people to cross at street level. We also need to calm the traffic in this area and make it more inviting to people walking at street level, rather than trying to separate people from the street.

Manish Champsee is the president of Walk San Francisco, a pedestrian-safety advocacy group.

Pedestrian safety

 Walking in S.F. can be dangerous.

9.4 Percent of San Francisco residents who walked to work in 2000

9.6 Percent who walked to work in ’06

726 Nonfatal pedestrian collisions in ’06

13 Fatal pedestrian collisions in ’06

Sources: San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, San Francisco Transportation Fact Sheet, October 2008

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13th Annual Winterfest – SF Bicycle Coalition Fundraiser

WHAT: 13th Annual Winterfest the SFBC Auction, Art Show, Party & Fundraiser

WHEN: Sunday, December 7, 6-10:30pm (with a special art preview on Saturday, December 6th from 6-8pm)

WHERE:  SOMArts,  934 Brannan Street (at 8th)

WHO: The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition and Rickshaw Bagworks

LIVE ENTERTAINMENT: Brass Mafia featuring Dublin

WEBSITE: http://www.sfbike.org/winterfest

COST: $15/sliding scale for SFBC members or join at the door for $40

Get out of the cold and into the hottest bike party, art show and fundraiser of the year! The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition and Rickshaw Bagworks present the 13th Annual Winterfect Auction, Art Show, Party and Fundraiser on Sunday, December 7th. A festive evening filled with the energetic sounds of Brass Mafia, a local New Orleans style marching band, 60 pieces of amazing local art to bid on and buy, great deals on bike and local goodies, not to mention the two New Belgium beer tickets that come with admission, all while supporting San Francisco’s most effective bicycle advocacy organization. It’s the party you won’t want to miss! Find out more at http://www.sfbike.org/winterfest

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Peak2Peak a Great Success

The Annual Peak2Peak walk happened this past weekend. The weather was foggy in the morning, though the fog burned off later in the morning and the weather cooperated for the rest of the day. We want to thank everyone who came for making it a fun-filled day. One of our walkers has posted some photos on flickr here:

http://flickr.com/photos/9240154@N03/sets/72157608188871175/

If you took any photos and have a flickr account, please tag them with peaktopeak

For More Information about the event:
http://walksf.org/peak.html

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COME OUT AND PLAY!

What: Sunday Streets
When: August 31 and September 14, 2008
Time: 9:00 am to 1:00 pm
Location: Washington at Clay Street to Embarcadero, Terry Francios Blvd, Illinois Street to 3rd Street and Oakdale in San Francisco

Join SF Mayor Gavin Newsom, Shape Up SF, Walk San Francisco, and our many partners for the exciting launch of Sunday Streets on August 31 and September 14! Sunday Streets brings 4.5 miles of open space to SF streets and creates a novel, fun play space for all.

Sunday Streets is anchored in two communities, Portsmouth Square in Chinatown, and Joe Lee Gym/Bayview Opera House in Bayview Hunters Point. These community centers will be connected by nearly five miles of open, car-free streets along Washington Street, the Embarcadero, Terry Francios Blvd. Illinois and 3rd Streets, with the route lined with activities for all to enjoy.

Come out and skip, skate, run, bike, stroll and sample different kinds of physical activity along the way. Organized activities include yoga, roller skating and skating lessons, biking and bike repair, dancing, stretching, guided walking tours, Tai Chi, Boot Camp classes and much more! All activities are free of charge, presented by nearly 100 health, fitness, youth and family oriented organizations.

To see the map of activities, volunteer, or learn more go to www.SundayStreetsSF.com

Tell all your friends, family members and members about Sunday Streets, then Come Out and Play!

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Support the Mayor’s Sunday Streets Pilot Program!

Sunday Streets is a pilot program that will bring physical activity space to San Francisco neighborhoods on Sunday mornings this summer and fall. These Sunday morning activities will create a route for thousands of local families, kids and adults to walk, jog, and bike, as well as participate in group exercise. The program will offer safe and free activities that will attract people from throughout the city and the entire Bay Area. It represents our city’s next innovative step toward a healthier community.

Questions and doubts have been raised about the benefits of the Sunday Streets program to San Francisco, and an ordinance has been introduced that could potentially kill this Sunday Streets program planned for late August and September. To voice your support for Sunday Streets, please contact Supervisors through these emails: Michaela.Alioto-Pier@sfgov.org; Tom.Ammiano@sfgov.org; Chris.Daly@sfgov.org;Bevan.Dufty@sfgov.org; Sean.Elsbernd@sfgov.org; Carmen.Chu@sfgov.org; Sophie.Maxwell@sfgov.org; Jake.McGoldrick@sfgov.org; Aaron.Peskin@sfgov.org; Gerardo.Sandoval@sfgov.org.

Modeled on a 25-year old program in Bogota, Columbia, Sunday morning street activities have proven to be wildly popular on three continents in cities ranging from Tokyo to Kiev. American cities like Chicago, Portland, and New York are planning to hold similar events. By starting its own Sunday Streets program, San Francisco will join a global movement to create healthier cities.

Sunday Streets is an innovative way to connect local residents to San Francisco’s neighborhoods, and support local businesses in the process. It literally brings open space to local residents, activating local corridors with healthy activities and demonstrating the benefits of increasing open space and recreational opportunities within our city. The route will run along the city’s waterfront, showcasing the Blue Greenway, and connecting the Bayview district to Chinatown.

For more information about Sunday Streets, please visit the website www.sundaystreetssf.com or contact Susan King at susan@walkSF.org.

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San Francisco Most Walkable City in America

Front Seat, the civic software company that operates walkability site www.walkscore.com, today announced the results of their calculations to identify America’s Most Walkable Neighborhoods. With gas topping $4 per gallon, Americans are increasingly looking for walkable places to live. The new list is the first objective national ranking of walkability; findings are based on analysis of 2,508 neighborhoods in the 40 most populous U.S. cities. The full rankings of the 40 cities and each of their neighborhoods can be found at www.walkscore.com.

Based on these rankings, San Francisco came out on top. It should be noted that the score is based entirely on services that are within walking distance of residents of different neighborhoods. While its wonderful to learn that San Francisco ranks high on this scale, we are also a very dangerous city for pedestrians.

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