1) Weigh in on paying to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge? THe Golden Gate Bridge District is proposing that pedestrians and cyclists pay a fee to cross the bridge. WHat do you think? According to Walk SF: Given the wear caused by a SUV vs. the wear caused by walker or cyclist, an equitable charge would be 10 cents for a walker and $80,000 for a SUV! (Thanks to member John Holtzclaw for this information.) Please write a letter this week to the Board of Directors of the GG Bridge, Highway & Transportation District at mailto:bridgecomments@goldengate.org. 2. Isn't Walking Good for the Air? To express your opinion on funding for pedestrian projects for clean air, send a message to both Sharon Jackson at the Air District: sjackson@baaqmd.gov and Jose Luis Moscovich at the Transportation Authority: jose_luis_moscovich@sfcta.org. It would not hurt to write to Supervisor Jake McGoldrick, also, as he sits on the BAAQMD Mobile Sources Committee: jake.mcgoldrick@sfgov.org.

For more background, read last week's Chronicle article, which quotes SFBC Executive Director & member of the GG Bridge Board, Leah Shahum:

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/02/11/BAG6CB978V1.D

TL

3. San Francisco Still Not Prosecuting Those Who Kill

Pedestrians: You can now be fined for smoking a cigarette in a park but you can still get away with killing a pedestrian in a crosswalk. It has been two months since Beverly Kees was struck and killed while crossing in a crosswalk. Still no charges have been filed against the driver. Since that horrible incident, two other women have been killed in crosswalks in San Francisco. Again, no charges have been filed by the San Francisco District Attorney's office. Meanwhile in Oakland charges were filed after just 11 days for a recent similar situation. Why can Oakland protect its walkers while San Francisco coddles dangerous behavior? Walk SF will continue to push the DA's office to file manslaughter charges when a driver is at fault for killing a pedestrian.

4. Help Plan a more livable Valencia Street The Department of Parking and Traffic's Traffic calming Program is having its second meeting to plan pedestrian safety improvements on Valencia Street. These improvements would be integrated into a street resurfacing project coming up in the next two years. TLC would like to see Valencia become a 'complete street', with better amenities for bicyclists, pedestrians, and transit riders, as well as better lighting and more street trees. Some of the ideas that came up at the December meeting include wider sidewalks, landscaped medians, and improved bike lanes. Come share your ideas on Thursday February 24, 2005, 6:30-8:30 PM, at the Mission Police Station Community Room on Valencia Street at 17th Street. If you cannot attend, you can leave your comments with the Traffic Calming Program at (415) 554-2398 or Livable.Streets@sfgov.org . 5. San Jose Avenue and Guerrero Street Community Workshop Do you want: Wider sidewalks? The median planted with trees and flowers? More stop signs? More green spaces? Slower traffic? Something else to make your neighborhood your own? WHEN: Sunday, March 6th, from 1pm - 4pm, OR Monday, March 7th, 6:30pm - 8:30pm WHERE: Fairmount Elementary School - 65 Chenery Street (at Randall) Free food! Free childcare! Simultaneous Spanish translation! For more information, contact the San Jose/Guerrero Coalition to Save Our Streets at 415.285.8188, e-mail contact@sanjoseguerrero.com, or check out http://www.sanjoseguerrero.com <http://www.sanjoseguerrero.com/> 6. Car-Free Tourism If you'd like to see more tourists getting around our town on foot, you might want to join a working group sponsored by the Air District and hosted by Community Focus. WHEN: Feb 23 at 12 Noon: Dept of the Environment, 11 Grove Street near Market. Call Jim Smith at 975-2955 x 7 for more information. 7. Transportation Authority Public Meeting - Tuesday February 22 Share your thoughts on how we should spend Proposition K funds with the Transportation Authority on Tuesday, February 22 from 4 pm to 7 pm. For more information call Melissa Pelkey at 522-4820 or e-mail to Melissa.pelkey@sfcta.org. WalkSF's main message to the TA is that we want a true, community-based process for a Pedestrian Master Plan. Call us at 431-WALK for details. 8. Making Treasure Island Walkable The Treasure Island Development Authority (TIDA), in negotiations with TICD (the proposing master developer) is in the process of developing the Transportation Plan for Treasure and Yerba Buena Islands. Walk SF has a chance to help make the islands truly walkable by working to assure adequate and unobstructed sidewalk widths, safe street crossings, and the incorporation of "Safe Routes to School." If you'd like to join Walk SF's new Treasure Island Committee, please send an e-mail message to Ruth Gravanis: gravanis@earthlink.net 9. Bicyclists are Good - But Sidewalks are for Walkers! Thanks to our friends at the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition for helping to educate bicycle riders about the need for safe sidewalks for walkers. Check out this page on the SFBC website: http://www.sfbike.org/?sidewalks 10. Walkathon in the Bayview on April 30 Mark your calendars now for a fund- and fun- raising event on Saturday morning, April 30. We invite all WalkSF members - especially those with children - to join in a lovely walk from Shoreline Park to Heron's Head Park. This event is initiated by Network for Elders, and also includes Literacy for Environmental Justice, the YMCA and Friends of the Urban Forest. Money raised by WalkSF walkers will be used for our Walk to School activities. Keep tuned for more info - but mark your calendar now! 11. Keep Writing, Talking and Sticking Flyers on Cars Do you ever get discouraged about the uphill struggle to create a walkable city? Are you frustrated when people who park on the sidewalk glare at you when you ask them to move? Well, changing public opinion is a slow process, but we keep at it, and we are making progress. Every time a WalkSF member writes a letter to the editor, tells a driver to stop for a pedestrian, or lets someone know that it is NOT OK to park a car on the sidewalk, we are moving public opinion one inch in the right direction. And remember, if you see a car parked on the sidewalk have it ticketed by calling the DPT at 553-1200. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com