Laying Better Plans

The Planning Department's City Design Group has been working on its Mission Streetscape Plan for some time now. They've just released the presentation materials from the fourth Public Workshop and the concepts they outline are very encouraging!

I think the grid of the inner Mission District is one of the most pleasant environments for pedestrians in the city. Most intersections have four-way stops, the streets have wide sidewalks, low car traffic and are lined with trees and beautiful houses. But there's definitely room for improvement, especially along the streets that were handed over to cars during the 20th century (So. Van Ness, Guerrero, 16th and especially Potrero).

Check out the PDF, and continue after the jump for my first impression.

It's Been Done!

Check out this photo I lifted from a Streetsblog commenter:

Image: Jamison

This shot is of a bus stop bulbout in Barcelona, Spain. Their solution to the potentially expensive prospect of uprooting utility lines and redesigning gutters and storm drains? Just drop a free-standing slab of concrete in top of the asphalt. Viola, instant bulbout!

I had a similar idea for bicycle parking, one that would allow DPT to add bike parking where it was needed quickly and cheaply. My artistically amazing sketch of that idea after the jump.

San Francisco is so sorely in need of bike parking that City Attorney Dennis Herrera went to court seeking an exemption to the bike plan injunction in order to install some new racks (he was denied). And the city is full of narrow sidewalks clogged with patient Muni riders waiting for the bus - sidewalks that need to be expanded.

If opponents argue that the cost of street redesign is prohibitive to implementing such simple complete streets features as bike parking and sidewalk extensions, let's remove that obstacle.

This Intersection Sucks

Despite the streets being wider than those of Paris, I am required to walk on narrow strips of concrete, where any slip or missed step would cause me to tumble into a road where a passing car would undoubtedly decapitate me. ... Any contact with another pedestrian involves invading their personal space and requires that someone yield to the other. This means you cannot walk side-by-side with another person, taking away all the pleasure of walking. -Mathieu Helie

When I read that quote in the blog Emergent Urbanism I immediately related to my experiences walking around San Francisco. While some neighborhoods in this city have held onto luxuriously wide sidewalks, they are almost all dissected by arterial roads. That is, streets that were re-engineered after the rise of auto-centrism to serve as expressways for large volumes of car traffic. Since these streets tend to be not much wider than average, the extra road space devoted to cars usually comes at the expense of pedestrians.

The intersection of Potrero Avenue and 16th Street is one of the worst. This is a major transfer point for several Muni lines (37,572 people ride the 9, 22, 33, and 53 lines every day). As people dash between buses, McDonalds and the Potrero shopping center, they jostle for limited space with each other and with speeding traffic.

The layout of the intersection hampers pedestrian flow and lowers the quality of this space. This broad square enjoys lots of sunshine and great views of downtown and Twin Peaks. This is a historic spot, where Joe DiMaggio played with the San Francisco Seals. But it's a miserable place, to be avoided even by those who pass through out of necessity; and it doesn't have to be that way.

Richmond District Town Hall Meeting

District 1 Supervisor Eric Mar is hosting a town hall meeting to discuss pedestrian and street improvements in the Richmond District. I've added it to the Important Dates in the sidebar. For more information visit the Facebook event page

Deets after the jump for those poor Facebookless souls

Bicycles South of Market

Today, on my two-mile walk to work through SoMa I saw five people riding bicycles. That's great; according to the SF Bicycle Coalition the number of cyclists in SF has swelled in the last few years.

The problem: all five of those bicyclists were riding illegally on the sidewalk. I saw zero people riding their bicycles legally on the street.

Bicyclists and pedestrians ought to be natural allies in the move toward complete streets. I find it so disappointing that these bicyclists chose to risk injuring or alienating the pedestrians on those narrow SoMa sidewalks.

Sunday Streets, April 2009

After walking over seven highly enjoyable miles along a street crowded with pedestrians, joggers, bi-, tri- and multi-cyclists (where my unicyclists at?), skateboarders and scooter-ers, parents and children, I'd be shocked if anyone tried to describe Sunday Streets as anything but a huge success.



Running this year's first installment of SF's version of the ciclovia down the Embarcadero from the ballpark to Fisherman's Wharf was a smart move. I heard many people, particularly along the more crowded stretch North of the Ferry Building, remark with pleasant surprise on the event, which they clearly hadn't yet heard of. These folks are in luck - there are five more Sunday Streets events left, one per month until September.

Before leaving my house I was worried that the chilly air would dampen turnout for the event. When I arrived at 3rd and King there was a fairly small crowd entering the closed Northbound lanes from this endpoint. But as I walked along the sun-soaked boulevard toward the Ferry building the crowd grew denser.

It was a bit of a trip to walk lazily in the center of San Francisco's breathtaking waterfront boulevard. One certainly doesn't get many chances to pass under those Canary Island Date Palms, right up against the demonstration runs of the proposed E-Embarcadero line.

By the time I passed under the Bay Bridge (an amazing public space in its own outsized way) the street was full of everything-but-cars. And once I passed the Ferry Building the crowd was noticeably thick with BART riders, tourists and farmers market-goers.

It was remarkable how many kids were out with their parents. Most of these kids were on big wheels, trikes, and tiny bikes with training wheels. These kids were using this new civic resource to learn how to ride their bikes, a rite of passage that cul-de-sac dwellers take for granted.

Once I got to the wharf the crowd of San Franciscans speaking at least three different languages was impressive. I'll let the wharf businesses' receipts speak for themselves, but if I was a business owner I would be thrilled to have such a parade of recreators at my doorstep.

There was the Dolores Park boombox-bike guy (who I learned today through Streetsblog SF is SF Bicycle Coalition Board Member Amandeep Jawa). As he progressed through the route this betricycled pied piper attracted quite a crowd of cyclists behnd him.

There was also the FunCycle, a ring of pedalers who also had a speaker setup complete with disco ball. When I passed them at the Ferry Building on my return trip, they were stopped, singing karaoke-style along with the song that was playing - they tweaked the words to match a Sunday Streets theme (see photo in the slideshow above).

The only downside to the morning came after leaving the closed-off route. As I walked through South Beach/SoMa I encountered three bicyclists on the sidewalk (one per block). I happen to work in the area and I can attest that this is a fairly common occurrence along SoMa's narrow sidewalks. As a pedestrian I recognize the natural alliance between bicyclists and pedestrians, but it's unfortunate that so many (any is too many, IMHO) cyclists choose to alienate the most vulnerable road users by speeding through the only protected pedestrian space.

It was a regrettable ending to an incredibly encouraging day.

The next Sunday Streets event will be through the Bayview neighborhood. The route has yet to be announced, but it will likely follow a similar path to last year's alignment.

Cesar Chavez Street Update

Just got this update from the C Chav Design Team at the Planning Department:

Thanks to all of you who either attended one of our Cesar Chavez community workshops or sent us an email (or both) over this past year. We appreciate your dedication and concern and willingness to participate in this important community planning process.

As many of you already know, a final design concept was selected by the community late last year. The City then presented final concept drawings earlier this Spring that applied that design concept to the entire corridor. Generally, the design calls for a wider, planted center median, large corner sidewalk extensions at most intersections, bike lanes (per the Bike Plan), two through lanes of traffic, and left turning pockets where left turns are permitted. The street design also aims to be as green as
possible, integrating stormwater planters and other elements to allow stormwater to permeate into the ground instead of flowing into, and overburdening, the city's sewer system.

The Planning Department, the Department of Public Works (DPW), the Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA), and the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) are now working on developing construction drawings, identifying and solving logistical issues, and aligning the capital program. We will continue to advance the design through this process.

As we move through the Summer and into Fall, we hope to finalize our budget and finalize the scope of the actual improvements, and identify, should it be necessary, a phasing program.

There will be plenty of opportunities in the coming months to voice your opinion on the evolving design. We'll keep you updated as opportunities arise.

There will also be formal opportunities to voice your opinions on this
project as it weaves its way through the approvals process at the MTA Board
and the Board of Supervisors. We'll also keep you all updated as these
events are scheduled.

At this point, we are looking to begin construction at some point next year.

Again, we thank you for all your participation. Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

The Cesar Chavez Design Team
http://cesarchavez.sfplanning.org

Tear Down This Wall

In a thinly-veiled attempt to make me love it, the Transbay Blog has a great article on how to get rid of the Central Skyway. That makes the Transbay Blog the latest voice calling for San Francisco to finish the good job it started when we knocked down the elevated structure North of Market Street.

I've called for this, and Streetsblog SF reported that the MTA has agreed to consider studying alternatives to the elevated skyway at the urging of superheroesque Tom Radulovich. Well, Transbay blog has an alternative worth considering.

I've got my own fantasy map that I'm working on polishing up, and I'm sure there are smart folks out there with their own great ideas for this miserable waste of space.

This is an issue that's important to me, and I hope it takes off!

What is a Liveable Street?

Carly Clark and Aaron Naparstek of the Liveable Sreets Initiative (the folks behind Streetsblog) have a great piece in Good magazine that eloquently explains the concept of a complete street.

East Bay Livable Streets Meeting Tomorrow Night

Walk Oakland - Bike Oakland is a great group that's working to make the East Bay more bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly. They're having their monthly volunteer meeting tomorrow, Tuesday, February 24th from 6:30pm - 8:30pm. The meeting will be held at Bay Area Wilderness Training. 2301 Broadway, Suite B (Enter on 23rd) in Oakland.

From Dominic R Lucchesi, an admin of WOBO's Facebook group:

Please join us tomorrow night for WOBO's monthly volunteer meeting. This time around, we will be discussing our next pedestrian campaign, as well as getting updates on the Bike Broadway Campaign. Hope to see you there! (And bring yo' friends!). Yummy snacks will be provided.

It's been added to the calendar in the sidebar. Facebook event here. Those of you concerned about ped/bike issues in the East Bay should make it a a point to attend.

For SF livable streets issues, remember to attend the Cesar Chavez Design Workshop. That meeting is also tomorrow, from 6:30 - 7:45pm at the Leonard Flynn Elementary School Auditorium, 3125 Cesar Chavez Street in SF.

SF's First Shared Street

Streetsblog SF reports that the Planning Department's City Design Group has released its draft plan for a shared street, or woonerf along Jefferson Street at Fisherman's Wharf. I look forward to seeing this work.

The price tag of $10-12 million sounds steep, and I'm right there with the rest of the SB commenters dreaming about what that money could do in my hood. But I'm hoping that price tag means that they're investing in doing it right.

Successful pedestrian spaces can (and should) be created on the cheap, but you very often get what you pay for when it comes to investing in infrastructure. Concrete pavers and plastic planters cost less that stone and steel, but they don't last as long. We can still appreciate the investments in quality materials that were made a century ago and if the high price of this project goes toward that end, I'm cool with that.

Complete Streets News From India

Apparently folks in India are starting to agitate for more complete streets.

Since Ganeshkhind Road and also other roads in Pune have been widened, it has become increasingly difficult for pedestrians to cross the roads safely -Sujit Patwardhan

So they're going to march in those streets. You go, Sujit! It seems that Indians are learning from our mistakes, even before we do

Urban cities in the USA and Europe have witnessed the social menace of having encouraged private vehicles by building more roads and flyovers and yet having bumper-to-bumper traffic - which implies that no matter how many roads you widen or increase, the problem of road congestion is incessant ... The rich world has realised [sic] that space for people on public spaces has to directly do with their 'happiness' thus nullifying symptoms of suicidal tendencies and depression. -World Streets

I'm not so sure that everyone over here has figured that out, but I remain happy that our misery can serve to help others avoid the same fate. And if India can learn from us, we should be willing and able to learn from success stories in other countries

We chose not to improve the streets for the sake of cars, but instead to have wonderful spaces for pedestrians ... In my country, we are just learning that sidewalks (footpaths) are relatives of parks - not passing lanes for cars. -Enrique Penalosa, former Mayor of Bogotá, Colombia

Let's take that lesson to the streets of San Francisco.

Cesar Chavez Design Workshop

The Planning Department's City Design Group will hold its third and final workshop on a redesign plan for Cesar Chavez street between Guerrero and Hampshire:

Tuesday, February 24, from 6:30 - 7:45pm
Leonard Flynn Elementary School, Auditorium
3125 Cesar Chavez Street

I've added this to the calendar of important events in the sidebar. Unfortunately, until someone makes a decent calendar widget for Blogger, you'll have to deal with the narrow columns of text or click through to the full Google calendar. Check the calendar often for reminders about important meetings and deadlines like this.

This is the last C. Chav workshop, which means it's your last chance to weigh in on what will be the first street redesign using the Better Streets "Plan" guidelines. Make it count!