June 2004 - Transpo - list.sfgreens.org

Re: [Transpo] Pedestrian Portion of the TWG Plank
by susan_e_vaughan＠juno.com 11 Jun '04

11 Jun '04

Right now sidewalk parking fines are regulated by state law. Here again, the maximum that sidewalk parking fines can be according to state law is $100. We could include in the platform support for changing state laws to increase sidewalk parking fines and ban talking on cell phones while driving. Sue On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 10:22:32 -0700 Susan King <funking(a)mindspring.com> writes: > > Hi all, > > I think the sidewalk parking fine should be raised to the same level > as bus > zone and curb cut blocking: $250-$275 per ticket. Blocking the > sidewalk is a > clear violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) and the > fines > should be commensurate with the violation. > > Parking tickets are for drivers who park illegally. If folks cannot > afford > parking tickets, they should park legally or use another, cheaper, > form of > transportation. SF has a reasonable transportation system and is > compact > enough to get most places by bike or Muni/walking. > > As for motorcycle, I support developing motorcycle parking in the > many areas > of the curb that are too short to accommodate cars. These spots need > to be > striped so cars do not attempt to squeeze into them and also provide > enough > room to allow access to the driveways and protect the cycles from > being > knocked over. We could add hundreds of motorcycle parking spaces > this way. > > I also support aggressive ticketing of cars who take motorcycle > parking > spots; I have advocated that cars who parallel park across > motorcycle > parking spaces should receive a ticket for each spot they block. > > It is essential that we move towards presenting clear priorities > for > transportation, starting with clear sidewalks for the lowest impact > form of > transportation: walking. > > Thanks for putting this platform together, > > peace, > susan > > > From: Ted Strawser <tedstrawser(a)yahoo.com> > > Date: Fri, 11 Jun 2004 00:43:37 -0700 (PDT) > > To: christine mcclintock <chrismcclintock(a)hotmail.com>, > transpo(a)sfgreens.org > > Subject: Re: [Transpo] Pedestrian Portion of the TWG Plank > > > > your 100$ fine idea is an issue because it is > > regressive. it hurt poor folks disproportionately. > > instead, raise the permit build the cost into the > > front end, instead of penalizing folks. > > > > also, the shot at motorcycles is unnecessary. take it > > out. motorcyclists dont talk on cell phones when they > > drive or run redlights and they take little space when > > the park. they are not the problem here. > > > > > > > > > > -- christine mcclintock <chrismcclintock(a)hotmail.com> > > wrote: > >> Hi, Everyone. > >> > >> Here's the Pedestrian portion that I wrote. > >> > >> Take care, > >> Christine > >> > >> > > > >> ATTACHMENT part 2 application/msword name=Pedestrian > > Portion of TWG Plank.doc > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Transpo mailing list > >> Transpo(a)sfgreens.org > >> https://list.sfgreens.org/mailman/listinfo/transpo > >> > > > > > > > > > > > > __________________________________ > > Do you Yahoo!? > > Friends. Fun. Try the all-new Yahoo! Messenger. > > http://messenger.yahoo.com/ > > _______________________________________________ > > Transpo mailing list > > Transpo(a)sfgreens.org > > https://list.sfgreens.org/mailman/listinfo/transpo > > _______________________________________________ > Transpo mailing list > Transpo(a)sfgreens.org > https://list.sfgreens.org/mailman/listinfo/transpo > >

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Re: [Transpo] Pedestrian Portion of the TWG Plank
by susan_e_vaughan＠juno.com 11 Jun '04

11 Jun '04

Sorry, one more thing. State law must be changed in order for D.A. Harris to treat pedestrian/motor vehicle collisions as anything more than moving violations. If someone goes through stop sign and hits and kills a ped, unless intent can be proved, the driver is only charged with a moving violation (going through a stop sign). Sue On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 06:50:54 +0000 "christine mcclintock" <chrismcclintock(a)hotmail.com> writes: > Hi, Everyone. > > Here's the Pedestrian portion that I wrote. > > Take care, > Christine > >

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Re: [Transpo] Pedestrian Portion of the TWG Plank
by susan_e_vaughan＠juno.com 11 Jun '04

11 Jun '04

Sorry, one more thing. We should also support pedestrian scrambles in which all lights are red, but the walk signals are on and peds get to walk diagonally across intersections. In this section we might also want to say something about the creation of livable communities in which schools, grocery stores, bookstores and libraries, etc., are plentiful enough to be within walking distance of most residents (unlike most of the Sunset now). Sue On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 06:50:54 +0000 "christine mcclintock" <chrismcclintock(a)hotmail.com> writes: > Hi, Everyone. > > Here's the Pedestrian portion that I wrote. > > Take care, > Christine > >

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Re: [Transpo] Pedestrian Portion of the TWG Plank
by susan_e_vaughan＠juno.com 11 Jun '04

11 Jun '04

Hey Everyone, 1) The 40-40-20 breakdown of funds from fines is already in place. What we want is meaningful enforcement of the laws. Right now DPT only tickets vehicles parked on sidewalks when they are called in. We want on site enforcement. We also want vehicles towed that completely block pedestrian access. I'm sorry Bruce Oka was not present for the ped part. He would have testified to the difficulty of moving wheelchairs around cars that are parked across sidewalks; 2) It is against state law for motorized vehicles to operate on sidewalks so we do not want to say that vehicles traveling over ten miles per hour on sidewalks should be ticketed (remember about two years ago the supes banned Segways from the sidewalks despite a state law giving them an exemption unless local governments decided otherwise). We need to demand meaningful enforcement of moving violations on sidewalks and we need clarification of what vehicles are permitted to travel on sidewalks under the ADA (for example, wheelchairs, obviously, but the maximum speed is 8 mph); 3) I think we want to say something about LOS -- level of service. Right now LOS favors the movement of motor vehicles, but in terms of pedestrians is determined by the number of people who can stand comfortably at an intersection waiting to cross. We want to add pedestrians in movement -- those who are walking down sidewalks or crossing at intersections, and we want to shift LOS priorities from motor vehicles to pedestrians. 4) In this section we probably also want to address traffic calming measures that improve safety for pedestrians. Such measures would involve narrowing streets, planting trees and enforcement of sidewalk parking (cars parked curbside narrow traffic lanes and force people to drive more slowly). 5) I'm not now looking at the ped section so I don't know if Christine included bulbouts. Bulbouts are good traffic calming measures for pedestrians. They can be constructed in such a way that bike lanes go through them OR in such a way that bikes waiting to go through intersections serve as a buffer between pedestrians in the crosswalks and cars (which wait behind the bikes). Sue On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 06:50:54 +0000 "christine mcclintock" <chrismcclintock(a)hotmail.com> writes: > Hi, Everyone. > > Here's the Pedestrian portion that I wrote. > > Take care, > Christine > >

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ped section de-monopolized
by John-Marc Chandonia 11 Jun '04

11 Jun '04

Here's the pedestrian section, for those who don't support the Microsoft monopoly. I haven't yet had time to copy it in to the rest of the platform or integrate concerns. JMC Pedestrian At some point in the day, everyone is a pedestrian. The advantages of walking are borne out in both the health of pedestrian, and the health of the environment itself. The San Francisco Green Party assumes the task of lowering the number of households with cars from the current rate of 29%. The proposed solutions encompass three main areas of pedestrian welfare: safety, health and access. To this end, we support the following measures: " Funding for Police and DPT education and enforcement of laws relating to pedestrians. A better division of the DPT fines would make these programs self-sufficient. The allotment of funds, 40% to MUNI, 40% to a general fund, and 20% to seniors, would decrease the reliance of these programs on grans funding, as well. " Dedicated funds for funding of pedestrian and bike projects. " Fine increases: o Raise sidewalk fines to $100 o Double speeding fines on problem areas, beginning with 19th Ave. o Ticket motorized vehicles traveling over 10 MPH on sidewalks " Plant more trees along sidewalks and increase the number of benches to prevent sidewalk parking of vehicles, including motorcycles " Expand the number of pedestrian countdown signals and the zebra stripes in crosswalks " Motorists must be held accountable for pedestrian deaths. Push the DA to change the penalty to murder, not merely vehicular manslaughter or moving violation. -- John-Marc Chandonia (jmc(a)sfgreens.org) http://www.dolorespark.org/

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Re: [Transpo] bullet points for Paratransit
by Jym Dyer 11 Jun '04

11 Jun '04

> Susan - "bullet points" can be changed to "points" > eliminating the violent context. =v= Similarly, Caltrain's "Baby Bullet" should be changed to something that carries as many bicycles as advertised. <_Jym_> (Sorry, I have to find a Bill Gates-approved machine to read the Word document. If something to that effect isn't already in there, it ought to be.)

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Pedestrian Portion of the TWG Plank
by christine mcclintock 11 Jun '04

11 Jun '04

Hi, Everyone. Here's the Pedestrian portion that I wrote. Take care, Christine

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Plank draft 1
by John-Marc Chandonia 11 Jun '04

11 Jun '04

Here's what we have so far; I'll incorporate the other sections as we get them. Please add more, including specific language, and say which points you have concerns with... we need to consense on final language online by next Tuesday night. Transportation Plank Draft 1, 6/10/04 The San Francisco Green Party believes good transit policy is an essential part of creating a safe, healthy, and attractive city. Public transit should be an efficient, reliable and attractive option for all citizens, not just those who have no other choice. Walking and bicycling should be promoted as healthy and safe options for the able-bodied. Taxi service must be improved, without compromising safety or drivers' livelihoods. Cars should be accommodated gracefully in planning, but not given priority over other forms of transit. In particular, we advocate that drivers should pay more of the true costs of automobile operation and parking, which are currently subsidized at the expense of other means of transit. The Southeast neighborhoods of our city, which bear a relatively high share of transit costs in the form of air pollution from our freeways, should be compensated by focusing other transit improvements in these neighborhoods. Transit Justice Many of our current ways of funding transit are regressive: poor people pay a much higher share of sales taxes and fixed fees. We advocate moving to more progressive forms of funding. We also support efforts to relieve the air pollution in Southeast neighborhoods of the city, which is partly caused by freeways with diesel trucks, and advocate for special attention to be given to improving transit in these neighborhoods. The SFGP advocates: 1) Ensuring that neighborhood residents get a major share of the new jobs created by transit projects which impact those neighborhoods, such as the 3rd St Light Rail. 2) Muni should hire more local people for jobs at all levels, so income from these jobs stays in the City. 3) Muni buses in the Southeast neighborhoods should all be converted to electric or less-polluting technology such as CNG, to mitigate air quality problems caused by the highways and other sources such as power plants. 4) We call for creation of local car registration fee, based on the engine size, weight, fuel efficiency, and value of the car. This fee should be offset by a transportation tax credit to reward drivers of cheaper, less polluting, and more efficient cars. 5) More of the cost of transit should be paid by commuters: in particular, parking spaces used primarily by commuters should be extremely expensive. These costs could be lowered on weekends to encourage people to come to town to patronize local businesses. 6) An increased share of transit costs should be paid by downtown businesses, which benefit tremendously by the ease of accessing downtown on transit. Muni and Regional transit In order to encourage ridership, public transit needs to be efficient, affordable, and reliable. Muni's performance and reliability should be increased to the point where it's an attractive option for most people going about their daily business, not just commuting to and from work. We should increase funding for Muni and work to shift the operating costs to other sources than the riders: public transit should eventually be free to riders, funded by all citizens just as public parks, public schools, and public libraries are. Increased Muni ridership benefits everybody: businesses get the added benefit of more mobile customers, drivers will benefit from less congestion, and everybody would get better air quality. The SFGP advocates: 1) Creation of a citywide bus rapid transit network to ensure that people can reliably travel between any neighborhoods of the city in under half an hour. 2) Gradually replace bus rapid transit on the heaviest lines (such as along the Geary and Mission corridors, and the G line to Golden Gate Park) with light rail to enable moving more people quickly and decrease boarding times. 3) Immediately roll fares back to $1 ($35 Fastpass) and make Muni free to youth, seniors, and the disabled. Continue to roll back fares towards zero as new funding sources become available. 4) Ensure that as long as riders have to pay fares, frequent riders receive a substantial discount for use of the Fastpass, which speeds boarding time and encourages casual ridership. 5) Maintain infrastructure in good repair, so less money is spent on breakdowns and other emergencies. 6) Eliminate redundant Muni stops on the same line that are only one block apart. 7) Ensure faster service by allowing Muni buses and trains to change lights as they approach. Replace stop signs along busiest Muni routes with this type of traffic lights. 8) Expand the diamond transit-only lanes, to prevent Muni buses from getting stuck in traffic. Clearly marked lanes such as those on the N-Judah between 9th and 19th Avenue will discourage cars from driving in transit lanes. 9) Establish no-wait transfers at key junctions. 10) Expand Nextbus or equivalent service to all lines. 11) Transition the Muni fleet to cleaner-fuel and electric buses, and buy new low-floor vehicles to ensure easier boarding. 12) Extend Caltrain downtown and electrify it. 13) Improve transfers between all public transit systems in the City: in particular, allow direct Muni-BART transfers at Civic Center and Embarcadero stations, and improve connections at Balboa Park and Glen Park stations. 14) Maintain 24-hour OWL service on major routes, to ensure people can safely walk the distance to the nearest line. If ridership is low, run smaller buses or vans at night on these routes to save money. 15) Institute "class pass" programs at the city's colleges in which fares are prepaid as part of school fees, similar to the program at UC Berkeley, and institute student discounts for all students on Fastpasses. 16) Include the cost of a monthly Fastpass in parking permits, to give every driver the option of taking Muni at no additional cost. 17) Improve transit service in the Southeast: build a new Caltrain station at Oakdale Avenue to better serve the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood. Improve the Bayshore station, with direct connections to Third Street light rail and Geneva Avenue buses to better serve the Visitacion Valley neighborhood. 18) More regional funding should be directed towards Muni's operating costs rather than expensive capital projects. 19) Aggressive enforcement of double parking in bus/rail lanes, or violating transit-only lanes. 20) Muni should receive more funding from a variety of sources, including parking fees and fines (see Parking section), an increase in the TIDF, and aggressive collection of unpaid TIDF fees from developers. 21) Muni drivers and other transit operators should have more reasonable shifts, including 6-hour days at the same rate of pay. Parking: Parking has a huge impact on our transportation system. Every car needs a space to live at its owner's residence and 3 to 4 spaces elsewhere. Space used for the storage of private automobiles amounts to vast acres of pavement and building space that could be used for parks, natural areas, public recreation, housing, sidewalks, bicycle lanes, transit lanes, or many other public benefits. With 210 million square feet in San Francisco dedicated to car parking, even a reduction of 10% in the amount of space we need to store our cars would free up 21 million square feet! Providing so much parking also subsidizes car use by San Francisco residents and visitors and discourages transit, walking, and bicycling. Parking reduces population densities, requiring people to travel greater distances to meet their needs. Parking gets in the way of efficient and safe bicycle and transit travel. Parking lots and garages create dead environments at the street level that penalize people who prefer to walk. The following recommendations will help to reverse the ever-increasing provision of parking at the expense of walking, bicycling, and transit. The SFGP supports: 1. Allow conversion of garages in private homes to living quarters. Refer to specific legislative ideas. Prevent eviction of current tenants. 2. Prohibit new public parking facilities in the downtown district north of Townsend and Division, and east of South Van Ness and Van Ness Avenues; and within 500 feet of a transit preferential street anywhere in San Francisco. Discuss Portland's "parking cap" and the rationale for limiting traffic growth. 3. Increase the tax on commercial parking lot operators. Discuss what to do with the money. Discuss the progressive nature of the tax. ADD tax on spaces not just receipts. 4. Eliminate parking requirements for new housing, and institute new maximum parking limits, ranging from one parking space per housing unit in transit-poor locations to 1 parking space per four housing units in transit-rich areas. Discuss difference between eliminating minimum and new maximum. Discuss impact on housing affordability and urban design. 5. Reform the residential parking permit program to provide parking for people who truly need it, and raise revenue by charging a fair price for that parking. Discuss need to protect current residents from massive tax increases. Discuss decentralized disbursion of revenue generated. 6. Convert certain public garages and lots to housing. Discuss practicalities of identifying garages and benefits. 7. Mandate car-sharing parking spaces in every neighborhood. Discuss benefits of car-sharing. 8. Discourage businesses from providing free parking for their customers who drive at the expense of their customers who don't. 9. A ban on parking garages in city parks. 10. eliminate free parking for city employees unless they are required to use their personal vehicle for their job. 11. No free vip parking at the airport 12. Eliminate requirement that parking spaces be independently accessible 13. Eliminate minimum parking requirement for affordable/SFO housing 14. Convert 1 car space at the end of many city blocks to motorcyle-only parking. Install a physical barrier protecting motorcycles in the parking spaces from being hit by incompetent drivers. Taxis and Paratransit In that each local cab makes on average 18,200 trips per year for a cumulative total of 25 millions rides, and in that cabs operate almost continuously, thus contributing to air pollution less than private automobiles (cars produce the most air pollution in the first half hour of operation), San Francisco's 1,381 cabs should be should be acknowledged as a part of the city's transit first policy. The San Francisco Green Party supports: 1. Creating a professional class of drivers through one of two options. The first option would be the creation of a municipal taxi service in which cabs are owned by the city and leased to drivers. Under such a system, drivers would be paid an hourly wage plus commission for any fares over 15 to 20 per shift in order to encourage efficiency. Under this system, drivers could also be brought into the city's benefits system. The second system would maintain the fleet of privately-owned vehicles but would charge a concession fee to owners of medallions. Under either system, drivers could be incorporated into the City and County Health Services and retirement system. Currently, drivers are considered independent contractors and must pay for their own health insurance. 2. Maintaining the gate cap that medallion holders can charge drivers who rent vehicles as long as taxis remain in private hands. 3. Establishing centralized dispatch. Currently cab companies, which do not own cabs themselves, are responsible for doing dispatch. However, in that cabs drivers are the customers of the cab companies, there is no incentive for cab companies to hire more dispatchers. 4 Using taxis to supplement Muni. People who work odd hours need dependable and affordable transportation, and taxis can fulfill this need during odd hours. 5 Incorporating taxis into any future local and regional Translink pass systems to ease the transition from buses and BART to cabs. 6 Requiring cabs to take credit cards. 7 Installing phones on buses so that riders can call dispatchers and have cabs available for themselves when they disembark from buses; (JMC: I don't like this one) 8 Create cab stands at termini of Muni lines, major transit junctions, commercial areas, and in parts of the city underserved by Muni OWL service and other forms of transit. Cab stands are good for drivers, riders and the environment. 9. Creating transit only streets that can be used by Muni and cabs. 10 Educating the public and police about the right of cab drivers to park in bus zones when picking up and dropping of fares as long as no buses are in the bus zones; (JMC: I don't like this one either) 11 Requiring that all cabs be low emission vehicles by 2015. 12. Requiring that cabs be inspected a minimum of for times a year. The average cab is driven about 100,000 miles per year, and cars that are tuned up generate less pollution. More sections to come: Bikes Streets & Cars Pedestrian Safety Paratransit? JMC -- John-Marc Chandonia (jmc(a)sfgreens.org) http://www.dolorespark.org/

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input for GM
by Jerry Path 09 Jun '04

09 Jun '04

Hi All, I probably will not be able to make Thursday night's meeting as I most likely will be working past 10:00 PM - so I am sending you the following thoughts. I apologize in advance that what I have to contribute may be seen mainly as generalizations which you may not find very useful - but it is the best I can do given my limited time and understanding. Anyway I deeply regret not being able to participate in the meeting - so the following are just some of my thoughts. Dependance on the car is built into our society - because of the profits they provide corporations, - because the car has been structured into out society through highway, housing and development planning etc. , and because of the consumerism (as exemplified by the SUV) which permeates our society. Because this dependance is built into our society there is no realistic way for most people to get out of this dependance AS INDIVIDUALS - what we need is a social movement to enable us to break this dependance. So it is in this light that I have been looking at our summit and trying to think of what kind of things would help develope and build this social movement and what might hinder it. Building a social movement around mass transportation such as Muni meed to include many of the things we covered such as building alliances between riders and drivers around both their needs. And not just needs that serve the downtown interests but which also serve the social needs of riders and the economic needs of drivers (under economic I include more time off, without a reduction in wages). Expanding mass tranportation means organizing a social movement around a consciousness of its necessity for us in order to be a humane society - and also of the necessity that it be adequately funded. I think we have only begun to develop how to do this. Taxis (more assessable to all), Car sharing etc are another good way to start breaking the dependance on the car because they undermine the idea and the necessity that each individual has to own a car. A friend tells me that most texi companies in Latin America are cooperatives. So a social movement around transportation should include ways to make all kinds of car sharing possible and practical. I think bicycles are a very important part of this social moverment - which does need to become ONE movement, united around common needs. Safety for everyone needs to take top priority. Teach-ins that include both cylists and drivers that forcus on transportation as a common problem, might be a helpful thing - but also might be difficult to organize. Also bicyle cooperatives that might provide less expensive bikes for those who cannot afford them - and place to repair and learn about bikes (especially safety but many other things) might also be something which could foster a broader social movement. Finally, in my opinion, things like more restricted parking, fines, taxes (even progress taxes) etc, should also have something of a social movement behind them if possible - otherwise they may be seen as top-down and manipulative - and may do more harm than good in the long run. Of course there will always be conflict - but we should do our best to direct the antagonism toward the source of our problems - rather than toward each other. Anyway, I hope you all have a good meeting - and again sorry I probably won't be able to participate. Best, Jerry Path Jerry Path pjrry(a)igc.org Why Wait? Move to EarthLink.

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checking if I can post stuff
by Jerry Path 09 Jun '04

09 Jun '04

Hi - Just checking that I'm able to send messages -tried earlier and couldn't get through.. Jerry Path pjrry(a)igc.org Why Wait? Move to EarthLink.

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