At the Transportation Working Group event on Wednesday night (screening
of The End of Suburbia, followed by a panel discussion), Leah Shahum said
something about wanting to do something on World Environment Day that
would expose San Francisco for what it really is when it comes to the
environment. She mentioned Gavin Newsom's anti-littering campaign, and
Ross noted that the Chronicle gave Newsom front-page, above-the-fold
coverage with headlines that rivalled those when Japan attacked Pearl
Harbor. A proposal to close Market Street for a day -- with all the
resistance it will probably generate, might accomplish that.
Sue
On Wed, 27 Apr 2005 09:09:23 -0700 marc <marc(a)cybre.net> writes:
> If Market Street were closed to auto traffic, then there would be no
>
> need to spend the many (tens of) millions of dollars to build bike
> lanes
> from 8th to Embarcadero that the deficient Transportation Authority
>
> Market Street Study called for. The TA report, obviously not
> written by
> engineers, is disappointing because it declines to make several
> simplifying assumptions that would have produced a more elegant
> system
> and cost far less money.
>
> Market Street is at its widest from 8th to Octavia, and the
> resolution
> passed yesterday to implement bike lanes there represents some of
> the
> lowest hanging bike lane fruit in the City which could have been
> done
> easily 15 years ago.
>
> Mayor Willie L. Brown Jr., upon his inauguration at Yerba Buena Park
> in
> 1996, promised that he would close Market Street to private
> automobiles. I believe that SFGTV has archived video of that. That
> was
> right before he promised to fix MUNI in 100 days.
>
> If Market Street were closed to private auto traffic for one weekend
>
> day, as it is closed to traffic for any big parade, then the impacts
>
> would be minimal and would highlight the gap between San Francisco's
>
> perception of itself as an environmental leader and the lackluster
> reality of our current position.
>
> The reality is that when MUNI does not have to compete with private
>
> autos, those efficiencies translate directly as social justice for
> MUNI
> riders, most of whom are not rich. When peds don't have to compete
> with
> private autos, that saves lives on the most dangerous transit
> corridor
> for peds in the City. When private autos don't block the pinch
> points
> on Market, at the boarding islands, then the need for explicit bike
>
> lanes to mediate that competition is mitigated as bikes can travel
> at
> speed more distance.
>
> -marc
> Dave Snyder wrote:
>
> > There will be new bike lanes on Market Street between 8th and Van
> Ness
> > by World Environment Day, but no action on bike lanes east of 8th.
>
> > That could be our demand.
> >
> > Dave
> >
> >
> >
> > At 9:03 PM -0400 4/25/05, MrPlutocrat(a)aol.com wrote:
> >
> >> Actually, if we close Market St., it would make Critical Mayors
> bike
> >> ride really easy. We should do both!
> >
> >>
> >
> >> In a message dated 4/25/2005 5:53:55 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,
>
> >> funking(a)mindspring.com writes:
> >>
> >> Critical Mayors bike ride is a cute idea that might get
> strong
> >> support with a low turn out. Closing Market St to cars for
> the
> >> whole day is far more radical- and I think we should persue
> it.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> We could showcase our main street, transit service and
> popularity
> >> of bikes and make a statement about cars being central to
> many of
> >> our environmental problems. We would keep the other major
> streets
> >> downtown open, so there would still be plenty of automobile
> >> access, esp. since most commuters use Howard, Folsom and the
> >> other one-way streets to traverse downtown anyways.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> I am starting to talk about this idea to several groups. So
> far,
> >> response has been positive and encouraging. I would like to
> be
> >> sure that if this idea does go forward, it has the Green
> party's
> >> name on it.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> peace,
> >>
> >> susan
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
>
>
>
