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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>How can removing auto lanes for bicycle lanes threaten the environment?<BR>Why do you have to cross the street three times in SOMA just to get to the<BR>other side? LOS, that's why.<BR><BR>WHAT: An important hearing at the SF Planning Commission<BR>WHERE: City Hall, Room 400<BR>WHEN: TOMORROW, Thursday, July 12, 10AM<BR>WHY: Pedestrians and Cyclists are as important as Autos<BR><BR>The hearing will consider changing the environmental review standards on<BR>which street configuration decisions are made from supporting the<BR>incumbency of the automobile by privileging automobile Level of Service<BR>(LOS) towards standards which value safe and efficient movement of<BR>pedestrians and cyclists as well.<BR><BR>City Traffic engineers must seek an expensive and time consuming<BR>environmental impact report any time a change to the streets would cause<BR>traffic to slow to certain levels because standards written in the 1970s,<BR>when autos belched leaded fuel emissions at rates 8 times of today's<BR>cleaner vehicles, are still applied. <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">San Francisco</st1:place></st1:City> has not seen auto<BR>related emissions "hot spots" for 30 years, yet bike lanes and safer<BR>traffic treatments are assumed to cause air quality impacts if autos are<BR>slowed.<BR><BR>This is an obscure technical issue which Greens such as Supervisor Ross<BR>Mirkarimi and Planning Commissioner Christina Olague have taken a<BR>leadership role in order to conform environmental practice to San<BR>Francisco's Transit First policies and which impacts on street livability<BR>citywide.<BR><BR>For more information on auto LOS, CEQA, and transportation planning, see<BR>information from the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC) at<BR>http://sfbike.org/los.</FONT></P><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">Get a sneak peak of the all-new <A title="http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour/?ncid=AOLAOF00020000000982" href="http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour/?ncid=AOLAOF00020000000982" target="_blank">AOL.com</A>.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>